Behavior-dependent responses in primate frontal cortex neurons during natural behavior

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Behavior-dependent responses in primate frontal cortex neurons during natural behavior Primates are typified by their complex social systems and the sophisticated behaviors used to navigate them. Although relatively little research has been directly aimed at examining the neural substrates underlying primate social behaviors, it is clear that producing these behaviors requires an integration of both the sensory and motor information. While data on sensory-motor interactions in the primate cortex are available, relatively little remains known about this process in species - natural behaviors. Given the significance of natural behaviors in the evolutionary history and daily lives of nonhuman primates, empirical study of their underlying neural mechanisms may reveal unique insights into cortical functions. Here we recorded the single-unit activity of frontal cortex neurons in freely-moving common marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus) engaged in a natural, species-typical behavior known as antiphonal calling, a vocal behavior involving the reciprocal exchange of vocalizations between conspecifics. Producing an antiphonal call is dependent upon first hearing a particular vocalization, a phee call, and producing the same call type in response. Importantly, the sequence of sensory and motor events in this behavior occurs over a 10-15s period of time. In our first set of analyses, we compared neural activity during each of the three elements of this behavior: sensory period (phee call stimulus), latency delay, and vocal-motor response (antiphonal call). The aim here was to determine whether neurons across the population showed firing rate changes during any of these three periods individually or in combination. Preliminary analyses revealed neuronal responses during each of these behavioral periods, with a population showing behaviorally modulated activity over the duration of the antiphonal calling behavior. This population of neurons typically showed one of two responses. The first class showed an increased firing rate during the phee stimulus and suppressed activity during the antiphonal call. The second class showed the inverse response, exhibiting suppression during phee stimulus and excitation during the antiphonal response. In our second set of analyses, we examined the effects of behavioral context of the neural response observed during antiphonal calling. Specifically, during test sessions, we presented subjects with phee call stimuli that did not elicit antiphonal callings and subjects produced phee calls spontaneously. As such, we tested whether neurons responded similarly during either the sensory stimulus or motor response alone compared to the same sensory or motor period during antiphonal calls. Our initial analysis suggests that the aforementioned "antiphonal calling" neurons show little response during the sensory stimulus and vocal-motor response independently. Together these data suggest that it is the sensory-motor integration during the antiphonal calling behavior that is driving the neural response. This study builds on our previous work examining the ethology and functional neuroanatomy of antiphonal calling in common marmosets. This work supported by grants from the NIH to CTM (F32 DC007022, K99 DC009007) and XW (R01 DC005808). Conference: Computational and systems neuroscience 2009, Salt Lake City, UT, United States, 26 Feb - 3 Mar, 2009. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster Presentations Citation: (2009). Behavior-dependent responses in primate frontal cortex neurons during natural behavior. Front. Syst. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: Computational and systems neuroscience 2009. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.06.2009.03.067 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 30 Jan 2009; Published Online: 30 Jan 2009. Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Google Google Scholar PubMed Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.