Adaptive plasticity of the auditory space map in the optic tectum of adult and baby barn owls in response to external ear modification

1994 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. I. Knudsen ◽  
S. D. Esterly ◽  
J. F. Olsen
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Pattern ◽  
Optic Tectum ◽  
Interaural Time Difference ◽  
Rate Of Change ◽  
Adaptive Plasticity ◽  
Interaural Level Difference ◽  
External Ear ◽  
Site Location ◽  
Physiological Range ◽  
Barn Owls

1. This study demonstrates the influence of experience on the establishment and maintenance of the auditory map of space in the optic tectum of the barn owl. Auditory experience was altered either by preventing the structures of the external ears (the facial ruff and preaural flaps) from appearing in baby barn owls (baby ruff-cut owls) or by removing these structures in adults (adult ruff-cut owls). These structures shape the binaural cues used for localizing sounds in both the horizontal and vertical dimensions. 2. The acoustic effects of removing the external ear structures were measured using probe tube microphones placed in the ear canals. In both baby and adult ruff-cut owls, the spatial pattern of binaural localization cues was dramatically different from normal: interaural level difference (ILD) changed with azimuth instead of with elevation, the rate of change of ILD across space was decreased relative to normal, and the rate of change of interaural time difference (ITD) across frontal space was increased relative to normal. 3. The neurophysiological representations of ITD and ILD in the optic tectum were measured before and > or = 3 mo after ruff removal in adults and beginning at 4.5 months of age in baby ruff-cut owls. Multiunit tuning to ITD and to ILD was measured using dichotic stimulation in ketamine-anesthetized owls. The tectal maps of ITD and ILD were reconstructed using visual receptive field location as a marker for recording site location in the optic tectum. 4. Adjustment of the tectal map of ITD to the altered spatial pattern of acoustic ITD was essentially complete in adults as well as in baby ruff-cut owls. This adjustment changed the magnification of ITD across the tectum, with resultant changes in ITD tuning at individual tectal sites of up to approximately 25 microseconds (approximately 5% of the physiological range) relative to normal values. 5. Adaptation of the tectal ILD map to the ruff-cut spatial pattern of acoustic ILD was substantial but clearly incomplete in both adult and baby ruff-cut owls. Although changes of up to approximately 15 dB (approximately 47% of the physiological range) relative to normal tuning were observed at certain tectal sites, the topography of the ILD map was always intermediate between normal and that predicted by the ruff-cut spatial pattern of acoustic ILD.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Site of auditory plasticity in the brain stem (VLVp) of the owl revealed by early monaural occlusion

1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (6) ◽  
pp. 2875-2891 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Mogdans ◽  
E. I. Knudsen
Keyword(s):  
Optic Tectum ◽  
Auditory Pathway ◽  
Adaptive Plasticity ◽  
Interaural Level Difference ◽  
Auditory Space ◽  
Adaptive Adjustment ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Posterior Division ◽  
Peripheral Site ◽  
Ventral Nucleus

1. The optic tectum of the barn owl contains a physiological map of interaural level difference (ILD) that underlies, in part, its map of auditory space. Monaural occlusion shifts the range of ILDs experienced by an animal and alters the correspondence of ILDs with source locations. Chronic monaural occlusion during development induces an adaptive shift in the tectal ILD map that compensates for the effects of the earplug. The data presented in this study indicate that one site of plasticity underlying this adaptive adjustment is in the posterior division of the ventral nucleus of the lateral lemniscus (VLVp), the first site of ILD comparison in the auditory pathway. 2. Single and multiple unit sites were recorded in the optic tecta and VLVps of ketamine-anesthetized owls. The owls were raised from 4 wk of age with one ear occluded with an earplug. Auditory testing, using digitally synthesized dichotic stimuli, was carried out 8-16 wk later with the earplug removed. The adaptive adjustment in ILD coding in each bird was quantified as the shift from normal ILD tuning measured in the optic tectum. Evidence of adaptive adjustment in the VLVp was based on statistical differences between the VLVp's ipsilateral and contralateral to the occluded ear in the sensitivity of units to excitatory-ear and inhibitory-ear stimulation. 3. The balance of excitatory to inhibitory influences on VLVp units was shifted in the adaptive direction in six out of eight owls. In three of these owls, adaptive differences in inhibition, but not in excitation, were found. For this group of owls, the patterns of response properties across the two VLVps can only be accounted for by plasticity in the VLVp. For the other three owls, the possibility that the difference between the two VLVps resulted from damage to one of the VLVps could not be eliminated, and for one of these, plasticity at a more peripheral site (in the cochlea or cochlear nucleus) could also explain the data. In the remaining two owls, there was no evidence of adaptive adjustment in the VLVp despite large adaptive adjustments in the optic tectum. 4. The adjustment of ILD coding in the VLVp was always substantially smaller than expected based on the adjustment of ILD tuning in the optic tectum measured in the same animals. This indicates the involvement of at least one additional site of adaptive plasticity in the auditory pathway above the level of the VLVp.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Dynamics of visually guided auditory plasticity in the optic tectum of the barn owl

1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 595-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. S. Brainard ◽  
E. I. Knudsen
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Optic Tectum ◽  
Visual Experience ◽  
Normal Values ◽  
Interaural Time Difference ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Visually Guided ◽  
Barn Owls ◽  
Tectal Neurons ◽  
The Right

