Tonotopic organization and encoding features of single units in inferior colliculus of horseshoe bats: functional implications for prey identification.

1981 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
G D Pollak ◽  
G Schuller
1975 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 418-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. M. Aitkin ◽  
J. Boyd

The responses of 146 cerebellar neurons to tone stimuli were studied in 29 cats anesthetized with chloralose-urethan and in 7 decerebrate preparations. Units were classified as onset or sustained firing. Onset spikes occurred on stimulation of either ear and showed binaural facilitation, while sustained discharges were frequently only excited by monaural stimulation. The latent periods of sustained discharges appeared to be shorter than those of onset responses, and sustained discharges were also more sharply tuned than the onset units. Evidence was presented suggesting that onset responses reflected input from the inferior colliculus and sustained responses, the cochlear nucleus. The sterotyped facilitatory behavior of onset units suggested that a maximal discharge might occur if sounds were of equal intensity at each ear; 26 neurons were examined with variable interaural time or intensity differences and 10 of these exhibited maximal firing when the interaural time and intensity difference was zero--i.e., if the sound was located directly in front of the head.


2006 ◽  
Vol 95 (3) ◽  
pp. 1926-1935 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang-Fa Liu ◽  
Alan R. Palmer ◽  
Mark N. Wallace

In the auditory system, some ascending pathways preserve the precise timing information present in a temporal code of frequency. This can be measured by studying responses that are phase-locked to the stimulus waveform. At each stage along a pathway, there is a reduction in the upper frequency limit of the phase-locking and an increase in the steady-state latency. In the guinea pig, phase-locked responses to pure tones have been described at various levels from auditory nerve to neocortex but not in the inferior colliculus (IC). Therefore we made recordings from 161 single units in guinea pig IC. Of these single units, 68% (110/161) showed phase-locked responses. Cells that phase-locked were mainly located in the central nucleus but also occurred in the dorsal cortex and external nucleus. The upper limiting frequency of phase-locking varied greatly between units (80−1,034 Hz) and between anatomical divisions. The upper limits in the three divisions were central nucleus, >1,000 Hz; dorsal cortex, 700 Hz; external nucleus, 320 Hz. The mean latencies also varied and were central nucleus, 8.2 ± 2.8 (SD) ms; dorsal cortex, 17.2 ms; external nucleus, 13.3 ms. We conclude that many cells in the central nucleus receive direct inputs from the brain stem, whereas cells in the external and dorsal divisions receive input from other structures that may include the forebrain.


1988 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 1799-1822 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Langner ◽  
C. E. Schreiner

1. Temporal properties of single- and multiple-unit responses were investigated in the inferior colliculus (IC) of the barbiturate-anesthetized cat. Approximately 95% of recording sites were located in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICC). Responses to contralateral stimulation with tone bursts and amplitude-modulated tones (100% sinusoidal modulation) were recorded. Five response parameters were determined for neurons at each location: 1) characteristic frequency (CF); 2) onset latency of responses to CF-tones 60 dB above threshold; 3) Q10 dB (CF divided by bandwidth of tuning curve 10 dB above threshold); 4) best modulation frequency for firing rate (rBMF or BMF; amplitude modulation frequency that elicited the highest firing rate); and 5) best modulation frequency for synchronization (sBMF; amplitude modulation frequency that elicited the highest degree of phase-locking to the modulation frequency). 2. Response characteristics for single units and multiple units corresponded closely. A BMF was obtained at almost all recording sites. For units with a similar CF, a range of BMFs was observed. The upper limit of BMF increased approximately proportional to CF/4 up to BMFs as high as 1 kHz. The lower limit of encountered BMFs for a given CF also increased slightly with CF. BMF ranges for single-unit and multiple-unit responses were similar. Twenty-three percent of the responses revealed rBMFs between 10 and 30 Hz, 51% between 30 and 100 Hz, 18% between 100 and 300 Hz, and 8% between 300 and 1000 Hz. 3. For single units with modulation transfer functions of bandpass characteristics, BMFs determined for firing rate and synchronization were similar (r2 = 0.95). 4. Onset latencies for responses to CF tones 60 dB above threshold varied between 4 and 120 ms. Ninety percent of the onset latencies were between 5 and 18 ms. A range of onset latencies was recorded for different neurons with any given CF. The onset response latency of a given unit or unit cluster was significantly correlated with the period of the BMF and the period of the CF (P less than 0.05). 5."Intrinsic oscillations" of short duration, i.e., regularly timed discharges of units in response to stimuli without a corresponding temporal structure, were frequently observed in the ICC. Oscillation intervals were commonly found to be integer multiples of 0.4 ms. Changes of stimulus frequency or intensity had only minor influences on these intrinsic oscillations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


1975 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 1208-1216 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. M. Aitkin ◽  
D. R. Moore

Tuning curves were measured for 65 units in the inferior colliculus of seven anesthetized kittens aged from 6 to 28 days. At 2 days of age the inferior colliculus was divisible into central, pericentral, and external nuclei. Evidence was found for broader tuning curves to occur in the pericentral nucleus compared with the central nucleus, as has been observed in the adult. The middle ear was filled with serous fluid to 6 days, while the external auditory meatus remained collapsed until 10 days. Central nucleus tuning curves in kittens were relatively flat with high thresholds. Best-frequency thresholds diminished from a mean of near 100 dB SPL at 6-11 days to near 50 dB in the adult. The marked drop in thresholds between days 22 and 21 led to the adoption of the sharp form of tuning curve common for adults. Tonotopic organization of the central nucleus was clear at day 11. Speculations were advanced about the dependence of central auditory maturations on cochlear development, axon myelination in the auditory pathway, and changes in synaptic density as a function of age.


1982 ◽  
Vol 90 (6) ◽  
pp. 795-800 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Coleman ◽  
Maurice Campbell ◽  
William J. Clerici

Tonotopic organization is a major feature of central auditory structures. The tritiated 2-deoxyglucose metabolic marking technique is demonstrated to be useful for visualizing isofrequency contours in the rat inferior colliculus. Following pure-tone stimulation, the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus shows discrete, prominent banding patterns and a well-organized tonotopic arrangement.


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