Emergence of tuning to natural stimulus statistics along the central auditory pathway.

ABSTRACT: We have previously shown that neurons in primary auditory cortex (A1) of anaesthetized (ketamine/medetomidine) ferrets respond more strongly and reliably to dynamic stimuli whose statistics follow "natural" 1/f dynamics than to stimuli exhibiting pitch and amplitude modulations that are faster (1/f(0.5)) or slower (1/f(2)) than 1/f. To investigate where along the central auditory pathway this 1/f-modulation tuning arises, we have now characterized responses of neurons in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICC) and the ventral division of the mediate geniculate nucleus of the thalamus (MGV) to 1/f(γ) distributed stimuli with γ varying between 0.5 and 2.8. We found that, while the great majority of neurons recorded from the ICC showed a strong preference for the most rapidly var

SUBMITTER: Garcia-Lazaro JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3151266 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature