Neuronal substrates for social communication: Voices, faces and songs

Many social animals, including humans, communicate with each other using a variety of sound patterns. Yet how the brain accurately extracts and encodes social information from auditory communication signals is still not well understood. To help clarify this, my research investigates the neuronal representation of communication signals in the brain of the listener, using extracellular recordings in nonhuman mammals and ethologically relevant social stimuli. In this talk, I will first present data clarifying the auditory encoding of voices by neurons in a voice-sensitive area of the primate brain. Second, I will consider primate auditory communication in its multisensory context, and summarize recent work exploring how visual face information interacts with the neuronal processing of voices during audio-visual stimulation. I will end with my recent switch to a different animal model, and introduce my ongoing research programme studying the neuronal substrates of auditory social communication in mice.