Species-specific calls evoke asymmetric activity in the monkey's temporal poles

It has often been proposed that the vocal calls of monkeys are precursors of human speech, in part because they provide critical information to other members of the species who rely on them for survival and social interactions. Both behavioural and lesion studies suggest that monkeys, like humans, use the auditory system of the left hemisphere preferentially to process vocalizations. To investigate the pattern of neural activity that might underlie this particular form of functional asymmetry in monkeys, we measured local cerebral metabolic activity while the animals listened passively to species-specific calls compared with a variety of other classes of sound. Within the superior temporal gyrus, significantly greater metabolic activity occurred on the left side than on the right, only in the region of the temporal pole and only in response to monkey calls. This functional asymmetry was absent when these regions were separated by forebrain commissurotomy, suggesting that the perception of vocalizations elicits concurrent interhemispheric interactions that focus the auditory processing within a specialized area of one hemisphere.     

时间选择性注意的左半球优势效应：来自注意瞬脱研究范式的证据

采用注意瞬脱范式探讨时间注意加工上的大脑单侧优势效应的争论。实验选用字母和几何图像两种材料,要求被试报告 T1和 T2呈现的字母或几何图像是否相同。结果发现：无论是字母检测,还是几何图形检测,T2右视野呈现时变化检测正确率都高于左视野。上述结果表明,时间加工任务上存在左半球优势效应,支持时间加工的特异性假设。     

Identification of Zhoukoudian <Emphasis Type="Italic">Homo erectus</Emphasis> brain asymmetry using 3D laser scanning

Endocasts are important materials used for the study of human brain evolution, and allow examination of the external features of brain anatomy from the inside the cranium. Studies examining brain asymmetries in fossil hominids are usually limited to scoring of differences in hemisphere protrusion rostrally and caudally, or to comparing the width of the hemispheres. In the present study, using 3D laser scanning, we examined asymmetries of the hemisphere volumes and surface areas in the Zhoukoudain (ZKD) Homo erectus, dated to 0.4–0.8 Ma. Compared with modern endocasts, we found that the absolute hemisphere volumes and surface areas exhibited no significant asymmetries in the ZKD or in modern specimens. However, the relative hemisphere volumes against surface areas differed between the two groups. When comparing the relative sizes between the left and right hemispheres, the ZKD specimens exhibited a greater variation than in the modern humans; there were no differences in the two hemispheres in the ZKD specimens, while in the modern endocasts the left hemisphere was significantly greater than the right hemisphere. These data suggest that brain asymmetries originated from relative brain sizes rather than absolute brain volumes during human evolution. These anatomical changes are likely related to the origin of human brain lateralization.     

Induction of an illusory shadow person

Stimulation of a site on the brain's left hemisphere prompts the creepy feeling that somebody is close by. The strange sensation that somebody is nearby when no one is actually present has been described by psychiatric and neurological patients, as well as by healthy subjects, but it is not understood how the illusion is triggered by the brain. Here we describe the repeated induction of this sensation in a patient who was undergoing presurgical evaluation for epilepsy treatment, as a result of focal electrical stimulation of the left temporoparietal junction: the illusory person closely 'shadowed' changes in the patient's body position and posture. These perceptions may have been due to a disturbance in the multisensory processing of body and self at the temporoparietal junction.     

Functional brain laterality for sequential movements： Impact of transient practice

The impact of learning on brain functional laterality has not been systematically investigated. We employed an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging combined with a delayed sequential movement task to investigate brain activation pattern and laterality during a transient practice in 12 subjects. Both hemispheres, involving motor areas and posterior parietal cortex, were engaged during motor preparation and execution, with larger activation volume in the left hemisphere than in the right. Activation volume in these regions significantly decreased after a transient practice, with more reduction in the right hemisphere resulting increase in left lateralization. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the physiological significance of brain functional laterality.     

