Inferior Colliculus, but not Auditory Cortex, is necessary for the discrimination of heterospecific communication sounds in overtrained mice
Abstract
Discriminating communication sounds in noisy environment is a challenging task that humans and animals have to face daily. Understanding the contributions of auditory structures to this essential operation is a necessary step for dissecting the neural computation involved in auditory perception. Although many studies have tackled the role of the auditory cortex in the discrimination of artificial acoustic stimuli, very few studies have tested its role in the discrimination of communication sounds. Here, we trained mice to discriminate heterospecific communication sounds, first in quiet conditions then at increasing noise levels, down to a Signal to Noise Ratio of -10dB. Once the overtrained animals reached stable performance in all conditions, we assessed the effect of reversible inactivation of either the auditory cortex or the inferior colliculus on the same animals. Auditory cortex inactivation did not affect discrimination performance, either in quiet or at any noise level tested. In contrast, inactivation of the inferior colliculus sightly impaired performance in quiet conditions and largely reduced discrimination in noise, regardless of the type of background noise used. These results demonstrate that, in overtrained animals, the discrimination of communication sounds relies predominantly on subcortical processes rather than on cortical ones.
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BibTeX
@misc{martin2026inferior,
title = {{Inferior Colliculus, but not Auditory Cortex, is necessary for the discrimination of heterospecific communication sounds in overtrained mice}},
author = {Alexandra Martin and Elise Mostch and Chloé Huetz and Jean-Marc Edeline},
howpublished = {HAL},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05767988v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-SA 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Inferior Colliculus, but not Auditory Cortex, is necessary for the discrimination of heterospecific communication sounds in overtrained mice
AU - Alexandra Martin
AU - Elise Mostch
AU - Chloé Huetz
AU - Jean-Marc Edeline
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/28
PB - HAL
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05767988v1
AB - Discriminating communication sounds in noisy environment is a challenging task that humans and animals have to face daily. Understanding the contributions of auditory structures to this essential operation is a necessary step for dissecting the neural computation involved in auditory perception. Although many studies have tackled the role of the auditory cortex in the discrimination of artificial acoustic stimuli, very few studies have tested its role in the discrimination of communication sounds. Here, we trained mice to discriminate heterospecific communication sounds, first in quiet conditions then at increasing noise levels, down to a Signal to Noise Ratio of -10dB. Once the overtrained animals reached stable performance in all conditions, we assessed the effect of reversible inactivation of either the auditory cortex or the inferior colliculus on the same animals. Auditory cortex inactivation did not affect discrimination performance, either in quiet or at any noise level tested. In contrast, inactivation of the inferior colliculus sightly impaired performance in quiet conditions and largely reduced discrimination in noise, regardless of the type of background noise used. These results demonstrate that, in overtrained animals, the discrimination of communication sounds relies predominantly on subcortical processes rather than on cortical ones.
ER -