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The perception of pitch is a fundamental percept, which is mediated by the auditory system, requiring the abstraction of stimulus properties related to the spectro-temporal structure of sound. Despite its importance, there is still debate as to the precise areas responsible for its encoding, which may be due to species differences or differences in the recording measures and choices of stimuli used in previous studies. Moreover, it was unknown whether the human brain contains pitch neurons and how distributed such neurons might be. Here, we present the first study to measure multiunit neural activity in response to pitch stimuli in the auditory cortex of intracranially implanted humans. The stimulus sets were regular-interval noise with a pitch strength that is related to the temporal regularity and a pitch value determined by the repetition rate and harmonic complexes. Specifically, we demonstrate reliable responses to these different pitch-inducing paradigms that are distributed throughout Heschl’s gyrus, rather than being localized to a particular region, and this finding was evident regardless of the stimulus presented. These data provide a bridge across animal and human studies and aid our understanding of the processing of a critical percept associated with acoustic stimuli.

Whether human and nonhuman primates process the temporal dimension of sound similarly remains an open question. We examined the brain basis for the processing of acoustic time windows in rhesus macaques using stimuli simulating the spectrotemporal complexity of vocalizations. We conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging in awake macaques to identify the functional anatomy of response patterns to different time windows. We then contrasted it against the responses to identical stimuli used previously in humans. Despite a similar overall pattern, ranging from the processing of shorter time windows in core areas to longer time windows in lateral belt and parabelt areas, monkeys exhibited lower sensitivity to longer time windows than humans. This difference in neuronal sensitivity might be explained by a specialization of the human brain for processing longer time windows in speech.

Ethical frameworks are the foundation for any research with humans or nonhuman animals. Human research is guided by overarching international ethical principles, such as those defined in the Helsinki Declaration by the World Medical Association. However, for nonhuman animal research, because there are several sets of ethical principles and national frameworks, it is commonly thought that there is substantial variability in animal research approaches internationally and a lack of an animal research 'Helsinki Declaration', or the basis for one. We first overview several prominent sets of ethical principles, including the 3Rs, 3Ss, 3Vs, 4Fs and 6Ps. Then using the 3Rs principles, originally proposed by Russell & Burch, we critically assess them, asking if they can be Replaced, Reduced or Refined. We find that the 3Rs principles have survived several replacement challenges, and the different sets of principles (3Ss, 3Vs, 4Fs and 6Ps) are complementary, a natural refinement of the 3Rs and are ripe for integration into a unified set of principles, as proposed here. We also overview international frameworks and documents, many of which incorporate the 3Rs, including the Basel Declaration on animal research. Finally, we propose that the available animal research guidance documents across countries can be consolidated, to provide a similar structure as seen in the Helsinki Declaration, potentially as part of an amended Basel Declaration on animal research. In summary, we observe substantially greater agreement on and the possibility for unification of the sets of ethical principles and documents that can guide animal research internationally.

Highlights • A non-human primate protective head cap that promotes wound healing after cranial implants. • Use of the head cap reduced wound dehiscence and the need to re-suture surgical wounds. • The head cap is easily adjustable to cover most primate cranial implants. • The head cap facilitates primate cranial implant wound management in neuroscience., Background Neuroscience studies with macaque monkeys may require cranial implants to stabilize the head or gain access to the brain for scientific purposes. Wound management that promotes healing after the cranial implant surgery in non-human primates can be difficult as it is not necessarily possible to cover the wound margins. New method Here, we developed an easily modifiable head cap that protects the sutured skin margins after cranial implant surgery and contributes to wound healing. The protective head cap was developed in response to monkeys picking at sutured skin margins around an implant, complicating healing. The user-friendly protective cap, made from Klarity- R™ Sheet (3.2 mm thick with 36 % or 42 % perforation) is affixed to the implant post-surgically. Once secured and while the monkey is still anesthetized, the plastic sheeting is molded around the implant. The protective head cap restricts the monkey’s finger access to its’ wound margins while allowing air to circulate to promote wound healing. Results and comparison with existing methods Across two UK primate facilities, the protective head cap promoted wound healing. In monkeys that did not wear the head cap, re-suturing was necessary in ∼30 % of cases. In contrast, none of the monkeys that wore the head cap required re-suturing. The monkeys wearing the head cap also had reduced numbers of days of prescribed antibiotics and analgesia. Conclusion This bespoken, easily adaptable, protective head cap supports postoperative wound healing, and enhances the welfare of monkeys involved in neuroscience research.

