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| Open AccessA molecular basis for water motion detection by the mechanosensory lateral line of zebrafish
In fish, water motion is detected by mechanosensitive hair cells located in the lateral line. Here the authors show that the molecular machinery for mechanotransduction, including transmembrane channel-like 2b (Tmc2b), varies depending on both hair cell location and hair bundle orientation.
- Shih-Wei Chou
- , Zongwei Chen
- & Brian M. McDermott Jr.
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Review Article
| Open AccessProgress and challenges for understanding the function of cortical microcircuits in auditory processing
Advances in multi-neuron recordings and optogenetic manipulation have resulted in an interrogation of the function of specific cortical cell types in auditory cortex during sound processing. Here, the authors review this literature and discuss the merits of integrating computational approaches from dynamic network science.
- Jennifer M. Blackwell
- & Maria N. Geffen
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Article
| Open AccessNeurons along the auditory pathway exhibit a hierarchical organization of prediction error
Perception can be explained by predictive coding, but it is unclear how this theory applies at the single-neuron level. Here, authors describe how auditory patterns are encoded and detected by single neurons along the auditory pathway, demonstrating that prediction error exists in single auditory neurons.
- Gloria G. Parras
- , Javier Nieto-Diego
- & Manuel S. Malmierca
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Article
| Open AccessCisplatin is retained in the cochlea indefinitely following chemotherapy
Permanent hearing loss occurs in many cancer patients treated with cisplatin. In this study, the authors examine cisplatin pharmacokinetics in the cochleae of mice and humans showing that cisplatin is retained for months to years after treatment.
- Andrew M. Breglio
- , Aaron E. Rusheen
- & Lisa L. Cunningham
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Article
| Open AccessA large scale hearing loss screen reveals an extensive unexplored genetic landscape for auditory dysfunction
The full extent of the genetic basis for hearing impairment is unknown. Here, as part of the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium, the authors perform a hearing loss screen in 3006 mouse knockout strains and identify 52 new candidate genes for genetic hearing loss.
- Michael R. Bowl
- , Michelle M. Simon
- & Steve D. M. Brown
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Article
| Open AccessAging affects the balance of neural entrainment and top-down neural modulation in the listening brain
The changes that accompany age-related decreases in speech comprehension are not yet understood. Here, authors show that older adults are less able to entrain to speech-paced auditory rhythms and that the behavioural consequences can be counteracted by top-down neural modulation.
- Molly J. Henry
- , Björn Herrmann
- & Jonas Obleser
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Article
| Open AccessAge-related delay in visual and auditory evoked responses is mediated by white- and grey-matter differences
Neural processing speed slows with age, but the relationship between this slowing and brain atrophy is unknown. Here, authors show that age-related functional brain differences in auditory and visual processing are partly due to structural differences in the distinct brain regions underlying these processes.
- D. Price
- , L. K. Tyler
- & R. N. A. Henson
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Article
| Open AccessEngaging and disengaging recurrent inhibition coincides with sensing and unsensing of a sensory stimulus
Sensory stimuli evoke temporally dynamic responses. Here the authors report that responses to odour onset and offset are orthogonally represented in the locust antennal lobe, differentially entrain oscillations, and propose a model in which they are necessary for initiation and termination of behaviour.
- Debajit Saha
- , Wensheng Sun
- & Baranidharan Raman
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Article
| Open AccessIdentification of mouse cochlear progenitors that develop hair and supporting cells in the organ of Corti
The adult mammalian cochlear sensory epithelium consists of mechanosensory hair cells and supporting cells but hair cells cannot regenerate. Here, the authors identify multipotent progenitors that arise fromEya1-expressing otic cells that can regenerate hair cells in mice after 1 week of age.
- Jinshu Xu
- , Hiroo Ueno
- & Pin-Xian Xu
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Article
| Open AccessPrior context in audition informs binding and shapes simple features
Perception can be swayed by prior context. Here the authors report an auditory illusion in which sounds with ambiguous pitch shifts are perceived as shifting upward or downward based on the preceding contextual sounds, explore the neural correlates, and propose a probabilistic model based on temporal binding.
