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An auditory domain in primate prefrontal cortex

Nature Neuroscience volume 5, pages 15–16 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

Although neuroimaging studies confirm the frontal lobe's involvement in language processes and auditory working memory1,2, the cellular and network basis of these functions is unclear. Physiological studies of the frontal lobe in non-human primates have focused on visual working memory and auditory spatial processing in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC)3,4, although the candidate PFC areas for non-spatial acoustic processing lie in the ventrolateral PFC (areas 12 and 45), which receives afferents from physiologically5,6 and anatomically7,8 defined auditory cortex. We recorded neuronal responses from ventrolateral PFC to auditory cues in awake monkeys under controlled conditions and report that the macaque ventrolateral PFC contains an auditory responsive domain in which neurons show responses to complex sounds, including animal and human vocalizations.

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Figure 1: Prefrontal auditory neuron response profiles.
Figure 2: Location of auditory responsive neurons in the ventral PFC, below the principal sulcus (area 46), and anterior to the arcuate sulcus and area 8a, in areas 12 and 45.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by NIMH (MH-38546), James S. McDonnell Foundation (JSMF 93-28), and Cure Autism Now.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Neurobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, 06510, Connecticut, USA

    Lizabeth M. Romanski & Patricia S. Goldman-Rakic

  2. Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy, University of Rochester, Box 603, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Rochester, 14642, New York, USA

    Lizabeth M. Romanski

Authors
  1. Lizabeth M. Romanski
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  2. Patricia S. Goldman-Rakic
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Correspondence to Lizabeth M. Romanski.

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Romanski, L., Goldman-Rakic, P. An auditory domain in primate prefrontal cortex. Nat Neurosci 5, 15–16 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn781

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