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Poster Session B: Wednesday, August 13, 1:00 – 4:00 pm, de Brug & E‑Hall

Dynamic Norm-Based Coding of Vocal Identity by the Primate Voice Patches Neurons

Yoan Esposito¹, Jean-Louis Boé, Régis Trapeau, Luc Renaud, Matthieu Gilson, Margherita Giamundo², Pascal Belin; ¹Académie d'Aix-Marseille, ²Université d'Aix-Marseille

Presenter: Yoan Esposito

The neural representation of conspecific vocal identity remains poorly understood in non-human primates. Drawing on norm-based coding theories of face identity, we investigated whether a similar mechanism supports voice identity encoding in the macaque brain. We recorded spiking activity from the fMRI-localized voice sensitive region of two awake macaques while presenting synthetic “coo” vocalizations morphed along a continuum from anti-voice to caricature. Dimensionality reduction techniques revealed distinct neuronal subpopulations: for example, one exhibited a very early V-shaped tuning profile, with increasing firing rates as voices deviated from the average, consistent with a norm-based coding strategy; another showed the exact inverse pattern, but with delayed responses. These temporally and functionally distinct subpopulations suggest complementary encoding strategies for representing vocal identity, potentially reflecting both deviation-from-mean and identity-certainty mechanisms. Our findings mirror encoding patterns observed in face-selective regions and provide novel evidence that norm-based coding may be a general principle of high-level social perception across sensory modalities.

Topic Area: Language & Communication

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