- Claire Chambers
- , Sahar Akram
- & Daniel Pressnitzer
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Article
| Open AccessDefective Gpsm2/Gαi3 signalling disrupts stereocilia development and growth cone actin dynamics in Chudley-McCullough syndrome
Mutations inGPSM2cause a rare disease characterized by deafness and brain abnormalities. Here the authors show that Gpsm2 forms a molecular complex with a heterotrimeric G-protein subunit, whirlin and a myosin motor to regulate actin dynamics in neurons and auditory hair cell stereocilia.
- Stephanie A. Mauriac
- , Yeri E. Hien
- & Mireille Montcouquiol
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Article
| Open AccessFaster phonological processing and right occipito-temporal coupling in deaf adults signal poor cochlear implant outcome
Cochlear implants have variable outcomes for adult deafness. Here the authors show that fast responses and specific recruitment of right temporal cortex on a simple visual rhyming task strongly predicts poor implant performance.
- Diane S. Lazard
- & Anne-Lise Giraud
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Article
| Open AccessA connexin30 mutation rescues hearing and reveals roles for gap junctions in cochlear amplification and micromechanics
A point mutation in the gap-junction protein connexin 30 stops early onset age-related hearing loss. Here, the authors show that gap junctions contribute to cochlear micromechanics and that cochlear amplification is likely controlled by extracellular potentials in vicinity of the cochlear sensory cells.
- Victoria A. Lukashkina
- , Snezana Levic
- & Ian J. Russell
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Article
| Open AccessTransient auditory nerve demyelination as a new mechanism for hidden hearing loss
Hidden hearing loss (HHL) is an auditory neuropathy that impairs one’s ability to hear, particularly in a noisy environment. Here the authors show that in mice, transient loss of cochlear Schwann cells results in permanent disruption of the cochlear heminodal structure, leading to auditory deficits characteristic of HHL.
- Guoqiang Wan
- & Gabriel Corfas
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Article
| Open AccessDynamics of auditory cortical activity during behavioural engagement and auditory perception
Sensory perception is enhanced with behavioural engagement. Here the authors show that when rats initiate stimulus delivery in an auditory recognition task, activity of auditory cortex neurons is modulated and optogenetic disruption of this activity affects performance.
- Ioana Carcea
- , Michele N. Insanally
- & Robert C. Froemke
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Article
| Open AccessTemporal coherence structure rapidly shapes neuronal interactions
One can easily identify if multiple sounds are originating from a single source yet the neural mechanisms underlying this process are unknown. Here the authors show that temporally coherent sounds elicit changes in receptive field dynamics of auditory cortical neurons in ferrets only when paying attention.
- Kai Lu
- , Yanbo Xu
- & Shihab A. Shamma
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Article
| Open AccessRapid tuning shifts in human auditory cortex enhance speech intelligibility
Experience constantly shapes perception, but the neural mechanisms of this rapid plasticity are unclear. Here, Holdgraf et al. record neural activity in the human auditory cortex and show that listening to normal speech elicits rapid plasticity that increases the neural gain for features of sound that are key for speech intelligibility.
- Christopher R. Holdgraf
- , Wendy de Heer
- & Frédéric E. Theunissen
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Article
| Open AccessPerceptual restoration of masked speech in human cortex
We can often ‘fill in’ missing or occluded sounds from a speech signal—an effect known as phoneme restoration. Leonard et al. found a real-time restoration of the missing sounds in the superior temporal auditory cortex in humans. Interestingly, neural activity in frontal regions prior to the stimulus can predict the word that the participant would later hear.
- Matthew K. Leonard
- , Maxime O. Baud
- & Edward F. Chang
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Article
| Open AccessMeta-adaptation in the auditory midbrain under cortical influence
Neurons in the auditory midbrain are known to modify their firing rates in response to changes in sound intensity. Here the authors show that in guinea pigs, such modifications occur faster when neurons re-encounter the same environment, a phenomenon they term meta-adaptation.
- Benjamin L. Robinson
- , Nicol S. Harper
- & David McAlpine
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Article
| Open AccessAn elastic element in the protocadherin-15 tip link of the inner ear
Tip-link filaments convey force to activate hair cells, important sensory receptors. Here the authors solve a partial structure of human protocadherin-15, a tip-link component with an unusual Ca2+–free linker that bends and is predicted to confer flexibility to this filament during inner-ear mechanotransduction.