Welcome to Current Research in Neurobiology (CRNEUR), the gold open access, sibling journal to Current Opinion in Neurobiology, a journal for timely original research in neuroscience. At its very core, CRNEUR is a journal for creativity and innovation in science and publishing. As a journal, we ambitiously aim for CRNEUR to be a vehicle for what many of us envisioned an academic journal could be. Empowered by our commitment to fairness and transparency—to hold ourselves and others to a higher standard—here we describe our ambitions for innovation going forward. We need your help in this process and welcome your views via this survey ( https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/5LHWTML ) and on social media (to start or join a discussion please use the hashtag #CRNEUR).

Mapping the causal effects of one brain region on another is a challenging problem in neuroscience that we approached through invasive direct manipulation of brain function together with concurrent whole-brain measurement of the effects produced. Here we establish a unique resource and present data from 26 human patients who underwent electrical stimulation during functional magnetic resonance imaging (es-fMRI). The patients had medically refractory epilepsy requiring surgically implanted intracranial electrodes in cortical and subcortical locations. One or multiple contacts on these electrodes were stimulated while simultaneously recording BOLD-fMRI activity in a block design. Multiple runs exist for patients with different stimulation sites. We describe the resource, data collection process, preprocessing using the fMRIPrep analysis pipeline and management of artifacts, and provide end-user analyses to visualize distal brain activation produced by site-specific electrical stimulation. The data are organized according to the brain imaging data structure (BIDS) specification, and are available for analysis or future dataset contributions on openneuro.org including both raw and preprocessed data., Measurement(s) brain measurement • anatomical image data • functional brain measurement Technology Type(s) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) • functional magnetic resonance imaging Factor Type(s) pre-surgery versus post-surgery • electrical stimulation (on vs off) Sample Characteristic - Organism Homo sapiens Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data: 10.6084/m9.figshare.12625541

Mapping the causal effects of one brain region on another (effective connectivity) is a challenging problem in neuroscience, since it requires invasive direct manipulation of brain function, together with whole-brain measurement of the effects produced. Here we establish a unique resource and present data from 26 human patients who underwent electrical stimulation during functional magnetic resonance imaging (es-fMRI). The patients had medically refractory epilepsy requiring surgically implanted intracranial electrodes in cortical and subcortical locations. One or multiple contacts on these electrodes were stimulated while simultaneously recording BOLD-fMRI activity in a block design. Multiple runs exist for patients with different stimulation sites. We describe the resource, data collection process, preprocessing using the fMRIPrep analysis pipeline and management of artifacts, and provide end-user analyses to visualize distal brain activation produced by site-specific electrical stimulation. The data are organized according to the brain imaging data structure (BIDS) specification, and are available for analysis or future dataset contributions on openneuro.org including both raw and preprocessed data.

