Available online 20 January 2024, 108954

The control of auditory processing by the medial prefrontal cortex is reviewed, with a focus on rodent studies.

Neurons of the rodent mPFC receive auditory and informational inputs, allowing them to encode high-order information about sounds such as context.

The mPFC exerts control over auditory perception via top-down modulation of the central auditory pathway.

These mechanisms are relevant to processes such as deviance detection, attention, avoidance and fear conditioning.

Afferent inputs from the cochlea transmit auditory information to the central nervous system, where information is processed and passed up the hierarchy, ending in the auditory cortex. Through these brain pathways, spectral and temporal features of sounds are processed and sent to the cortex for perception. There are also many mechanisms in place for modulation of these inputs, with a major source of modulation being based in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Neurons of the rodent mPFC receive input from the auditory cortex and other regions such as thalamus, hippocampus and basal forebrain, allowing them to encode high-order information about sounds such as context, predictability and valence. The mPFC then exerts control over auditory perception via top-down modulation of the central auditory pathway, altering perception of and responses to sounds. The result is a higher-order control of auditory processing that produces such characteristics as deviance detection, attention, avoidance and fear conditioning. This review summarises connections between mPFC and the primary auditory pathway, responses of mPFC neurons to auditory stimuli, how mPFC outputs shape the perception of sounds, and how changes to these systems during hearing loss and tinnitus may contribute to these conditions.

Cingulate

cortical

prediction

deviance detection

attention

avoidance

hearing loss

tinnitus

No data was used for the research described in the article.

© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.