- Raul Araya-Secchi
- , Brandon L. Neel
- & Marcos Sotomayor
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Article
| Open AccessHair cell force generation does not amplify or tune vibrations within the chicken basilar papilla
The avian auditory papilla has many similarities to the mammalian cochlea but whether force generation by hair cells amplifies the travelling wave, as it does in mammals, remains unknown. Here the authors show that the chicken basilar papilla does not have a ‘cochlear amplifier’ and that sharp frequency tuning does not derive from mechanical vibrations.
- Anping Xia
- , Xiaofang Liu
- & John S. Oghalai
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Article
| Open AccessTemporal asymmetries in auditory coding and perception reflect multi-layered nonlinearities
In humans, sounds that increase in intensity over time (up-ramp) are perceived as louder than down-ramping sounds. Here the authors show that in mice this bias also exists and is reflected in the complex nonlinearities of auditory cortex activity.
- Thomas Deneux
- , Alexandre Kempf
- & Brice Bathellier
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Article
| Open AccessAuditory experience-dependent cortical circuit shaping for memory formation in bird song learning
Juvenile zebra finches learn to sing by memorizing and imitating their tutor's song, yet neural correlates of the tutor song have not been shown. Here the authors show a small subset of higher-level auditory cortex neurons are sharply tuned to the tutor's song and modulated by inhibition and arousal state.
- Shin Yanagihara
- & Yoko Yazaki-Sugiyama
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Article
| Open AccessFunctional development of mechanosensitive hair cells in stem cell-derived organoids parallels native vestibular hair cells
Sensory hair cells from the mammalian inner ear do not regenerate. Here, the authors induce direct hair cell formation from mouse embryonic stem cells using a three-dimensional culture system and observe differentiation of Type I and Type II vestibular hair cells and establishment of synapses with neurons.
- Xiao-Ping Liu
- , Karl R. Koehler
- & Jeffrey R. Holt
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Article
| Open AccessCortical contributions to the auditory frequency-following response revealed by MEG
Auditory brainstem response (ABR) is used to study temporal encoding of auditory information in music and language. This study utilizes magnetoencephalography to localize both cortical and subcortical origins of the sustained frequency following response (FFR), the ABR component that encodes the periodicity of sound.
- Emily B. J. Coffey
- , Sibylle C. Herholz
- & Robert J. Zatorre
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Article
| Open AccessStereocilia-staircase spacing is influenced by myosin III motors and their cargos espin-1 and espin-like
Stereocilia of the inner ear have graded heights that are thought to be regulated by the myosin-III family members MYO3A and MYO3B. Here the authors identify espin-1 and espin-like (ESPNL) as cargo that differentially influence the functions of both motors to regulate stereocilia length.
- Seham Ebrahim
- , Matthew R. Avenarius
- & Bechara Kachar
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Article
| Open AccessThe onset of visual experience gates auditory cortex critical periods
Visual and auditory systems influence each other during development. Here, the authors show that the onset of eyelid opening regulates critical points during which the auditory cortex is sensitive to hearing loss or the restoration of hearing
- Todd M. Mowery
- , Vibhakar C. Kotak
- & Dan H. Sanes
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Article
| Open AccessReverse transduction measured in the living cochlea by low-coherence heterodyne interferometry
Mammalian hearing is remarkable for its sensitivity and frequency selectivity. Here, the authors show that outer hair cell-generated force, which amplifies sound-induced vibrations inside the cochlea, is responsible for these traits.
- Tianying Ren
- , Wenxuan He
- & Peter G. Barr-Gillespie
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Article
| Open AccessThe higher order auditory cortex is involved in the assignment of affective value to sensory stimuli
The auditory cortex Te2 represents a key node for the assignment of the affective value to sensory stimuli in rodents. Using pharmacogenetic manipulations, this study shows that in Te2 there are neurons which respond to the emotional valence of sounds and their inactivation impairs emotional memories retrieval.
- Anna Grosso
- , Marco Cambiaghi
- & Benedetto Sacchetti
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Article
| Open AccessRedistribution of Kv1 and Kv7 enhances neuronal excitability during structural axon initial segment plasticity
Sensory deprivation in the avian brain can lead to structural changes in the axon initial segment. Here, the authors build on their previous work by showing that such homeostatic AIS plasticity also involves changes in Kv channel expression, which contributes to enhanced neuronal excitability.
