Chen Wenfei, Liu Baolin, Zheng Jianlong, Li Xianglin, Wang Peiyuan, Wang Bin
College of intelligence and computing, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Cognitive Computing and Application, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, PR China.
School of Computer and Communication Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, PR China.
J Neurol Sci. 2020 Jun 15;413:116805. doi: 10.1016/j.jns.2020.116805. Epub 2020 Mar 28.
Separated ventral and dorsal streams in auditory system have been proposed to process sound identification and localization respectively. Despite the popularity of the dual-pathway model, it remains controversial how much independence two neural pathways enjoy and whether visual experiences can influence the distinct cortical organizational scheme. In this study, representational similarity analysis (RSA) was used to explore the functional roles of distinct cortical regions that lay within either the ventral or dorsal auditory streams of sighted and early blind (EB) participants. We found functionally segregated auditory networks in both sighted and EB groups where anterior superior temporal gyrus (aSTG) and inferior frontal junction (IFJ) were more related to the sound identification, while posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) and inferior parietal lobe (IPL) preferred the sound localization. The findings indicated visual experiences may not have an influence on this functional dissociation and the cortex of the human brain may be organized as task-specific and modality-independent strategies. Meanwhile, partial overlap of spatial and non-spatial auditory information processing was observed, illustrating the existence of interaction between the two auditory streams. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of visual experiences on the neural bases of auditory perception and observed the cortical reorganization in EB participants in whom middle occipital gyrus was recruited to process auditory information. Our findings examined the distinct cortical networks that abstractly encoded sound identification and localization, and confirmed the existence of interaction from the multivariate perspective. Furthermore, the results suggested visual experience might not impact the functional specialization of auditory regions.
听觉系统中分离的腹侧和背侧通路分别被认为用于处理声音识别和定位。尽管双通路模型很流行，但两条神经通路的独立程度以及视觉体验是否会影响不同的皮层组织模式仍存在争议。在本研究中，使用表征相似性分析（RSA）来探索视力正常和早期失明（EB）参与者腹侧或背侧听觉通路中不同皮层区域的功能作用。我们在视力正常和EB组中都发现了功能上分离的听觉网络，其中颞上回前部（aSTG）和额下回交界处（IFJ）与声音识别更相关，而颞上回后部（pSTG）和顶下小叶（IPL）更倾向于声音定位。研究结果表明，视觉体验可能不会对这种功能分离产生影响，并且人类大脑皮层可能是按照任务特定和模态独立的策略组织的。同时，观察到空间和非空间听觉信息处理存在部分重叠，这说明了两条听觉通路之间存在相互作用。此外，我们研究了视觉体验对听觉感知神经基础的影响，并观察到EB参与者的皮层重组，其中枕中回被征募来处理听觉信息。我们的研究结果检查了抽象编码声音识别和定位的不同皮层网络，并从多变量角度证实了相互作用的存在。此外，结果表明视觉体验可能不会影响听觉区域的功能特化。
