Perceived target–masker separation unmasks responses of lateral amygdala to the emotionally conditioned target sounds in awake rats

In a (simulated) reverberant environment, both human listeners and laboratory rats are able to perceptually integrate the direct wave of a sound source with the reflections of the source, leading to a fused image as coming from the location around the source (the precedence effect). This perceptual grouping effect produces perceived spatial separation between sound sources and facilitates selective attention to the target source. However, the neural correlates of the unmasking effects of perceived spatial separation have not been reported in the literature. The lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA) is critical for processing ecologically salient sensory signals (e.g., threatening sounds) and mediating auditory fear conditioning. LA neuronal responses to a sound increase if the sound is fear conditioned. This study investigated whether in awake rats the perceptual fusion-induced separation between a fear-conditioned target sound and a noise masker enhances LA responses to the target. The results show that frequency-following responses (FFRs, i.e., sustained potentials based on phase-locked firing of neuron populations to periodical sound waveforms) recorded in the LA to a tone-complex, which was masked by a wideband noise, were enhanced after the tone-complex became fear conditioned. More importantly, the fear-conditioned tone-complex, but not the pseudo-conditioned tone-complex, elicited further larger LA FFRs when it was perceived as separated from the masker than when it was perceived as co-located with the masker. The results suggest that in the LA there exists a neural correlate of selective attention to ecologically significant sounds with a high degree of stimulus specificity.

► Fear conditioning enhances LA FFRs with a high degree of stimulus-specificity.
► Perceived separation facilitates selective attention to the fear-conditioned sound.
► Perceived separation-enhanced LA FFRs are the correlates of selective attention.