Summary Human brain pathways supporting language and declarative memory are thought to have differentiated substantially during evolution. However, cross-species comparisons are missing on site-specific effective connectivity between regions important for cognition. We harnessed functional imaging to visualize the effects of direct electrical brain stimulation in macaque monkeys and human neurosurgery patients. We discovered comparable effective connectivity between caudal auditory cortex and both ventro-lateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC, including area 44) and parahippocampal cortex in both species. Human-specific differences were clearest in the form of stronger hemispheric lateralization effects. In humans, electrical tractography revealed remarkably rapid evoked potentials in VLPFC following auditory cortex stimulation and speech sounds drove VLPFC, consistent with prior evidence in monkeys of direct auditory cortex projections to homologous vocalization-responsive regions. The results identify a common effective connectivity signature in human and nonhuman primates, which from auditory cortex appears equally direct to VLPFC and indirect to the hippocampus. Video Abstract, Graphical Abstract, Highlights • Privileged human auditory to ventral prefrontal connectivity, paralleled in monkeys • Common auditory to parahippocampal effective connectivity in both species • Stronger lateralization of connectivity effects in humans than in monkeys • Human fronto-temporal network rooted in conserved organizational principle, Interconnectivity between brain regions crucial for language and declarative memory is thought to have substantially evolutionarily differentiated in humans. Rocchi, Oya and colleagues visualize site-specific brain connectivity in monkeys and human neurosurgery patients. They discover a common neural organizational principle that bridges gaps between primates as neurobiological models and human patients.

Cognitive pathways supporting human language and declarative memory are thought to have uniquely evolutionarily differentiated in our species. However, cross-species comparisons are missing on site-specific effective connectivity between regions important for cognition. We harnessed a new approach using functional imaging to visualize the impact of direct electrical brain stimulation in human neurosurgery patients. Applying the same approach with macaque monkeys, we found remarkably comparable patterns of effective connectivity between auditory cortex and ventro-lateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) and parahippocampal cortex in both species. Moreover, in humans electrical tractography revealed rapid evoked potentials in vlPFC from stimulating auditory cortex and speech sounds drove vlPFC, consistent with prior evidence in monkeys of direct projections from auditory cortex to vocalization responsive regions in vlPFC. The results identify a common effective connectivity signature that from auditory cortex is equally direct to vlPFC and indirect to the hippocampus (via parahippocampal cortex) in human and nonhuman primates.HighlightsPrivileged human auditory to inferior frontal connectivity, linked to monkeysCommon auditory to parahippocampal effective connectivity in both speciesGreater lateralization in human effective connectivity, more symmetrical in monkeysHuman fronto-temporal network function rooted in evolutionarily conserved signatureeTOC short summaryFunctional connectivity between regions crucial for language and declarative memory is thought to have substantially differentiated in humans. Using a new technique to similarly visualize directional effective connectivity in humans and monkeys, we found remarkably comparable connectivity patterns in both species between fronto-temporal regions crucial for cognition.

Human languages all have a grammar, that is, rules that determine how symbols in a language can be combined to create complex meaningful expressions. Despite decades of research, the evolutionary, developmental, cognitive, and computational bases of grammatical abilities are still not fully understood. “Artificial Grammar Learning” (AGL) studies provide important insights into how rules and structured sequences are learned, the relevance of these processes to language in humans, and whether the cognitive systems involved are shared with other animals. AGL tasks can be used to study how human adults, infants, animals, or machines learn artificial grammars of various sorts, consisting of rules defined typically over syllables, sounds, or visual items. In this introduction, we distill some lessons from the nine other papers in this special issue, which review the advances made from this growing body of literature. We provide a critical synthesis, identify the questions that remain open, and recognize the challenges that lie ahead. A key observation across the disciplines is that the limits of human, animal, and machine capabilities have yet to be found. Thus, this interdisciplinary area of research firmly rooted in the cognitive sciences has unearthed exciting new questions and venues for research, along the way fostering impactful collaborations between traditionally disconnected disciplines that are breaking scientific ground.

Contains fulltext : 217200.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Nonhuman primate neuroimaging is on the cusp of a transformation, much in the same way its human counterpart was in 2010, when the Human Connectome Project was launched to accelerate progress. Inspired by an open data-sharing initiative, the global community recently met and, in this article, breaks through obstacles to define its ambitions. 4 p.

