# Sensory-motor integration in the auditory dorsal stream

> **NIH NIH R01** · GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $77,824

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Two cortical pathways originate from primary core areas of auditory cortex: a ventral pathway subserving
identification of sounds, and a dorsal pathway, which was originally defined – similar to the visual system – as a
processing stream for space and motion. We have recently proposed that this dorsal pathway should be
redefined in a wider sense as a processing stream for sensorimotor integration and control (Rauschecker, 2011).
This broader function explicitly includes spatial processing but also extends to the processing of temporal
sequences, including spoken speech and musical melodies in humans. In this project, we will test the expanded
model of the auditory dorsal stream by training rhesus monkeys to produce fixed sound sequences on a newly
designed behavioral apparatus (“monkey piano”). By pressing a lever the monkey will produce a musical tone of
a specific pitch; by pressing several levers in succession, the monkey will produce a melody. After a monkey has
learned to reliably play the same melody, we will perform functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of
auditory-responsive brain regions in the awake monkey while it listens to the learned self-generated sequence.
Control stimuli include melodies the monkey has been passively exposed to by listening to another monkey play
for the same amount of time, and novel melodies that the monkey never heard before. Preliminary data suggest
that areas activated by the self-generated melody include a region in inferior parietal cortex as well as one focus
each in dorsal and ventral premotor cortex. The locations of activated regions will guide subsequent
electrophysiological recording with linear microelectrode arrays (LMAs). Each recording site will be tested with
the same sequences. Next we will record neuronal responses in premotor cortex to passive listening of the sound
sequences and compare them to neuronal activity obtained when the monkey actively produces the sequence
with and without sound. Finally, we will add video of a monkey playing the sound sequence on the monkey piano
and study multisensory interactions along the dorsal stream using fMRI and LMAs. In particular, responses in
caudal auditory belt and parabelt will be compared with those in inferior parietal and premotor cortex in
simultaneous recordings.
Our studies, using alert monkeys trained in a behavioral task, will contribute to the understanding of unified
principles of perception and cognition across sensory systems and their interactions with the motor system.
Investigating the auditory dorsal stream in a nonhuman primate will provide valuable information about the
evolution of speech and music in humans. Our studies are highly relevant for higher–order processing disorders
of audition and speech, such as dysarthria, apraxia of speech, aphasia and specific language disorders which
involve inadequate coordination between sensory and motor systems. The results will also improve our
understanding o...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10171668
- **Project number:** 3R01DC014989-05S1
- **Recipient organization:** GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** JOSEF P RAUSCHECKER
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $77,824
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2015-12-01 → 2020-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10171668

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10171668, Sensory-motor integration in the auditory dorsal stream (3R01DC014989-05S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10171668. Licensed CC0.

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