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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Pradeep DheerendraORCiD, Professor Christopher PetkovORCiD, Emeritus Professor Adrian ReesORCiD, Professor Tim GriffithsORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2025 The Author(s)The cortical representation of the temporal dimension of sound in the primate auditory cortex remains an open question. In this work, we review studies that investigated the brain basis for the processing of acoustic time windows in humans, macaques and marmosets that employ functional magnetic resonance imaging and neurophysiological recordings. We identify the functional anatomy of response patterns to temporal integration for each study, to arrive at a representative organization in humans and non-human primates (NHP). A synthesis of prior studies identifies a certain level of commonality for temporal processing in primates. Surprisingly, however, our analysis revealed that while both humans and NHPs process shorter time-windows in postero-medial areas and longer time-windows in non-primary lateral areas, macaque neurobiological responses in primary auditory cortex appear to favor shorter temporal timescales than human primary auditory cortex. This difference in neurobiological sensitivity is in line with behavioural sensitivities in these species. This review and analysis results raise the possibility of evolutionary specialization of the human cortex relative to nonhuman primates, potentially for the processing of speech which requires sensitivity to longer timescales.
Author(s): Dheerendra P, Petkov CI, Rees A, Griffiths TD
Publication type: Review
Publication status: Published
Journal: Hearing Research
Year: 2026
Volume: 469
Print publication date: 01/01/2026
Online publication date: 27/11/2025
Acceptance date: 25/11/2025
ISSN (print): 0378-5955
ISSN (electronic): 1878-5891
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2025.109489
DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2025.109489
