The effects of brainstem lesions on vocalization in the squirrel monkey

The present study is an attempt to find out the brain areas involved in the motor coordination of species-specific vocalization. For this purpose, high-frequency coagulations were placed in a systematic manner throughout the brainstem and posterior diencephalon in altogether 43 squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus). The effect of these lesions on different call types elicited by electrical brain stimulation was studied spectrographically. It was found that bilateral destruction of the ventrolateral, ventroposterior and intralaminar thalamus, periventricular and rostral periaqueductal gray, ventral tegmental area of Tsai, nucl. interpeduncularis, nucl. ruber, anterodorsolateral midbrain tegmentum, superior and inferior colliculi, pontine gray, cerebral peduncles, medial pontine reticular formation, raphe and vestibular nuclei did not affect the acoustic structure of the calls tested. On the other hand, lesions in the ventrolateral midbrain involving the substantia nigra and overlying reticular formation, in the midbrain tegmentum just below the inferior colliculus, in the lateral pons and almost the whole medulla (minimal lesion size: 2.5 mm3) changed vocalization significantly. It is suggested that the latter areas are more or less directly involved in the motor coordination of vocalization, while the first are not.