Empirical advances have been made in understanding how human language, in its combinatorial complexity and unbounded expressivity, may have evolved from the communication systems present in our evolutionary ancestors. However, a number of cognitive processes and neurobiological mechanisms that support language may not have evolved specifically for communication, but rather from abilities that support perception and cognition more generally. We review recent evidence from comparative behavioural and neurobiological studies on structured sequence learning in human and nonhuman primates. These studies support the notion that certain sequence learning abilities are evolutionarily conserved and engage corresponding inferior frontal brain regions across the species, regions also involved in processing language in humans. Alongside the cross-species similarities is evidence for human specialisations, illuminating the likely evolutionary pathways towards language in modern humans. We argue that cognitive abilities that were in place for animals to learn combinatorial relationships in the sensory world were available and co-opted for language in humans.

Background: Understanding brain function requires knowledge of how one brain region causally influences another. This information is difficult to obtain directly in the human brain, and is instead typically inferred from resting-state fMRI. New method: Here, we demonstrate the safety and scientific promise of a novel and complementary approach: concurrent electrical stimulation and fMRI (es-fMRI) at 3 T in awake neurosurgical patients with implanted depth electrodes. Results: We document the results of safety testing, actual experimental setup, and stimulation parameters, that safely and reliably evoke activation in distal structures through stimulation of amygdala, cingulate, or prefrontal cortex. We compare connectivity inferred from the evoked patterns of activation with that estimated from standard resting-state fMRI in the same patients: while connectivity patterns obtained with each approach are correlated, each method produces unique results. Response patterns were stable over the course of 11 min of es-fMRI runs. Comparison with existing method: es-fMRI in awake humans yields unique information about effective connectivity, complementing resting-state fMRI. Although our stimulations were below the level of inducing any apparent behavioral or perceptual effects, a next step would be to use es-fMRI to modulate task performances. This would reveal the acute network-level changes induced by the stimulation that mediate the behavioral and cognitive effects seen with brain stimulation. Conclusions: es-fMRI provides a novel and safe approach for mapping effective connectivity in the human brain in a clinical setting, and will inform treatments for psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders that use deep brain stimulation.

The human arcuate fasciculus pathway is crucial for language, interconnecting the posterior temporal and inferior frontal areas. Whether a monkey homolog exists is controversial and the nature of human-specific specialization unclear. Using monkey, ape and human auditory functional fields and diffusion-weighted MRI, we identified homologous pathways originating from the auditory cortex. This discovery establishes a primate auditory prototype for the arcuate fasciculus, reveals an earlier phylogenetic origin and illuminates its remarkable transformation.

Understanding how the brain forms representations of structured information distributed in time is a challenging endeavour for the neuroscientific community, requiring computationally and neurobiologically informed approaches. The neural mechanisms for segmenting continuous streams of sensory input and establishing representations of dependencies remain largely unknown, as do the transformations and computations occurring between the brain regions involved in these aspects of sequence processing. We propose a blueprint for a neurobiologically informed and informing computational model of sequence processing (entitled: Vector-symbolic Sequencing of Binding INstantiating Dependencies, or VS-BIND). This model is designed to support the transformation of serially ordered elements in sensory sequences into structured representations of bound dependencies, readily operates on multiple timescales, and encodes or decodes sequences with respect to chunked items wherever dependencies occur in time. The model integrates established vector symbolic additive and conjunctive binding operators with neurobiologically plausible oscillatory dynamics, and is compatible with modern spiking neural network simulation methods. We show that the model is capable of simulating previous findings from structured sequence processing tasks that engage fronto-temporal regions, specifying mechanistic roles for regions such as prefrontal areas 44/45 and the frontal operculum during interactions with sensory representations in temporal cortex. Finally, we are able to make predictions based on the configuration of the model alone that underscore the importance of serial position information, which requires input from time-sensitive cells, known to reside in the hippocampus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Towards mechanistic models of meaning composition’.

