The neural correlates of social communication: role of PEEF in auditory orienting

Hypothesis as for auditory system hierarchical organization suggest a similar organization of visual system. Anatomical and physiological data propose auditory system consisting of two streams, dorsal and ventral, which project together to the frontal lobe. The dorsal one brings auditory spatial information while the ventral one brings sound recognition information. Considering both anatomical and electrophysiological evidence we propose that in dorsolateral frontal cortex there is an integration of both auditory streams. In fact, previous electrophysiological investigations support the anatomical data showing how in "Premotor-Ear-Eye Field" (PEEF), defined even area 8B, there are different kinds of auditory and auditory-motor neurons: auditory neurons firing for experimenters' voice recognition and sound's spatial direction; auditory-motor neurons firing for the integration of auditory complex stimuli and eye and/or ear orienting movements. Here, we show some PEEF's neurons firing for animals' and species-specific vocalizations and for head motor control. These data and our previous investigations support the functional role of PEEF as link between the auditory and motor systems. We propose PEEF as an important node for gaze and attention shift toward auditory stimuli, constituting a high order region of auditory system.