Logo image
Back
Different forms of effective connectivity in primate frontotemporal pathways
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Different forms of effective connectivity in primate frontotemporal pathways

Christopher I. Petkov, Yukiko Kikuchi, Alice E. Milne, Mortimer Mishkin, Josef P. Rauschecker and Nikos K. Logothetis
Nature communications, Vol.6(1), pp.6000-6000
01/23/2015
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7000
PMCID: PMC4306228
PMID: 25613079
url
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7000View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Related content

Was corrected by

Abstract

It is generally held that non-primary sensory regions of the brain have a strong impact on frontal cortex. However, the effective connectivity of pathways to frontal cortex is poorly understood. Here we microstimulate sites in the superior temporal and ventral frontal cortex of monkeys and use functional magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate the functional activity resulting from the stimulation of interconnected regions. Surprisingly, we find that, although certain earlier stages of auditory cortical processing can strongly activate frontal cortex, downstream auditory regions, such as voice-sensitive cortex, appear to functionally engage primarily an ipsilateral temporal lobe network. Stimulating other sites within this activated temporal lobe network shows strong activation of frontal cortex. The results indicate that the relative stage of sensory processing does not predict the level of functional access to the frontal lobes. Rather, certain brain regions engage local networks, only parts of which have a strong functional impact on frontal cortex. 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.

Details

Metrics

14 Record Views
33 Times Cited - Web of Science
Logo image