Tonotopic Columns and Cortical Depth Dependent Modulations in Human A1: Preliminary Results.

Federico De Martino¹, ², Michelle Moerel¹, Rainer Goebel¹, Kamil Ugurbil², Elia Formisano¹, Essa S. Yacoub²

We image the columnar organization and layer dependent modulation of human primary auditory cortex using high resolution T2 weighted functional imaging based on 3D-GRASE. We show a columnar arrangement of preferred frequency. Further we highlight layer dependent modulations of functional activation dependent on task. Our results show that the difference of responses to different frequencies increases in superficial layers when subjects are engaged in an auditory discrimination task, suggesting that superficial layers of A1 are modulated by the increase in feedback information during this task.