Title: Response properties of avian auditory-nerve fibers and cochlear nucleus neurons
Abstract:Because of their appeal as a model animal communication system, birds have become the subject of many studies of stimulus encoding in the auditory system. Our approach to the study of this encoding ha...Because of their appeal as a model animal communication system, birds have become the subject of many studies of stimulus encoding in the auditory system. Our approach to the study of this encoding has been to characterize in detail the transformations which occur at various levels within the system. Because this approach is similar to that which we and others have taken in studying the mammalian auditory system, we can now make some quantitative comparisons between these two classes. Thus far our studies have been largely limited to the auditory nerve, and nucleus magnocellularis and nucleus angularis, the avian homologues of the mammalian cochlear nuclei. Response properties of avian auditory-nerve fibers are generally quite similar to those in mammals. However, average discharge rates (both spontaneous and driven) are considerably higher in birds than in mammals. Although the sharpness of tuning in the “tip” region of avian auditory-nerve tuning curves is quite similar to that in mammals, low-frequency “tails” occur only at higher sound levels than in mammals, if at all. Response properties of cells in nucleus magnocellularis and nucleus angularis bear a relation to auditory-nerve patterns which is similar to that of their mammalian homologues. Cells in nucleus magnocellularis exhibit properties which closely resemble those in the auditory nerve, whereas those in nucleus angularis show a similar increase in complexity to that which is found in mammalian posteroventral and dorsal cochlear nuclei. [Supported by Grant No. NS 12112 from NIH.]Read More
Title: $Response properties of avian auditory-nerve fibers and cochlear nucleus neurons
Abstract: Because of their appeal as a model animal communication system, birds have become the subject of many studies of stimulus encoding in the auditory system. Our approach to the study of this encoding has been to characterize in detail the transformations which occur at various levels within the system. Because this approach is similar to that which we and others have taken in studying the mammalian auditory system, we can now make some quantitative comparisons between these two classes. Thus far our studies have been largely limited to the auditory nerve, and nucleus magnocellularis and nucleus angularis, the avian homologues of the mammalian cochlear nuclei. Response properties of avian auditory-nerve fibers are generally quite similar to those in mammals. However, average discharge rates (both spontaneous and driven) are considerably higher in birds than in mammals. Although the sharpness of tuning in the “tip” region of avian auditory-nerve tuning curves is quite similar to that in mammals, low-frequency “tails” occur only at higher sound levels than in mammals, if at all. Response properties of cells in nucleus magnocellularis and nucleus angularis bear a relation to auditory-nerve patterns which is similar to that of their mammalian homologues. Cells in nucleus magnocellularis exhibit properties which closely resemble those in the auditory nerve, whereas those in nucleus angularis show a similar increase in complexity to that which is found in mammalian posteroventral and dorsal cochlear nuclei. [Supported by Grant No. NS 12112 from NIH.]