Tsunada Joji, Liu Andrew S K, Gold Joshua I, Cohen Yale E
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Nat Neurosci. 2016 Jan;19(1):135-42. doi: 10.1038/nn.4195. Epub 2015 Dec 14.
Auditory perceptual decisions are thought to be mediated by the ventral auditory pathway. However, the specific and causal contributions of different brain regions in this pathway, including the middle-lateral (ML) and anterolateral (AL) belt regions of the auditory cortex, to auditory decisions have not been fully identified. To identify these contributions, we recorded from and microstimulated ML and AL sites while monkeys decided whether an auditory stimulus contained more low-frequency or high-frequency tone bursts. Both ML and AL neural activity was modulated by the frequency content of the stimulus. But, only the responses of the most stimulus-sensitive AL neurons were systematically modulated by the monkeys' choices. Consistent with this observation, microstimulation of AL, but not ML, systematically biased the monkeys' behavior toward the choice associated with the preferred frequency of the stimulated site. Together, these findings suggest that AL directly and causally contributes sensory evidence to form this auditory decision.
听觉感知决策被认为是由腹侧听觉通路介导的。然而，该通路中不同脑区，包括听觉皮层的中外侧（ML）和前外侧（AL）带区，对听觉决策的具体因果贡献尚未完全明确。为了确定这些贡献，我们在猴子判断听觉刺激包含更多低频还是高频音爆时，记录并微刺激了ML和AL部位。ML和AL的神经活动都受到刺激频率成分的调制。但是，只有对刺激最敏感的AL神经元的反应会被猴子的选择系统性地调制。与这一观察结果一致，对AL而非ML的微刺激系统性地使猴子的行为偏向与受刺激部位偏好频率相关的选择。这些发现共同表明，AL直接且因果性地为形成这种听觉决策贡献感觉证据。
