Inhibitory gating of coincidence-dependent sensory binding in secondary auditory cortex.

ABSTRACT: Integration of multi-frequency sounds into a unified perceptual object is critical for recognizing syllables in speech. This "feature binding" relies on the precise synchrony of each component's onset timing, but little is known regarding its neural correlates. We find that multi-frequency sounds prevalent in vocalizations, specifically harmonics, preferentially activate the mouse secondary auditory cortex (A2), whose response deteriorates with shifts in component onset timings. The temporal window for harmonics integration in A2 was broadened by inactivation of somatostatin-expressing interneurons (SOM cells), but not parvalbumin-expressing interneurons (PV cells). Importantly, A2 has functionally connected subnetworks of neurons preferentially encoding harmonic over inharmonic sounds. Th

SUBMITTER: Kline AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8322099 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature