Auditory system: Sound choices.

摘要

Sounds can trigger behavioural responses, but the process by which acoustic information in the auditory cortex is translated into motor instructions is unclear. Znamenskiy and Zador now show that auditory cortex corticostriatal projection neurons have a key role in this process. The striatum influences various downstream structures that guide motor responses. As long-range projections from the auditory cortex are known to innervate a region of the striatum (termed the auditory striatum) that does not receive input from other cortical areas, the authors examined whether these projections drive behavioural choices in an auditory discrimination task.