Behavioral engagement and stimulus regularities coordinate auditory-prefrontal network activity
The ability to detect deviations from expected sensory input is fundamental for adaptive behavior. We recorded electrocorticographic activity from the auditory (AC) and prefrontal (PFC) cortices of behaving macaques during an auditory oddball task to probe the cortical dynamics of predictive processing. Repetition of standard stimuli evoked suppression and facilitation in AC and strong low-frequency (2 Hz) enhancement in PFC, accompanied by bidirectional delta-band GC-defined interactions indicative of a shared predictive state. Deviant stimuli triggered earlier AC responses followed by PFC activation and increased GC-defined directed interactions across theta, alpha, and conventional gamma bands. Behavioral engagement amplified both repetition-related and deviance-related ECoG responses, strengthening cortical network coordination. Together, these findings reveal behaviorally gated auditory-prefrontal dynamics that are consistent with hierarchical predictive-processing accounts, while also allowing for contributions from repetition-, novelty-, and salience-related mechanisms.
Authors
- Peirun Song (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6630-3328)
- David Pérez‐González (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6288-2692)
- Xuan Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8254-2887)
- Xuehui Bao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7737-898X)
- Manuel S. Malmierca (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0168-7572)
- Hangting Ye (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6920-4181)
- Hisashi Tanigawa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7736-0683)
- Yuying Zhai
- Zhiyi Tu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0787-9607)
- Ana Belén Lao-Rodríguez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4093-0160)
- Lingling Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8136-8795)
- Qichen Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3823-895X)
- Ishrat Mehmood
- Xiongjie Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0040-2187)
- Haoxuan Xu
Institutions
- Tongji University (CN)
- Universidad de Salamanca (ES)
- Instituto de Estudios de Ciencias de la Salud de Castilla y León (ES)
- Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital (CN)
- Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Salamanca (ES)
- Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University (CN)
- Zhejiang University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- PLoS Biology
- Published
- 2026-08-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003966
- Primary Topic
- Neural dynamics and brain function
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
- Major Projects of Natural Sciences of University in Jiangsu Province of China
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China
- Consejería de Educación, Junta de Castilla y León
- Junta de Castilla y León
- European Regional Development Fund
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación
- National Major Science and Technology Projects of China