Interareal and interlaminar differences in sound envelope encoding in core and parabelt auditory cortex

Amplitude-modulation (AM) plays an important role in the perception of complex sounds, and transformations in AM encoding may underlie aspects of complex sound perception. Previous studies have described a hierarchical progression across the auditory pathway, characterized by a decrease in the temporal precision of AM encoding. In human and nonhuman primates (NHP), the left hemisphere exhibits enhanced temporal encoding relative to the right hemisphere. The NHP model provides an opportunity to understand what circuit mechanisms generate these transformations in encoding by characterizing AM encoding in different intracortical circuits, and across the cortical hierarchy. To address this, here we report the encoding of AM signals as a function of cortical layer and hemisphere in NHP core and parabelt auditory cortex (AC). We recorded electrophysiological activity using linear array multielectrodes positioned across cortical layers while AM noise and click trains were presented to awake NHPs. Core AC typically encoded all AM frequencies (1.6-200 Hz) with high ( > 90%) classification accuracy, while sites in the parabelt encoded a subset of lower (~1.6-25 Hz) frequencies. Across both areas, the granular and infragranular layers displayed enhanced AM encoding relative to the supragranular layers. Both areas displayed enhanced AM encoding in the left hemisphere, restricted to the supragranular layers. These results represent the first analysis of AM encoding in the parabelt, indicating that significant temporal encoding of AM is still present in tertiary auditory cortex, and the layer-specific hemispheric differences suggest a potential supragranular layer origin of previously documented left-hemisphere dominance in temporal encoding.