Activation of bottom-up and top-down auditory pathways by US sensors based interface

In this paper we investigate the neural activation of both bottom-up and top-down auditory pathways in rats by means of electrical stimulation. The electrical signals are generated by a bio-inspired sonar and processed by an electronic interface, thought to emulate the mammals biosonar. We stimulate the Inferior Colliculus and the Auditory Cortex through different signal patterns related to ultrasound echoes. In order to investigate neural response to stimuli, we perform Principal Component Analysis and spectral analysis on the electrocorticographic recordings. It is clear that neurons modulate their functional state in response to the external stimulus and its features, strongly highlighting that the electrical inputs are efficiently encoded by both ascending and descending acoustic fibers.

[1]  N Jeremy Hill,et al.  Recording human electrocorticographic (ECoG) signals for neuroscientific research and real-time functional cortical mapping. , 2012, Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE.

[2]  W. Murphy,et al.  Resolution of the Early Placental Mammal Radiation Using Bayesian Phylogenetics , 2001, Science.

[3]  R. Romo,et al.  α-Oscillations in the monkey sensorimotor network influence discrimination performance by rhythmical inhibition of neuronal spiking , 2011, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[4]  S Makeig,et al.  Human auditory evoked gamma-band magnetic fields. , 1991, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[5]  Manuel S. Malmierca,et al.  The Inferior Colliculus: A Center for Convergence of Ascending and Descending Auditory Information , 2004, Neuroembryology and Aging.

[6]  C. Witton,et al.  Gamma oscillatory amplitude encodes stimulus intensity in primary somatosensory cortex , 2013, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[7]  Gregory Hickok,et al.  Visual stimuli activate auditory cortex in deaf subjects: evidence from MEG , 2003, Neuroreport.

[8]  A. Fiorillo.  Design and characterization of a PVDF ultrasonic range sensor , 1992, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[9]  Laura Lee Colgin,et al.  Beta and Gamma Rhythms Go with the Flow , 2015, Neuron.

[10]  Melvyn A. Goodale,et al.  The role of head movements in the discrimination of 2-D shape by blind echolocation experts , 2014, Attention, perception & psychophysics.

[11]  P. Roelfsema,et al.  Alpha and gamma oscillations characterize feedback and feedforward processing in monkey visual cortex , 2014, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[12]  N. Yeung,et al.  The roles of cortical oscillations in sustained attention , 2015, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[13]  W. Singer,et al.  Stimulus-specific neuronal oscillations in orientation columns of cat visual cortex. , 1989, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[14]  Antonino S. Fiorillo,et al.  A brain-to-sonar electronic interface to bypass peripheral auditory system in rats , 2015, 2015 7th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering (NER).

[15]  W. Klimesch,et al.  EEG alpha oscillations: The inhibition–timing hypothesis , 2007, Brain Research Reviews.

[16]  M. Nicolelis,et al.  Principal component analysis of neuronal ensemble activity reveals multidimensional somatosensory representations , 1999, Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

[17]  W. Klimesch.  Alpha-band oscillations, attention, and controlled access to stored information , 2012, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[18]  T. H. Brown,et al.  Positive and negative ultrasonic social signals elicit opposing firing patterns in rat amygdala , 2012, Behavioural Brain Research.

[19]  Thomas Gold,et al.  Hearing , 1953, Trans. IRE Prof. Group Inf. Theory.

[20]  Ellen Covey,et al.  Brainstem mechanisms for analyzing temporal patterns of echolocation sounds: a model for understanding early stages of speech processing? , 2003, Speech Commun..

[21]  Antonio Fernando Catelli Infantosi,et al.  Validation in Principal Components Analysis Applied to EEG Data , 2014, Comput. Math. Methods Medicine.

[22]  J. Eggermont,et al.  What's to lose and what's to learn: Development under auditory deprivation, cochlear implants and limits of cortical plasticity , 2007, Brain Research Reviews.

[23]  N. Suga,et al.  Reorganization of the auditory cortex specialized for echo-delay processing in the mustached bat. , 2004, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[24]  M. Whittington,et al.  Gamma and beta frequency oscillations in response to novel auditory stimuli: A comparison of human electroencephalogram (EEG) data with in vitro models. , 2000, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[25]  G. Paxinos,et al.  The Rat Brain in Stereotaxic Coordinates , 1983 .

[26]  H. Schnitzler,et al.  From spatial orientation to food acquisition in echolocating bats , 2003 .

[27]  Antonino S. Fiorillo,et al.  Electrical activation of nervous system by sonar-based electronic interface , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Symposium on Medical Measurements and Applications (MeMeA).