ePoster

High-resolution fMRI reveals an extensive cortical network responding to conspecific emotional vocalisations in macaques

Mathilda Froesel, Qi Zhu, Haiyan Wang, Marc Hauser, Suliann Ben Hamed, Wim Vanduffel
FENS Forum 2024(2024)
Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Conference

FENS Forum 2024

Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Resources

Authors & Affiliations

Mathilda Froesel, Qi Zhu, Haiyan Wang, Marc Hauser, Suliann Ben Hamed, Wim Vanduffel

Abstract

Understanding the neural underpinnings of social communication and emotional processing in non-human primates remains a significant challenge in neuroscience. In primates, studies using neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI, and electrophysiological recordings have identified several voice-sensitive cortical areas, i.e., the so-called voice patches. These voice patches are believed to be crucial for processing and distinguishing various vocalizations made by individuals of the same species (see for review Belin et al. 2018; and Bondin et al. 2021). In this study, we used fMRI (0.6 isotropic voxels) to investigate brain regions processing conspecific vocalisations in two awake rhesus monkeys. We presented to these fixating macaques several types of vocalisations with different emotional and semantic content, i.e., coos, aggressive calls and screams, in addition to other animal calls, nature sounds and a scrambled version of each stimulus category. Although our results largely confirm previous findings, we also observed several additional voice-sensitive cortical areas in single subjects. These highly reproducible voice-sensitive activations are located in the anterior bank of the posterior superior temporal sulcus, anterior cingulate sulcus, dorsal insula and dorsal premotor cortex. Moreover, fMRI responses in some of the latter cortical areas are modulated by the emotional content of the vocalisations. In conclusion, our sub-mm resolution functional imaging data suggest that the voice-processing network in rhesus monkeys is considerably more elaborated than previously thought.

Unique ID: fens-24/high-resolution-fmri-reveals-extensive-e3f30165