- Hiroshi Kuba
- , Rei Yamada
- & Ryota Adachi
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Article
| Open AccessAuditory sequence processing reveals evolutionarily conserved regions of frontal cortex in macaques and humans
This study uses functional magnetic resonance imaging in humans and monkeys to show similar ventral frontal and opercular cortical responses when processing sequences of auditory nonsense words. The study indicates that this frontal region is involved in evaluating the order of incoming sounds in a sequence, a process that may be conserved in primates.
- Benjamin Wilson
- , Yukiko Kikuchi
- & Christopher I. Petkov
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Article
| Open AccessKCNK5 channels mostly expressed in cochlear outer sulcus cells are indispensable for hearing
Potassium is necessary for the mechanical-electrical transduction needed for hearing. Here the authors study mice lacking the potassium channel KCNK5 and show that these channels are mostly expressed in the outer sulcus and are required for hearing, pointing to their essential role in potassium recycling.
- Yves Cazals
- , Michelle Bévengut
- & Christian Gestreau
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Article
| Open AccessAuditory feedback blocks memory benefits of cueing during sleep
Exposure to memory cues during sleep improves subsequent memory recall. Here the authors demonstrate that presenting an additional auditory stimulus during a critical time window following the memory cue abolishes the memory benefit of cueing and its oscillatory correlates during sleep in humans.
- Thomas Schreiner
- , Mick Lehmann
- & Björn Rasch
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Article
| Open AccessSingle-cell RNA-Seq resolves cellular complexity in sensory organs from the neonatal inner ear
Heterogeneous sensory epithelia of the inner ear are difficult to study owing to the few cells that can be isolated. Here the authors provide insight into the developmental processes underlying the formation of these cells by single-cell RNA-Seq.
- Joseph C. Burns
- , Michael C. Kelly
- & Matthew W. Kelley
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Article
| Open AccessRFX transcription factors are essential for hearing in mice
Inner ear hair cells are non-regenerative mechanosensory cells essential for hearing. Here, with cell-type-specific expression analyses, the authors identify RFX transcription factors as central mediators of their survival during terminal differentiation and thus essential for hearing in mice.
- Ran Elkon
- , Beatrice Milon
- & Ronna Hertzano
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Article
| Open AccessAuditory cortex controls sound-driven innate defense behaviour through corticofugal projections to inferior colliculus
Defense against environmental threats is essential for survival, yet the neural circuits mediating innate defensive behaviours are not completely understood. Here the authors demonstrate that descending projections from the auditory cortex to the midbrain mediate innate, sound-evoked flight behaviour.
- Xiaorui R. Xiong
- , Feixue Liang
- & Li I. Zhang
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Article |
Multisensory training reverses midbrain lesion-induced changes and ameliorates haemianopia
Failure to attend to visual cues is a common consequence of visual cortical injury. Here, the authors demonstrate that auditory–visual cross-modal behavioural training leads to neural plasticity and reinstatement of visuomotor competency in animals rendered unilaterally blind by visual cortical removal.
- Huai Jiang
- , Barry E. Stein
- & John G. McHaffie
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Article
| Open AccessType II spiral ganglion afferent neurons drive medial olivocochlear reflex suppression of the cochlear amplifier
The medial olivocochlear efferent reflex regulates cochlear outer hair cell-based amplification of sound energy. Here the authors show this dynamic control of hearing sensitivity is driven by sensory input from the outer hair cells and their type II spiral ganglion neuron innervation.
- Kristina E. Froud
- , Ann Chi Yan Wong
- & Gary D. Housley
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Article |
Cochlear supporting cell transdifferentiation and integration into hair cell layers by inhibition of ephrin-B2 signalling
Cochlear sensory hair cells produced during development are not replaced after loss so converting the surrounding supporting cells into hair cells could be a potential regenerative strategy. Here the authors show that hair cells can be directly generated from adjacent supporting cells in developing mouse embryos by inhibition of ephrin-B2 signalling.
- Jean Defourny
- , Susana Mateo Sánchez
- & Brigitte Malgrange
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Length regulation of mechanosensitive stereocilia depends on very slow actin dynamics and filament-severing proteins
Auditory sensory hair cells detect sounds by deflection of their actin-based stereocilia, which vary in length. By inducing expression of GFP-actin in mouse hair cells in vivo, Narayanan et al. demonstrate that stereocilia length is regulated by very slow actin turnover, which is restricted to the tips.