In natural settings, the prospect of reward often influences the focus of our attention, but how cognitive and motivational systems influence sensory cortex is not well understood. Also, challenges in training nonhuman animals on cognitive tasks complicate cross-species comparisons and interpreting results on the neurobiological bases of cognition. Incentivized attention tasks could expedite training and evaluate the impact of attention on sensory cortex. Here we develop an Incentivized Attention Paradigm (IAP) and use it to show that macaque monkeys readily learn to use auditory or visual reward cues, drastically influencing their performance within a simple auditory task. Next, this paradigm was used with functional neuroimaging to measure activation modulation in the monkey auditory cortex. The results show modulation of extensive auditory cortical regions throughout primary and non-primary regions, which although a hallmark of attentional modulation in human auditory cortex, has not been studied or observed as broadly in prior data from nonhuman animals. Psycho-physiological interactions were identified between the observed auditory cortex effects and regions including basal forebrain sites along acetylcholinergic and dopaminergic pathways. The findings reveal the impact and regional interactions in the primate brain during an incentivized attention engaging auditory task.

Sensation in natural environments requires the analysis of time-varying signals. While previous work has uncovered how a signal's temporal rate is represented by neurons in sensory cortex, in this issue of Neuron, new evidence from Gao et al. (2016) provides insights on the underlying mechanisms.

Optogenetics has revolutionized neuroscience in small laboratory animals, but its effect on animal models more closely related to humans, such as non-human primates (NHPs), has been mixed. To make evidence-based decisions in primate optogenetics, the scientific community would benefit from a centralized database listing all attempts, successful and unsuccessful, of using optogenetics in the primate brain. We contacted members of the community to ask for their contributions to an open science initiative. As of this writing, 45 laboratories around the world contributed more than 1,000 injection experiments, including precise details regarding their methods and outcomes. Of those entries, more than half had not been published. The resource is free for everyone to consult and contribute to on the Open Science Framework website. Here we review some of the insights from this initial release of the database and discuss methodological considerations to improve the success of optogenetic experiments in NHPs. ispartof: NEURON vol:108 issue:6 ispartof: location:United States status: published

The interactions of many social animals critically depend on identifying other individuals to approach or avoid. Recognizing specific individuals requires extracting and integrating cross-sensory indexical cues from richly informative communication signals such as voice and face content. Knowledge on how the brain processes faces and voices as unisensory or multisensory signals has grown; neurobiological insights are now available not only from human neuroimaging data but also from comparative neuroimaging studies in nonhuman animals, which together identify the correspondences that can be made between brain processes in humans and other species. These advances have also had the added benefit of establishing animal models in which neuronal processes and pathways are interrogated at finer neurobiological scales than possible in humans. This chapter overviews the latest insights on neuronal representations of voice and face content, including information on sensory convergence sites and pathways that combine multisensory signals in the primate temporal lobe. The information synthesized here leads to a conceptual model whereby the sensory integration of voice and face content depends on temporal lobe convergence sites, which are a midway processing stage and a conduit between audiovisual sensory-processing streams and the frontal cortex.

The social interactions of many animals critically depend on identifying other individuals to interact with or avoid. Recognizing specific individuals by voice requires extracting auditory indexical cues in communication signals, such as the voice-identity related content in vocalizations. Moreover, recognizing individuals can be facilitated by combining different forms of sensory inputs, such as when a vocalization is heard while the corresponding facial expression is seen. Our understanding of the neuronal substrates involved in processing voice content in communication sounds has been steadily increasing: neurobiological insights are now available not only from human neuroimaging studies but also from comparative neuroimaging data in non-human animals, which together identify the cross-species correspondences that can be made between voice-sensitive brain regions. The insights obtained using brain functional imaging have also had the added benefit of establishing certain animals as model systems in which neuronal processes and pathways can be interrogated at finer neurobiological scales than is possible in humans. The use of bridging neuroimaging techniques in humans and other animals allows the neuronal-level insights obtained in animal models to better translate to and inform the understanding of homologous processes in the human brain. This chapter provides an overview of these developments, summarizing knowledge on the functional characteristics of voice-sensitive neurons and on cortical pathways that integrate auditory voice with visual face input. It highlights how some of the gaps in our understanding have begun to close and identifies empirical challenges that remain on the horizon.

