Divergence in the functional organization of human and macaque auditory cortex revealed by fMRI responses to harmonic tones

Sam V Norman-Haignere; Nancy Kanwisher; Josh H McDermott; Bevil R Conway

doi:10.1038/s41593-019-0410-7

Divergence in the functional organization of human and macaque auditory cortex revealed by fMRI responses to harmonic tones

Nat Neurosci. 2019 Jul;22(7):1057-1060. doi: 10.1038/s41593-019-0410-7. Epub 2019 Jun 10.

Authors

Sam V Norman-Haignere^{1

2

3

4}, Nancy Kanwisher^{5

6

7}, Josh H McDermott^{5

6

7

8}, Bevil R Conway^{9

10

11}

Affiliations

¹ Zuckerman Institute for Mind, Brain and Behavior, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. sn2776@columbia.edu.
² Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA. sn2776@columbia.edu.
³ HHMI Postdoctoral Fellow of the Life Sciences Research Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA. sn2776@columbia.edu.
⁴ Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs, Département d'Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, PSL University, CNRS, Paris, France. sn2776@columbia.edu.
⁵ Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁶ McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁷ Center for Minds, Brains and Machines, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁸ Program in Speech and Hearing Biosciences and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁹ Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, NEI, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA. bevil@nih.gov.
¹⁰ National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA. bevil@nih.gov.
¹¹ National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA. bevil@nih.gov.

Abstract

We report a difference between humans and macaque monkeys in the functional organization of cortical regions implicated in pitch perception. Humans but not macaques showed regions with a strong preference for harmonic sounds compared to noise, measured with both synthetic tones and macaque vocalizations. In contrast, frequency-selective tonotopic maps were similar between the two species. This species difference may be driven by the unique demands of speech and music perception in humans.

Publication types

Comparative Study
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Acoustic Stimulation
Adult
Animals
Auditory Cortex / anatomy & histology
Auditory Cortex / physiology*
Brain Mapping
Female
Humans
Macaca mulatta
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Music
Pitch Perception / physiology*
Species Specificity
Speech Perception / physiology*
Vocalization, Animal

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding