Figure 7.

A possible role for the inferior colliculus in audiomotor feedback during vocal communication. The IC receives anatomical inputs from the PAG, TNG, DCN, and other auditory regions. This circuit, in theory, allows for a comparison between premotor commands sent from the PAG and somatic feedback from the vocal apparatus via the TN and TNG. The resulting comparison could yield a vocalization motor error: expected motor execution (output) minus actual motor execution (feedback) equals motor error. This information could be used to adjust the motor output of vocalization in order to achieve a desired auditory structure [presumably determined by cortical planning regions; see Hickok (2012)]. If the motor error = 0, self-generated vocalization reafference is cancelled out (Tammer et al., 2004) and no adjustment is necessary; if the motor error ≠ 0, the corresponding audiomotor error is sent to cortical control regions for further analysis and correction. The potential role of the DCN in this circuit is currently unknown, but may be associated with monitoring audiomotor feedback of non-vocalization signals. See Table 1 for abbreviations.