Summary Non-human primate neuroimaging is a rapidly growing area of research that promises to transform and scale translational and cross-species comparative neuroscience. Unfortunately, the technological and methodological advances of the past two decades have outpaced the accrual of data, which is particularly challenging given the relatively few centers that have the necessary facilities and capabilities. The PRIMatE Data Exchange (PRIME-DE) addresses this challenge by aggregating independently acquired non-human primate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) datasets and openly sharing them via the International Neuroimaging Data-sharing Initiative (INDI). Here, we present the rationale, design, and procedures for the PRIME-DE consortium, as well as the initial release, consisting of 25 independent data collections aggregated across 22 sites (total = 217 non-human primates). We also outline the unique pitfalls and challenges that should be considered in the analysis of non-human primate MRI datasets, including providing automated quality assessment of the contributed datasets., Highlights • Openly shared, large non-human primate neuroimaging data resource • Multiple imaging modalities contributed from investigators around the world • Quality assessments of the dataset • Discussed pitfalls and challenges in analyzing the non-human primate MRI data, The PRIMatE Data Exchange (PRIME-DE) consortium is an open science resource for the neuroimaging community aiming to facilitate efforts to map the non-human primate connectome. It aggregates and shares anatomical, functional, and diffusion MRI datasets from laboratories throughout the world.

The organisation of pitch-perception mechanisms in the primate cortex is controversial, in that divergent results have been obtained, ranging from a single circumscribed ‘pitch centre’ to systems widely distributed across auditory cortex. Possible reasons for such discrepancies include different species, recording techniques, pitch stimuli, sampling of auditory fields, and the neural metrics recorded. In the present study, we sought to bridge some of these divisions by examining activity related to pitch in both neurons and neuronal ensembles within the auditory cortex of the rhesus macaque, a primate species with similar pitch perception and auditory cortical organisation to humans. We demonstrate similar responses, in primary and non-primary auditory cortex, to two different types of broadband pitch above the macaque lower limit in both neurons and local field potential (LFP) gamma oscillations. The majority of broadband pitch responses in neurons and LFP sites did not show equivalent tuning for sine tones.

Non-human primate neuroimaging is a rapidly growing area of research that promises to transform and scale translational and cross-species comparative neuroscience.Unfortunately, the technological and methodological advances of the past two decades have outpaced the accrual of data, which is particularly challenging given the relatively few centers that have the necessary facilities and capabilities. The PRIMate Data Exchange (PRIME-DE) addresses this challenge by aggregating independently acquired non-human primate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) datasets and openly sharing them via the International Neuroimaging Data-sharing Initiative (INDI). Here, we present the rationale, design and procedures for the PRIME-DE consortium, as well as the initial release, consisting of 13 independent data collections aggregated across 11 sites (total = 98 macaque monkeys). We also outline the unique pitfalls and challenges that should be considered in the analysis of the non-human primate MRI datasets, including providing automated quality assessment of the contributed datasets.

Language flexibly supports the human ability to communicate using different sensory modalities, such as writing and reading in the visual modality and speaking and listening in the auditory domain. Although it has been argued that nonhuman primate communication abilities are inherently multisensory, direct behavioural comparisons between human and nonhuman primates are scant. Artificial grammar learning (AGL) tasks and statistical learning experiments can be used to emulate ordering relationships between words in a sentence. However, previous comparative work using such paradigms has primarily investigated sequence learning within a single sensory modality. We used an AGL paradigm to evaluate how humans and macaque monkeys learn and respond to identically structured sequences of either auditory or visual stimuli. In the auditory and visual experiments, we found that both species were sensitive to the ordering relationships between elements in the sequences. Moreover, the humans and monkeys produced largely similar response patterns to the visual and auditory sequences, indicating that the sequences are processed in comparable ways across the sensory modalities. These results provide evidence that human sequence processing abilities stem from an evolutionarily conserved capacity that appears to operate comparably across the sensory modalities in both human and nonhuman primates. The findings set the stage for future neurobiological studies to investigate the multisensory nature of these sequencing operations in nonhuman primates and how they compare to related processes in humans.