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Reconceptualizing the Primary Auditory Cortex: Learning, Memory and Specific Plasticity

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The Auditory Cortex

Abstract

Since 1985, attitudes about the role of the primary auditory cortex (AI) in learning, memory, and adult plasticity have changed from a denial, or studied disinterest, to an acceptance of these roles and, presently, to a new lack of interest. From the traditional assumption that AI is only an acoustic analyzer to the prevalent belief that learning-induced plasticity serves only to facilitate sensory analysis, auditory neuroscientists are expressing (more in private than in publication) a growing boredom with cortical plasticity. One worker wondered: “How much longer must we be subjected to endless demonstrations of plasticity?” From one viewpoint, this attitude is completely understandable, because (almost) every study of plasticity finds plasticity, first for acoustic frequency and, more recently, for any other acoustic parameter that has been used as a signal for reward or punishment. If all that has been gained is the continued compilation of plasticity demonstrations, boredom would be justified. But that is not all there is to it.

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Abbreviations

2-DG:

2-deoxyglucose

AC:

auditory cortex

AI:

primary auditory cortex

AII:

second auditory field

APS:

auditory problem solver

BF:

best frequency

CF:

characteristic frequency

CR:

conditioned response

CS:

conditioned stimulus

EEG:

electroencephalogram

ITI:

intertrial intervals

LFP:

local field potential

MGB:

medial geniculate body

RF:

receptive field

RM:

reference memory

SMI:

specific memory trace

SPL:

sound pressure level

US:

unconditioned stimulus

WM:

working memory

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Acknowledgments

Sincere thanks to Gabriel K. Hui and Jacquie Weinberger for assistance in the preparation of this chapter. Supported by research grants from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), DC-02938 and DC-05592 (N.M.W.)

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  1. Qureshey Research Laboratory, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Center of Neurobiology Learning and Memory, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697-3800, USA

    Norman M. Weinberger

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Correspondence to Norman M. Weinberger .

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  1. Dept. Molecular & Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, 94720-3200, California, USA

    Jeffery A. Winer

  2. WM Keck Foundation Center for, Integrative Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, Box 0732, Room HSE 824, San Francisco, 94143-0732, California, USA

    Christoph E. Schreiner

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Weinberger, N.M. (2011). Reconceptualizing the Primary Auditory Cortex: Learning, Memory and Specific Plasticity. In: Winer, J., Schreiner, C. (eds) The Auditory Cortex. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0074-6_22

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