This work is the first comprehensive characterization of a cortical brain region called the temporal association cortex (TeA); a brain region which was rarely studied to date. We characterized the auditory responses in TeA of awake mouse using electrophysiology, and found that TeA responses are particularly sparse as compared to other, well described, regions like the primary auditory cortex. We show that TeA represents complex sounds in a way that allows better discrimination of those sounds. Our results provide the foundations for further investigation of TeA and its involvement in auditory learning, plasticity, and auditory driven behaviors.
