How and where sensory stimuli, such as tones or lights, are linked to valence is an important unresolved question in the field of neuroscience. The auditory cortex is essential to analyse the identity and the behavioural importance of tones paired with emotional events. On the contrary, whether the auditory cortex may also encode information on the emotional-motivational valence of sounds is much more controversial. Here, we reviewed recent studies showing that the activity of cortical neurons reflects information about the content of emotional stimuli paired with tones. Critically, the blockade of these neuronal processes prevents animals from recognising sounds as aversive or pleasant. Based on these findings, we proposed a conceptual model in which the auditory cortex may incorporate ascending information from subcortical nuclei about the valence of sounds in sound representations and may consequently drive the activity of subcortical structures towards emotionally laden tones.

This hypothesis may also have important implications in the characterisation of neural circuits engaged by maladaptive affective disorders, such as phobias.

如何以及在何处将诸如色调或灯光之类的感觉刺激与化合价联系起来，是神经科学领域一个尚未解决的重要问题。听觉皮层对于分析与情绪事件配对的语气的身份和行为重要性至关重要。相反，听觉皮层是否也可以编码有关声音的情感动机价的信息则更具争议性。在这里，我们回顾了最近的研究，这些研究表明皮质神经元的活动反映了与音调配对的情绪刺激内容的信息。至关重要的是，对这些神经元过程的阻止使动物无法将声音识别为令人反感或令人愉悦的声音。根据这些发现，

该假设也可能对适应不良的情感障碍（例如恐惧症）引起的神经回路的特征产生重要影响。