Neural circuits in auditory and audiovisual memory

Abstract

Working memory is the ability to employ recently seen or heard stimuli and apply them to changing cognitive context. Although much is known about language processing and visual working memory, the neurobiological basis of auditory working memory is less clear. Historically, part of the problem has been the difficulty in obtaining a robust animal model to study auditory short-term memory. In recent years there has been neurophysiological and lesion studies indicating a cortical network involving both temporal and frontal cortices. Studies specifically targeting the role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in auditory working memory have suggested that dorsal and ventral prefrontal regions perform different roles during the processing of auditory mnemonic information, with the dorsolateral PFC performing similar functions for both auditory and visual working memory. In contrast, the ventrolateral PFC (VLPFC), which contains cells that respond robustly to auditory stimuli and that process both face and vocal stimuli may be an essential locus for both auditory and audiovisual working memory. These findings suggest a critical role for the VLPFC in the processing, integrating, and retaining of communication information.

Short-term audiovisual spatial training enhances electrophysiological correlates of auditory selective spatial attention

“…This result may be compatible with previous findings indicating multior supramodal properties of the dorsofrontal networks that have been usually associated with selective spatial attention in the visual modality (e.g., Bharadwaj et al, 2014;Lee et al, 2012;Lewald et al, 2018;Macaluso, 2010;Slotnick & Moo, 2006). For the monkey DLPFC, it has been suggested that neuronal processes exist for visual and auditory location information and spatial working memory (Fuster et al, 2000;Kikuchi-Yorioka & Sawaguchi, 2000;Artchakov et al, 2007;Hwang & Romanski, 2015; for review, see Plakke & Romanski, 2016), and the human DLPFC has been shown to be involved in transforming auditory and visual inputs into multimodal spatial representations that can be used to guide saccades (Tark & Curtis, 2013). The monkey DLPFC receives projections from posterior auditory cortex areas known to be involved in spatial processing and from the posterior parietal cortex (Chavis, & Pandya, 1976;Rauschecker, et al, 1995;Romanski, Bates, et al, 1999;Romanski, Tian, et al, 1999).…”

Fronto‐parietal and temporal brain dysfunction in depression: A fMRI investigation of auditory mismatch processing

“…In a similar vein, frontal activation during mismatch processing has previously been described as reflecting an orienting response (Rinne, Alho, Ilmoniemi, Virtanen, & Näätänen, 2000). At the cellular level, animal studies have documented neural responses to auditory stimulation in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, which may play an important role in auditory working memory (for review see Plakke & Romanski, 2016). Indeed, multiple studies have confirmed the involvement of the right IFG in auditory change detection in humans (Doeller et al, 2003;Opitz et al, 2002).…”

“…The activation pattern largely resembles our findings. At the cellular level, animal studies have documented neural responses to auditory stimulation in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, which may play an important role in auditory working memory (for review see Plakke & Romanski, 2016). In a similar vein, frontal activation during mismatch processing has previously been described as reflecting an orienting response (Rinne, Alho, Ilmoniemi, Virtanen, & Näätänen, 2000).…”

Attenuation of dopamine-modulated prefrontal value signals underlies probabilistic reward learning deficits in old age

“…Regions of interest for the ROI analysis were dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC), ventrolateral PFC (vlPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and vmPFC in cortex, and putamen, caudate and NAcc in striatum across hemispheres. These regions were chosen based on their relevance to our task: dlPFC has previously been demonstrated to be involved in executive processes and working memory (WM) and cognitive flexibility ( Barch et al, 2003 ; D'Esposito et al, 1995 ; Petrides, 2000 ; Plakke and Romanski, 2016 ), whereas vlPFC is thought to be important for goal-directed action and attention ( Levy and Wagner, 2011 ). vmPFC has been shown to be responsive to reward magnitude and reward probability in an overwhelming number of studies ( Rushworth et al, 2008 ).…”