1. In the optic tectum of normal barn owls, bimodal (auditory-visual) neurons are tuned to the values of interaural time difference (ITD) that are produced by sounds at the locations of their visual receptive fields (VRFs). The auditory tuning of tectal neurons is actively guided by visual experience during development: in the tectum of adult owls reared with an optically displaced visual field, neurons are tuned to abnormal values of ITD that are close to the values produced by sounds at the locations of their optically displaced VRFs. In this study we investigated the dynamics of this experience-dependent plasticity. 2. Owls were raised from shortly after eye-opening (14-22 days of age) with prismatic spectacles that displaced the visual field to the right or left. Starting at approximately 60 days of age, multiunit recordings were made to assess the tuning of tectal neurons to ITD presented via earphones. In the earliest recording sessions (ages 60-80 days), ITD tuning was often close to normal, even though the majority of the owls' previous experience was with an altered correspondence between ITD values and VRF locations. Subsequently, over a period of weeks, responses to the normal range of ITDs were gradually eliminated while responses to values of ITD corresponding with the optically displaced VRF were acquired. 3. At intermediate stages in this process, the ITD tuning at many sites became abnormally broad, so that responses were simultaneously present to both normal values of ITD and to values corresponding with the optically displaced VRF. At this stage the latencies and durations of newly acquired responses systematically exceeded the latencies and durations of the responses to normal values of ITD. 4. Dynamic changes in ITD tuning similar to those recorded in the optic tectum also occurred in the external nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICX), which provides the major source of ascending auditory input to the tectum. 5. These results suggest the hypothesis that the neural selectivity for ITD in the barn owl's tectum is first established by vision-independent mechanisms and only subsequently calibrated by visual experience. This calibration involves both the elimination of responses to normal values of ITD and the visually guided acquisition of responses to novel values and can be accounted for by plasticity at the level of the ICX.

Tuning to Interaural Time Difference and Frequency Differs Between the Auditory Arcopallium and the External Nucleus of the Inferior Colliculus

2009 ◽  
Vol 101 (5) ◽  
pp. 2348-2361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrin Vonderschen ◽  
Hermann Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Inferior Colliculus ◽  
Tuning Curve ◽  
Interaural Time Difference ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Steep Slope ◽  
Time Difference ◽  
Interaural Time Differences ◽  
Tuning Curves ◽  
Barn Owls ◽  
Zero Time

Barn owls process sound-localization information in two parallel pathways, the midbrain and the forebrain pathway. Exctracellular recordings of neural responses to auditory stimuli from far advanced stations of these pathways, the auditory arcopallium in the forebrain and the external nucleus of the inferior colliculus in the midbrain, demonstrated that the representations of interaural time difference and frequency in the forebrain pathway differ from those in the midbrain pathway. Specifically, low-frequency representation was conserved in the forebrain pathway, while it was lost in the midbrain pathway. Variation of interaural time difference yielded symmetrical tuning curves in the midbrain pathway. By contrast, the typical forebrain-tuning curve was asymmetric with a steep slope crossing zero time difference and a less-steep slope toward larger contralateral time disparities. Low sound frequencies contributed sensitivity to contralateral leading sounds underlying these asymmetries, whereas high frequencies enhanced the steepness of slopes at small interaural time differences. Furthermore, the peaks of time-disparity tuning curves were wider in the forebrain than in the midbrain. The distribution of the steepest slopes of best interaural time differences in the auditory arcopallium, but not in the external nucleus of the inferior colliculus, was centered at zero time difference. The distribution observed in the auditory arocpallium is reminiscent of the situation observed in small mammals. We speculate that the forebrain representation may serve as a population code supporting fine discrimination of central interaural time differences and coarse indication of laterality of a stimulus for large interaural time differences.

scholarly journals Variability Reduction in Interaural Time Difference Tuning in the Barn Owl

2008 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 708-715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian J. Fischer ◽  
Masakazu Konishi
Keyword(s):  
Anterior Part ◽  
Interaural Time Difference ◽  
Barn Owl ◽  
Time Difference ◽  
Central Nucleus ◽  
Nucleus Laminaris ◽  
Cochlear Nuclei ◽  
Reduction Property ◽  
Single Burst ◽  
Barn Owls

The interaural time difference (ITD) is the primary auditory cue used by the barn owl for localization in the horizontal direction. ITD is initially computed by circuits consisting of axonal delay lines from one of the cochlear nuclei and coincidence detector neurons in the nucleus laminaris (NL). NL projects directly to the anterior part of the dorsal lateral lemniscal nucleus (LLDa), and this area projects to the core of the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICcc) in the midbrain. To show the selectivity of an NL neuron for ITD requires averaging of responses over several stimulus presentations for each ITD. In contrast, ICcc neurons detect their preferred ITD in a single burst of stimulus. We recorded extracellularly the responses of LLDa neurons to ITD in anesthetized barn owls and show that this ability is already present in LLDa, raising the possibility that ICcc inherits its noise reduction property from LLDa.

scholarly journals DYNAMIC MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF URBAN SPATIAL PATTERN (RESIDENTIAL CHOICE OF LOCATION): MOBILITY VS EXTERNALITY

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-72
Author(s):  
Rahma Fitriani ◽  
Darmanto Darmanto
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Pattern ◽  
Inflation Rate ◽  
Urban Expansion ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Static Model ◽  
Rate Of Change ◽  
Development Pattern ◽  
Residential Choice ◽  
Dynamic Version ◽  
Over Time

Household’s residential choice of location determines urban spatial pattern (e.g sprawl). The static model which assumes that the choice has been affected by distance to the CBD and location specific externality, fails to capture the evoution of the pattern over time. Therefore this study proposes a dynamic version of the model. It analyses the effects of externalities on the optimal solution of development decision as function of time. It also derives the effect of mobility and externality on the rate of change of development pattern through time. When the increasing rate of utility is not as significant as the increasing rate of income, the externalities will delay the change of urban spatial pattern over time. If the mobility costs increase by large amount relative to the increase of income and inflation rate, then the mobility effect dominates the effects of externalities in delaying the urban expansion.

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