A functional role for the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in non-spatial auditory cognition.
Spatial and non-spatial sensory information is hypothesized to be evaluated in parallel pathways. In this study, we tested the spatial and non-spatial sensitivity of auditory neurons in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vPFC), a cortical area in the non-spatial pathway. Activity was tested while non-human primates reported changes in an auditory stimulus' spatial or non-spatial features. We found that vPFC neurons were reliably modulated during a non-spatial auditory task but were not modulated during a spatial auditory task. The degree of modulation during the non-spatial task correlated positively with the monkeys' behavioral performance. These results are consistent with the hypotheses that the vPFC is part of a circuit involved in non-spatial auditory processing and that the vPFC plays a functional role in non-spatial auditory cognition.
Cohen
Y E
YE
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 3400 Spruce-5 Ravdin, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. ycohen@mail.med.upenn.edu
Russ
B E
BE
Davis
S J
SJ
Baker
A E
AE
Ackelson
A L
AL
Nitecki
R
R
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004594:Electrophysiology; D006801:Humans; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014828:Vocalization, Animal / Q000502:physiology