Experience‐dependent cortical processing of complex sounds by rats
Auditory cortex is thought to play a critical role in the processing of species‐specific vocalizations and other acoustically complex sounds. Although evolutionary processes strongly constrain cortical sensitivities to sound, cortical processing is not fixed by biology, but rather is shaped by the auditory experiences of each individual. Auditory cortical neurons in adult rats respond selectively to spectrotemporal features of complex sounds. These selective responses are predictive of rats’ behaviorally measured perceptual sensitivities. With extensive training, the abilities of rats to discriminate frequency‐modulated sounds improve. Recordings from cortical neurons in trained rats show increased sensitivities to features of the sounds used in training. These results demonstrate that discrimination training with biologically irrelevant complex sounds can change how cortical neurons process those sounds. Changes in cortical processing of complex sounds can also be induced by controlling activity in neuro...