TY - JOUR T1 - Selectivity for the Spatial and Nonspatial Attributes of Auditory Stimuli in the Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex JF - The Journal of Neuroscience JO - J. Neurosci. SP - 11307 LP - 11316 DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3935-04.2004 VL - 24 IS - 50 AU - Yale E. Cohen AU - Brian E. Russ AU - Gordon W. Gifford III AU - Ruwan Kiringoda AU - Katherine A. MacLean Y1 - 2004/12/15 UR - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/24/50/11307.abstract N2 - Spatial and nonspatial auditory processing is hypothesized to occur in parallel dorsal and ventral pathways, respectively. In this study, we tested the spatial and nonspatial sensitivity of auditory neurons in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vPFC), a cortical area in the hypothetical nonspatial pathway. We found that vPFC neurons were modulated significantly by both the spatial and nonspatial attributes of an auditory stimulus. When comparing these responses with those in anterolateral belt region of the auditory cortex, which is hypothesized to be specialized for processing the nonspatial attributes of auditory stimuli, we found that the nonspatial sensitivity of vPFC neurons was poorer, whereas the spatial selectivity was better than anterolateral neurons. Also, the spatial and nonspatial sensitivity of vPFC neurons was comparable with that seen in the lateral intraparietal area, a cortical area that is a part of the dorsal pathway. These data suggest that substantial spatial and nonspatial processing occurs in both the dorsal and ventral pathways. ER -