Combination sensitivity and processing of communication calls in the inferior colliculus of the Moustached Bat Pteronotus parnellii

Portfors, Christine V.

doi:10.1590/s0001-37652004000200010

Cited by 37 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Efficient encoding of conspecific vocalizations may be facilitated by neurons in the IC that respond to specific acoustic features found in vocalizations such as frequency modulations (Woolley and Casseday, 2005;Andoni et al, 2007), amplitude modulations (McAlpine, 2004;Woolley and Casseday, 2005), duration (Brand et al, 2000;Pérez-González et al, 2006), and/or combination sensitivity (Portfors and Wenstrup, 1999;Portfors, 2004). Although previous studies focused on feature selectivity by individual neurons to synthetic stimuli or token vocalizations, it is unknown whether the IC uses heterogeneity and/or selectivity to efficiently encode natural stimuli.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient Encoding of Vocalizations in the Auditory Midbrain

Holmstrom¹,

Eeuwes²,

Roberts³

et al. 2010

J. Neurosci.

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An important question in sensory neuroscience is what coding strategies and mechanisms are used by the brain to detect and discriminate among behaviorally relevant stimuli. There is evidence that sensory systems migrate from a distributed and redundant encoding strategy at the periphery to a more heterogeneous encoding in cortical structures. It has been hypothesized that heterogeneity is an efficient encoding strategy that minimizes the redundancy of the neural code and maximizes information throughput. Evidence of this mechanism has been documented in cortical structures. In this study, we examined whether heterogeneous encoding of complex sounds contributes to efficient encoding in the auditory midbrain by characterizing neural responses to behaviorally relevant vocalizations in the mouse inferior colliculus (IC). We independently manipulated the frequency, amplitude, duration, and harmonic structure of the vocalizations to create a suite of modified vocalizations. Based on measures of both spike rate and timing, we characterized the heterogeneity of neural responses to the natural vocalizations and their perturbed variants. Using information theoretic measures, we found that heterogeneous response properties of IC neurons contribute to efficient encoding of behaviorally relevant vocalizations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient Encoding of Vocalizations in the Auditory Midbrain

Holmstrom¹,

Eeuwes²,

Roberts³

et al. 2010

J. Neurosci.

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show abstract

“…These neurons display non-linear facilitation or inhibition in response to two tones of different frequencies presented together, compared to the summed responses to the tones presented separately. Recently, combination-sensitive neurons have been shown to be selective for species-specific communication sounds in the bat IC (Portfors, 2004). Combination-sensitive neurons are present in the mouse IC (Portfors and Felix II, 2005), and it is likely that they play a role in the processing of complex sounds, including social vocalizations.…”

Section: Combination-sensitive Neuronsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been shown that the strength of inhibition in the IC decreases in aging C57 mice (Willott et al, 1997), and this may account for combination-sensitive inhibitory units being more susceptible to loss. Because it is thought that combination-sensitivity may underlie aspects of communication-sound processing (Portfors, 2004), any loss of these neurons may affect the animal's ability to encode and perceive communication sounds. However, this remains to be tested and understood.…”

Section: Combination-sensitive Neuronsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…tones) in the central auditory system, it is unclear how age-related hearing loss affects more complex neural responses such as spectral integration. Because spectral integration is important for the analysis of complex sounds, including species-specific vocalizations (Leroy and Wenstrup, 2000;Portfors, 2004;Portfors and Wenstrup, 2002;Rauschecker et al, 1995), loss of spectral integration properties with high frequency hearing loss may be an underlying neural cause of speech understanding deficits. The purpose of this study was to examine spectral integration properties of single neurons in the auditory midbrain of mice with age-related, high frequency hearing loss.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, the characteristic frequency and temporal tuning of one type of combination-sensitive neuron in the mustached bat, the "FM-FM" neuron, indicates its importance in echolocation behavior and in particular, the analyses of target distance (Portfors and Wenstrup, 1999;Portfors and Wenstrup, 2004;Suga and O'Neill, 1979). Combinationsensitive neurons in the IC are also involved in encoding social vocalizations in the mustached bat (Portfors, 2004;Portfors and Wenstrup, 2002;Portfors and Sinex, 2005). In processing of speech, combination-sensitive neurons may underlie formant grouping in vowel discrimination (Culling and Darwin, 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Excitatory, inhibitory and facilitatory frequency response areas in the inferior colliculus of hearing impaired mice

Felix

Portfors

2007

Hearing Research

Self Cite

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Individuals with age-related hearing loss often have difficulty understanding complex sounds such as basic speech. The C57BL/6 mouse suffers from progressive sensorineural hearing loss and thus is an effective tool for dissecting the neural mechanisms underlying changes in complex sound processing observed in humans. Neural mechanisms important for processing complex sounds include multiple tuning and combination sensitivity, and these responses are common in the inferior colliculus (IC) of normal hearing mice. We examined neural responses in the IC of C57Bl/6 mice to single and combinations of tones to examine the extent of spectral integration in the IC after agerelated high frequency hearing loss. Ten percent of the neurons were tuned to multiple frequency bands and an additional 10% displayed nonlinear facilitation to the combination of two different tones (combination sensitivity). No combination-sensitive inhibition was observed. By comparing these findings to spectral integration properties in the IC of normal hearing CBA/CaJ mice, we suggest that high frequency hearing loss affects some of the neural mechanisms in the IC that underlie the processing of complex sounds. The loss of spectral integration properties in the IC during aging likely impairs the central auditory system's ability to process complex sounds such as speech.

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Neurobiological specializations in echolocating bats

Covey

2005

Anat. Rec.

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Although the bat's nervous system follows the general mammalian plan in both its structure and function, it has undergone a number of modifications associated with flight and echolocation. The most obvious neuroanatomical specializations are seen in the cochleas of certain species of bats and in the lower brainstem auditory pathways of all microchiroptera. This article is a review of peripheral and central auditory neuroanatomical specializations in echolocating bats. Findings show that although the structural features of the central nervous system of echolocating microchiropteran bats are basically the same as those of more generalized mammals, certain pathways, mainly those having to do with accurate processing of temporal information and auditory control of motor activity, are hypertrophied and/or organized somewhat differently from those same pathways in nonecholocating species. Through the resulting changes in strengths and timing of synaptic inputs to neurons in these pathways, bats have optimized the mechanisms for analysis of complex sound patterns to derive accurate information about objects in their environment and direct behavior toward those objects.

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Combination sensitivity and processing of communication calls in the inferior colliculus of the Moustached Bat Pteronotus parnellii

Cited by 37 publications

References 18 publications

Efficient Encoding of Vocalizations in the Auditory Midbrain

Efficient Encoding of Vocalizations in the Auditory Midbrain

Excitatory, inhibitory and facilitatory frequency response areas in the inferior colliculus of hearing impaired mice

Neurobiological specializations in echolocating bats

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