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Mapping Cortical Dynamics Using Simultaneous MEG/EEG and Anatomically-constrained Minimum-norm Estimates: an Auditory Attention Example
Published on: October 24, 2012
Adaptive changes in cortical receptive fields induced by attention to complex sounds
Jonathan B Fritz1, Mounya Elhilali, Shihab A Shamma
1Center for Auditory and Acoustic Research, Institute for Systems Research, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. ripple@isr.umd.edu
Journal of Neurophysiology
|August 19, 2007
Summary
Primary auditory cortex (A1) neurons adapt to complex sounds by enhancing target frequencies and suppressing others. This comb filter plasticity improves sound discrimination and reshapes neural receptive fields.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Sensory Processing
Background:
- Receptive fields in the primary auditory cortex (A1) adapt to simple tones.
- Complex spectral patterns require further investigation for adaptive changes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate receptive field plasticity in A1 using complex, multitone targets.
- To understand how A1 adapts to discriminate complex sounds from background noise.
Main Methods:
- Ferrets were trained to detect multitone targets amidst rippled noise.
- Neural recordings were performed in A1 of behaving ferrets.
- Analysis focused on single-neuron and population-level plasticity.
Main Results:
- A1 neurons exhibited plasticity, enhancing component tone frequencies and suppressing intertone frequencies.
- This comb filter plasticity was strongest near neuronal best frequency.
- Plasticity onset was rapid and decay was slow, persisting after task completion.
Conclusions:
- Comb filter plasticity in A1 enhances discriminability between foreground and background sounds.
- This adaptive mechanism may generalize to other complex spectral targets.
- Cortical plasticity in A1 is dynamically shaped by auditory experience.
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