听觉皮层信号处理

Information processing in auditory cortex

听觉系统和视觉系统的不同之处在于:听觉系统在外周感受器和听皮层间具有更长的皮层下通路和更多的突触联系。该特殊结构反应了听觉系统从复杂听觉环境中提取与行为相关信号的机制与其他感觉系统不同。听皮层神经信号处理包括两种重要的转换机制,声音信号的非同构转换以及从声音感受到知觉层面的转换。听觉皮层神经编码机制同时也受到听觉反馈和语言或发声过程中发声信号的调控。听觉神经科学家和生物医学工程师所面临的挑战便是如何去理解大脑中这些转换的编码机制。我将会用我实验室最近的一些发现来阐述听觉信号是如何在原听皮层中进行处理的,并讨论其对于言语和音乐在大脑中的处理机制以及设计神经替代装置诸如电子耳蜗的意义。我们使用了结合神经电生理技术和量化工程学的方法来研究这些问题。

In contrast to the visual system, the auditory system has longer subcortical pathways and more spiking synapses between the peripheral receptors and the cortex. This unique organization reflects the needs of the auditory system to extract behaviorally relevant information from a complex acoustic environment using strategies different from those used by other sensory systems. The neural representations of acoustic information in auditory cortex include two types of important transformations： the non-isomorphic transformation of acoustic features and the transformation from acoustical to perceptual dimensions. Neural representations in auditory cortex are also modulated by auditory feedback and vocal control signals during speaking or vocalization. The challenges facing auditory neuroscientists and biomedical engineers are to understand neural coding mechanisms in the brain underlying such transformations. I will use recent findings from my laboratory to illustrate how acoustic information is processed in the primate auditory cortex and discuss its implications for neural processing of speech and music in the brain as well as for the design of neural prosthetic devices such as cochlear implants. We have used a combination of neurophysiological techniques and quantitative engineering tools to investigate these problems.