Syntax processing by auditory cortical neurons in the FM-FM area of the mustached bat Pteronotus parnellii

摘要

Syntax denotes a rule system that allows one to predict the sequencing of communication signals. Despite its significance for both human speech processing and animal acoustic communication, the representation of syntactic struc- ture in the mammalian brain has not been studied electrophysi- ologically at the single-unit level. In the search for a neuronal correlate for syntax, we used playback of natural and temporally destructured complex species-specific communication calls--so- called composites--while recording extracellularly from neu- rons in a physiologically well defined area (the FM-FM area) of the mustached bat's auditory cortex.