Ultrasonic communication in frogs

Among vertebrates, only microchiropteran bats, cetaceans and some rodents are known to produce and detect ultrasounds (frequencies greater than 20 kHz) for the purpose of communication and/or echolocation, suggesting that this capacity might be restricted to mammals. Amphibians, reptiles and most birds generally have limited hearing capacity, with the ability to detect and produce sounds below approximately 12 kHz. Here we report evidence of ultrasonic communication in an amphibian, the concave-eared torrent frog (Amolops tormotus) from Huangshan Hot Springs, China. Males of A. tormotus produce diverse bird-like melodic calls with pronounced frequency modulations that often contain spectral energy in the ultrasonic range. To determine whether A. tormotus communicates using ultrasound to avoid masking by the wideband background noise of local fast-flowing streams, or whether the ultrasound is simply a by-product of the sound-production mechanism, we conducted acoustic playback experiments in the frogs' natural habitat. We found that the audible as well as the ultrasonic components of an A. tormotus call can evoke male vocal responses. Electrophysiological recordings from the auditory midbrain confirmed the ultrasonic hearing capacity of these frogs and that of a sympatric species facing similar environmental constraints. This extraordinary upward extension into the ultrasonic range of both the harmonic content of the advertisement calls and the frog's hearing sensitivity is likely to have co-evolved in response to the intense, predominantly low-frequency ambient noise from local streams. Because amphibians are a distinct evolutionary lineage from microchiropterans and cetaceans (which have evolved ultrasonic hearing to minimize congestion in the frequency bands used for sound communication and to increase hunting efficacy in darkness), ultrasonic perception in these animals represents a new example of independent evolution.     

感情色彩双字词内隐加工的ERP研究

以汉语情感词系统中的汉语双字词作实验材料,记录20名大学生在执行情绪词汇判定任务时的事件相关电位(ERP), 初步探讨被试对汉语感情色彩双字词进行内隐加工时的脑内时程动态变化.结果显示:正性词或负性词诱发的ERP波幅比中性词诱发的ERP波幅大,而正性词与负性词诱发的ERP波幅之间差异不显著.正性词和负性词诱发的晚正成分(LPC)都是左半球大于右半球,右半球优势和愉悦度优势均不明显.研究结果提供了感情色彩双字词内隐加工的情绪效应及其优势半球的电生理学证据.     

Ultrasonic frogs show hyperacute phonotaxis to female courtship calls

Sound communication plays a vital role in frog reproduction, in which vocal advertisement is generally the domain of males. Females are typically silent, but in a few anuran species they can produce a feeble reciprocal call or rapping sounds during courtship. Males of concave-eared torrent frogs (Odorrana tormota) have demonstrated ultrasonic communication capacity. Although females of O. tormota have an unusually well-developed vocal production system, it is unclear whether or not they produce calls or are only passive partners in a communication system dominated by males. Here we show that before ovulation, gravid females of O. tormota emit calls that are distinct from males' advertisement calls, having higher fundamental frequencies and harmonics and shorter call duration. In the field and in a quiet, darkened indoor arena, these female calls evoke vocalizations and extraordinarily precise positive phonotaxis (a localization error of <1 degrees ), rivalling that of vertebrates with the highest localization acuity (barn owls, dolphins, elephants and humans). The localization accuracy of O. tormota is remarkable in light of their small head size (interaural distance of <1 cm), and suggests an additional selective advantage of high-frequency hearing beyond the ability to avoid masking by low-frequency background noise.     

利手与两半球的听觉词汇语义加工

左右利手被试在双耳分听呈现条件下完成单个汉字具体名词(动物、物体和身体部位)的范畴归类任务, 检查不同利手者大脑两半球加工听觉词汇语义的大脑功能偏侧化与整合效应.结果显示:(1) 右利手被试用左手或右手反应在左耳内的错误率显著低于右耳内,提示存在明显的右半球优势;(2) 左利手被试用左手反应在左耳内的错误率也显著低于右耳内,但用右手反应在右耳内与左耳内的错误率差异不显著,提示两半球可能都有一定的听觉词汇语义加工能力;(3) 右利手被试用左手或右手反应在左-右耳间或右-左耳间的错误率均显著高于左耳内,而与右耳内没有差异,提示缺乏明显的语义加工在半球间的整合优势;(4) 左利手被试用右手反应在左-右耳间和右-左耳间的错误率均明显低于左耳内和右耳内,提示左利手被试的左半球可能具有更强的听觉词汇语义加工在半球间的整合能力.     