- Praveena Narayanan
- , Paul Chatterton
- & Benjamin J. Perrin
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Article
| Open AccessLive-cell imaging of actin dynamics reveals mechanisms of stereocilia length regulation in the inner ear
Precise control of stereocilia length by auditory hair cells is vital for normal hearing. Drummond et al. follow in real-time the incorporation of actin into these structures and show that while the actin core is remarkably stable, and actin polymerization is limited to their distal tips.
- Meghan C. Drummond
- , Melanie Barzik
- & Thomas B. Friedman
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Article |
Increased CRF signalling in a ventral tegmental area-interpeduncular nucleus-medial habenula circuit induces anxiety during nicotine withdrawal
Abstinent smokers experience affective withdrawal symptoms that contribute to relapse, yet the circuitry and mechanisms underlying these symptoms are unknown. Here the authors identify a critical role for a ventral tegmental area-habenula-interpeduncular circuit in nicotine withdrawal-induced anxiety.
- Rubing Zhao-Shea
- , Steven R. DeGroot
- & Andrew R. Tapper
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Article |
Lgr5+ cells regenerate hair cells via proliferation and direct transdifferentiation in damaged neonatal mouse utricle
The balancing apparatus of the inner ear relies on the mechanosensory activity of hair cells (HC), which are poorly regenerated upon loss in adult mammals. Here, the authors show that in newborn mice HC regenerate through proliferation and transdifferentiation of activated striolar supporting cells that express Lgr5.
- Tian Wang
- , Renjie Chai
- & Alan G. Cheng
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Article
| Open AccessDifferent forms of effective connectivity in primate frontotemporal pathways
Neural pathways to frontal cortex areas of the brain enable communication, but their connectivity is unclear. Petkov et al. use electrical microstimulation and brain imaging to describe different forms of hierarchical effective connectivity that exist between the primate frontal and temporal cortex.
- Christopher I. Petkov
- , Yukiko Kikuchi
- & Nikos K. Logothetis
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Article
| Open AccessMotor contributions to the temporal precision of auditory attention
Motor activities, such as rhythmic movements, are implicated in regulating attention. Here, the authors find that rhythmic movements sharpen the temporal selection of auditory stimuli by facilitating the perception of relevant stimuli, while actively suppressing the interference from irrelevant stimuli.
- Benjamin Morillon
- , Charles E. Schroeder
- & Valentin Wyart
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Article
| Open AccessThe contribution of frequency-specific activity to hierarchical information processing in the human auditory cortex
Sensory processing relies on information transfer in cortical hierarchies. Using depth recordings of neural activity obtained while individuals with epilepsy listen to spoken sentences, the authors show that ascending and descending information is propagated between cortical regions through distinct neural frequencies.
- L. Fontolan
- , B. Morillon
- & Anne-Lise Giraud
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Article |
Echo-acoustic flow dynamically modifies the cortical map of target range in bats
Echolocating bats possess an organized map of echo delay in the auditory cortex. Bartenstein et al. investigate the influence of echo-acoustic flow information on the organization of the cortical map, and find that dynamic adaptation of the map is dependent on situation-specific sensory input.
- Sophia K. Bartenstein
- , Nadine Gerstenberg
- & Uwe Firzlaff
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Article
| Open AccessA cochlear-bone wave can yield a hearing sensation as well as otoacoustic emission
Novel headphone technology employs bone conduction to enable hearing, but the mechanism behind this remains unclear. Tchumatchenko and Reichenbach now show that bone conduction and subsequent hearing and otoacoustic emissions are in part due to deformation of the cochlear bone.
- Tatjana Tchumatchenko
- & Tobias Reichenbach
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Article |
Lateralized enhancement of auditory cortex activity and increased sensitivity to self-generated sounds
Self-generated sounds and externally generated sounds are both processed in the auditory cortex, but it is unclear how. Daniel et al. find that compared to externally generated sounds, self-generated sounds produce enhanced responses in the auditory cortex that are due to motor cortex corollary discharges.
- Daniel Reznik
- , Yael Henkin
- & Roy Mukamel