Single neurons in monkey prefrontal cortex encode volitional initiation of vocalizations

Steffen R. Hage () and Andreas Nieder
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Steffen R. Hage: Animal Physiology, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tübingen
Andreas Nieder: Animal Physiology, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tübingen

Nature Communications, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Broca’s area in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) has a crucial role in human volitional speech production; damage to this area causes severe impairment of speech production. Lesions in PFC of monkeys, however, have only mild effects on spontaneous vocal behaviour. Non-human primate vocalizations are thus believed to constitute affective utterances processed by a subcortical network. Here in contrast to this assumption, we show that rhesus monkeys can control their vocalizations in a goal-directed way. During single-cell recordings in the vlPFC of monkeys trained to vocalize in response to visual cues, we find call-related neurons that specifically predict the preparation of instructed vocalizations. The activity of many call-related neurons before vocal output correlates with call parameters of instructed vocalizations. These findings suggest a cardinal role of the monkey homologue of Broca’s area in vocal planning and call initiation, a putative phylogenetic precursor in non-human primates for speech control in linguistic humans.

Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3409

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