冥想加工性别差异的神经机制 ——来自ERP的证据

采用事件相关电位(ERP)技术,记录52名大学生被试在听(正性和负性)冥想指导语的脑电波,探索冥想加工过程的神经机制与性别差异.以固定频率的声音作为线索诱发N2和P3成分,这2个成分作为探究刺激差异和注意力资源调配的标记分别在160 ms和240 ms的时间上观察到.结果表明:在正性冥想条件下,在前额叶皮层(PFC)中...     

超声振动挤压工艺与常规挤压工艺的对比分析

提出了一种利用超声振动对金属工件表面进行挤压强化的新的光整工艺方法．介绍了这种工艺方法的原理和试验装置，并依据大量试验结果对超声振动挤压工艺与常规挤压工艺在工艺效果、工具头磨损、工件表面金属变形过程等方面的差别进行了对比分析．结果表明，超声振动挤压工艺优于常规挤压工艺．     

Temporal patterns of human cortical activity reflect tone sequence structure

Despite growing interest in temporal aspects of auditory neural processing, little is known about large-scale timing patterns of brain activity during the perception of auditory sequences. This is partly because it has not been possible to distinguish stimulus-related activity from other, endogenous brain signals recorded by electrical or magnetic sensors. Here we use amplitude modulation of unfamiliar, approximately 1-minute-long tone sequences to label stimulus-related magnetoencephalographic neural activity in human subjects. We show that temporal patterns of activity recorded over particular brain regions track the pitch contour of tone sequences, with the accuracy of tracking increasing as tone sequences become more predictable in structure. In contrast, temporal synchronization between recording locations, particularly between sites over the left posterior hemisphere and the rest of the brain, is greatest when sequences have melody-like statistical properties, which may reflect the perceptual integration of local and global pitch patterns in melody-like sequences. This method is particularly well suited to studying temporal neural correlates of complex auditory sequences (such as speech or music) which engage multiple brain areas as perception unfolds in time.     

The colour centre in the cerebral cortex of man

Anatomical and physiological studies have shown that there is an area specialized for the processing of colour (area V4) in the prestriate cortex of macaque monkey brain. Earlier this century, suggestive clinical evidence for a colour centre in the brain of man was dismissed because of the association of other visual defects with the defects in colour vision. However, since the demonstration of functional specialization in the macaque cortex, the question of a colour centre in man has been reinvestigated, based on patients with similar lesions in the visual cortex. In order to study the colour centre in normal human subjects, we used the technique of positron emission tomography (PET), which measures increases in blood flow resulting from increased activity in the cerebral cortex. A comparison of the results of PET scans of subjects viewing multi-coloured and black-and-white displays has identified a region of normal human cerebral cortex specialized for colour vision.     

Lateralization of magnetic compass orientation in a migratory bird

Lateralization of brain functions, once believed to be a human characteristic, has now been found to be widespread among vertebrates. In birds, asymmetries of visual functions are well studied, with each hemisphere being specialized for different tasks. Here we report lateralized functions of the birds' visual system associated with magnetoperception, resulting in an extreme asymmetry of sensing the direction of the magnetic field. We found that captive migrants tested in cages with the magnetic field as the only available orientation cue were well oriented in their appropriate migratory direction when using their right eye only, but failed to show a significant directional preference when using their left eye. This implies that magnetoreception for compass orientation, assumed to take place in the eyes alongside the visual processes, is strongly lateralized, with a marked dominance of the right eye/left brain hemisphere.     

Complex auditory behaviour emerges from simple reactive steering

The recognition and localization of sound signals is fundamental to acoustic communication. Complex neural mechanisms are thought to underlie the processing of species-specific sound patterns even in animals with simple auditory pathways. In female crickets, which orient towards the male's calling song, current models propose pattern recognition mechanisms based on the temporal structure of the song. Furthermore, it is thought that localization is achieved by comparing the output of the left and right recognition networks, which then directs the female to the pattern that most closely resembles the species-specific song. Here we show, using a highly sensitive method for measuring the movements of female crickets, that when walking and flying each sound pulse of the communication signal releases a rapid steering response. Thus auditory orientation emerges from reactive motor responses to individual sound pulses. Although the reactive motor responses are not based on the song structure, a pattern recognition process may modulate the gain of the responses on a longer timescale. These findings are relevant to concepts of insect auditory behaviour and to the development of biologically inspired robots performing cricket-like auditory orientation.     

