A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Reward cues readily direct monkeys' auditory performance resulting in broad auditory cortex modulation and interaction with sites along cholinergic and dopaminergic pathways
Authors: Patrik Wikman, Teemu Rinne, Christopher I. Petkov
Publisher: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
Publication year: 2019
Journal: Scientific Reports
Journal name in source: SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
Journal acronym: SCI REP-UK
Article number: ARTN 3055
Volume: 9
Number of pages: 17
ISSN: 2045-2322
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-38833-y
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/40068503
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.
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