Face/voice integration in monkey auditory cortex
Multiple Paper Presentation

Asif Ghazanfar
Princeton University

     Abstract ID Number: 207
     Last modified: April 7, 2006
     Presentation date: 06/18/2006 2:00 PM in Hamilton Building, McNeil Theatre
     (View Schedule)

Abstract
Monkeys and humans recognize the correspondence between species-specific facial and vocal expressions, and these visual and auditory channels can be integrated into unified percepts to enhance detection and discrimination. What role sensory areas, such as the auditory cortex, play in such complex signal processing is poorly understood. To address this, we recorded neural activity in the auditory cortex of rhesus monkeys while they viewed vocalizing conspecifics. We found that the primate auditory cortex integrates facial and vocal signals through both enhancement and suppression of neural activity. This was true of both local field potential activity and spiking activity. The majority of multisensory responses were specific to face/voice integration, and the lateral belt region of auditory cortex showed a greater frequency of multisensory integration than the auditory core cortex. One possible source of face-specific visual information in the auditory cortex is the superior temporal sulcus (STS). To test this hypothesis, we recorded in both auditory cortex and the STS concurrently and have been exploring the nature of their interactions during unimodal versus bimodal vocal processing.

To be Presented at the Following Symposium:
multisensory processing in and near primary auditory cortex
Other papers in this Symposium:

• Peter Lakatos
  Cognitive Neuroscience & Schizophrenia Program, Nathan Kline Institute
  Monica N. O'Connell
  Cognitive Neuroscience & Schizophrenia Program, Nathan Kline Institute
  Aimee Mills
  Cognitive Neuroscience & Schizophrenia Program, Nathan Kline Institute
  George Karmos
  Inst. Psychology, Hungarian Acad. Sci., Budapest, Hungary
  Charles Schroeder
  Cognitive Neuroscience & Schizophrenia Program, Nathan Kline Institute
  Role of oscillations in multisensory enhancement of auditory processing
• Michael Brosch
  Institute of Neurobiology, Magdeburg
  Representation of non-auditory events in monkey auditory cortex
• Troy Hackett
  Dept. Psychology, Vanderbilt University
  John Smiley
  Cognitive Neuroscience & Schizophrenia Program, Nathan Kline Inst.
  George Karmos
  Inst. Psychology, Hungarian Acad. Sci., Budapest, Hungary
  Istvan Ulbert
  Inst. Psychology, Hungarian Acad. Sci., Budapest, Hungary
  Peter Lakatos
  Cognitive Neuroscience & Schizophrenia Program, Nathan Kline Inst.
  Charles Schroeder
  Cognitive Neuroscience & Schizophrenia Program, Nathan Kline Inst.
  Sources of somatic sensory input to auditory cortex in monkeys