高频超声清洗中声场分布的仿真及实验研究

高频超声乃至兆声清洗广泛应用于半导体器件的超精密清洗,可以有效去除纳米颗粒污染。其中,声能在声场中的分布决定了清洗效果,包括去除均匀性和清洗对象破坏。对于矩形清洗槽内的声场分布,采用简正分解理论直接求解声压分布。结果表明,兆声声能集中于声源辐射轴所在的局部区域,声压波腹和波节分布反映声源振动面形状,而超声波声能扩散至全声场。采用水听器对超声波声场声压分布进行测量,与理论结果相符。由于截断误差和非线性空化误差的存在,理论值小于实验测量结果。     

Animal communication: ground squirrel uses ultrasonic alarms

Apart from echolocation and the pursuit of prey by bats, the function of ultrasound in animal communication is poorly understood. This is mainly because of the broad range of responses that it can evoke and the widely varied contexts in which it is used (for example, in rodents of the Muridae family it may indicate distress in infants or a sexual or predatory encounter in adults). Here we find that a purely ultrasonic signal is produced in the wild by a rodent of the Sciuridae family, Richardson's ground squirrel, and show that its function is to warn conspecifics of impending danger. To our knowledge, ultrasonic alarm calls have not previously been detected in any animal group, despite their twin advantages of being highly directional and inaudible to key predators.     

Left neglect for near but not far space in man

It has been suggested that, among the many visual areas of the human brain, there might be one set of spatial maps specialized for 'near' (peripersonal) and another for 'far' (extrapersonal) space. A distinction between 'grasping distance' and 'walking distance', or between a 'reaching field' and a pointing or throwing field has commonly been made. Evidence for such a division has been found in monkeys. Unilateral ablation of the frontal eye field (area 8) produces a more prominent inattention (or 'neglect') for objects in contralesional far space than in near space; by contrast, unilateral ablation of frontal area 6, which receives direct projections from area 7b (the rostral part of the inferior parietal lobules) results in inattention to visual stimuli limited to contralesional near space. Despite predictions that comparable dissociations should be found in man, there has been no convincing evidence. We report here such evidence in a patient with a unilateral right hemisphere stroke. Within peripersonal space, he showed severe left visuo-spatial neglect on conventional tests, including the highly sensitive task of line bisection. When line bisection was performed in extrapersonal space, neglect was abolished or attenuated.     

Sign language aphasia during left-hemisphere Amytal injection

Although it has been established that the left cerebral hemisphere subserves spoken language, the nature of brain organization for sign language remains relatively unexplored. The issue is especially important because sign language displays the complex linguistic structure of spoken languages, but conveys it through manipulation of visuo-spatial relations, thereby exhibiting properties for which the hemispheres of hearing individuals show opposing specializations. We had the unique opportunity to study a hearing signer proficient in American sign language (ASL), during the left intracarotid injection of a barbiturate (the Wada test), and before and after a right temporal lobectomy. The subject was a strong right-hander. Neuropsychological and anatomical asymmetries suggested left cerebral dominance for auditory-based language. Emission tomography revealed lateralized activity of left Broca's and Wernicke's regions for spoken language. The Wada test, during which all left language areas were rendered inoperative, caused a marked aphasia in both English and ASL. After partial ablation of the right temporal lobe, the abilities to sign and understand signing were unchanged. These data add further support to the notion that anatomical structures of the left cerebral hemisphere subserve language in a visuo-spatial as well as an auditory mode.     

电刺激鸣禽高级发声中枢诱发叫声的声谱分析

栗Wu每侧高级发声中枢（HVC）均有发出简单音节的能力,并决定正常鸣转的音节时间和能量特征,电刺激两侧HVC均可以诱发简单的叫声,与正常的鸣转音节相比,声学特征上表现为音节时程长,频率幅度变化小,能量不集中且极少有复杂音节和陪音的出现,刺激左侧HVC所诱发的叫声,其基本音的频带起止均明显高于右侧诱发叫声,暗示左侧HVC控制频率较高,较复杂的音节,也为左侧优势理论提供了声学上的证据。