Response patterns of single neurons in higher auditory cortex to artificial and natural sounds

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25350999
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Brain biometrics
• Research Institution: University of Yamanashi
• Principal Investigator: CHIMOTO Sohei 山梨大学, 総合研究部, 助教 (80324185)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 純音 / ランプ音 / ダンプ音 / 大脳聴覚野 / 単一細胞記録 / 非対称知覚

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In many acoustic circumstances, waveform of speech and musical sound are asymmetric in time. The sound envelopes play an important role in such sound perceptions. However, little is known about the neural activities in auditory cortex during asymmetrical stimuli. To examine neural mechanisms related to the perceptual asymmetry, we examined response patterns of the auditory cortex neurons during ramped and damped stimuli in awake animals. We found two types of neurons in the primary auditory cortex (A1): edge cells sensitive to the quick attack and quick decay, while slope cells sensitive to the slow attack and slow decay. The majority of A1 neurons are tuned to the velocity (slow or quick). Persistence of excitation after ramped sounds is longer than that after damped sounds caused mainly from edge cells. This physiologically supports psychological reports that persistence of perception is longer after ramped sounds than damped sounds.

Free Research Field

神経生理