Influence of dominant motivation on the functional organization of auditory input to the sensorimotor cortex of the cat brain.

The results of experiments reviewed in this article demonstrate the possibility of the transformation of the frequency tuning of the auditory input into the sensorimotor cortex (SMC) of the cat under the influence of a dominant motivation. Similar changes took place in the parietal cortex (PC) but they were significantly less in absolute magnitude. The identified transformation of the frequency tuning of the auditory input into the SMC and the PC is in agreement with a change in the biological significance of the auditory signals of kittens for females in the period of lactation, and corresponds for each cat to the spectral composition of the vocalizations of its own kittens.