Auditory midbrain neurons that count

Many acoustic communication signals, including human speech and music, consist of a precise temporal arrangement of discrete elements, but it is unclear whether this precise temporal patterning is required to activate the sensory neurons that mediate signal recognition. In a variety of systems, neur...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNature neuroscience Vol. 5; no. 10; pp. 934 - 936
Main Authors Rose, Gary J, Edwards, Christofer J, Alder, Todd B
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Nature Publishing Group 01.10.2002
Subjects
Acoustic Stimulation - methods
Acoustic Stimulation - statistics & numerical data
Action Potentials - physiology
Amphibia
Animals
Anura
Auditory cortex
Mesencephalon - physiology
Neural stimulation
Neurons
Neurons - physiology
Physiological aspects
United States
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Summary:Many acoustic communication signals, including human speech and music, consist of a precise temporal arrangement of discrete elements, but it is unclear whether this precise temporal patterning is required to activate the sensory neurons that mediate signal recognition. In a variety of systems, neurons respond selectively when two or more sound elements are presented in a particular temporal order and the precise relative timing of these elements is particularly important for 'delay-tuned' neurons, including 'tracking' types, in bats. Here we show that one class of auditory neurons in the midbrain of anurans (frogs and toads) responds only to a series of specific interpulse intervals (IPIs); in the most selective cases, a single interval that is slightly longer or shorter than the requisite interval can reset this interval-counting process.
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ISSN:1097-6256
1546-1726
DOI:10.1038/nn916