A vocalization-processing network in marmosets

Azadeh Jafari; Audrey Dureux; Alessandro Zanini; Ravi S Menon; Kyle M Gilbert; Stefan Everling

doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112526

A vocalization-processing network in marmosets

Cell Rep. 2023 May 30;42(5):112526. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112526. Epub 2023 May 16.

Authors

Azadeh Jafari¹, Audrey Dureux¹, Alessandro Zanini¹, Ravi S Menon¹, Kyle M Gilbert¹, Stefan Everling²

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
² Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada; Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada. Electronic address: severlin@uwo.ca.

PMID: 37195863
DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112526

Abstract

Vocalizations play an important role in the daily life of primates and likely form the basis of human language. Functional imaging studies have demonstrated that listening to voices activates a fronto-temporal voice perception network in human participants. Here, we acquired whole-brain ultrahigh-field (9.4 T) fMRI in awake marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) and demonstrate that these small, highly vocal New World primates possess a similar fronto-temporal network, including subcortical regions, that is activated by the presentation of conspecific vocalizations. The findings suggest that the human voice perception network has evolved from an ancestral vocalization-processing network that predates the separation of New and Old World primates.

Keywords: CP: Neuroscience; anterior cingulate cortex; auditory cortex; common marmoset; comparative approach; conspecific vocalizations; fMRI; voice.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Auditory Perception / physiology
Brain
Callithrix*
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Vocalization, Animal* / physiology