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Neural Coding of Signal Duration and Complex Acoustic Objects

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Book cover Bat Bioacoustics

Part of the book series: Springer Handbook of Auditory Research ((SHAR,volume 54))

Abstract

Neurons selective for signal duration have been reported from the auditory midbrain and cortex in a variety of echolocating bats. The first part of this chapter discusses the importance of signal duration to echolocation by bats. It examines the different types of auditory duration-tuned neurons that have been described, explores the neural mechanisms that create their temporally selective response properties in the auditory midbrain or inferior colliculus, and ends by speculating on the possible function(s) of duration tuning to hearing and echolocation by bats. The second part of this chapter describes the neural representation of echoes of complex objects and species-specific vocalizations in the auditory cortex of echolocating bats. It highlights recent findings on how the coding of complex spectrotemporal echo features is related to important tasks in object recognition such as the normalization of object size or the processing of time-variant echoes from complex moving targets. To close the loop between neural processing mechanisms and perception, electrophysiological findings are related to the behavioral performance of bats in psychophysical tasks. The chapter concludes with a section on neural processing of conspecific vocalizations in the auditory cortex and amygdala of echolocating bats.

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Abbreviations

2-AFC:

Two-alternative forced choice

AC:

Auditory cortex

AIp:

Posterior primary auditory cortex

BD:

Best duration

BEF:

Best excitatory frequency

CF:

Constant frequency

CNS:

Central nervous system

dB:

Decibels

DSCF:

Doppler-shifted constant frequency

DTN:

Duration-tuned neuron

EPSP:

Excitatory post-synaptic potential

FI:

Fisher information

FM:

Frequency modulated

FSL:

First-spike latency

GABA:

γ-Aminobutyric acid

HRTF:

Head-related transfer function

IC:

Inferior colliculus

IPSP:

Inhibitory post-synaptic potential

IR:

Impulse response

LFP:

Local field potential

OFFE :

Offset-evoked excitation

ONE :

Onset-evoked excitation

PSTH:

Peristimulus time histogram

q-CF:

Quasi-constant frequency

ROC:

Receiver operating characteristic

SAM:

Sinusoidal amplitude modulation

SPL:

Sound pressure level

SSI:

Stimulus specific information

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Acknowledgments

We thank our undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research collaborators, and colleagues for their assistance, support, and friendship. Research in the McMaster Bat Lab is supported by Discovery Grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada, an Open Operating Grant from the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and by infrastructure grants from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Innovation Trust. U. Firzlaff (Lehrstuhl für Zoologie, Technische Universität München) is supported is supported by grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada, L8S 4K1

    Paul A. Faure

  2. Lehrstuhl für Zoologie, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann.-Str. 4, Freising-Weihenstephan, 85354, Germany

    Uwe Firzlaff

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  1. Paul A. Faure
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  2. Uwe Firzlaff
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Correspondence to Paul A. Faure .

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  1. Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, LONDON, Ontario, Canada

    M. Brock Fenton

  2. Dept of Physi, David Geffen School of Me, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Alan D Grinnell

  3. Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA

    Arthur N. Popper

  4. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

    Richard R. Fay

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Faure, P.A., Firzlaff, U. (2016). Neural Coding of Signal Duration and Complex Acoustic Objects. In: Fenton, M., Grinnell, A., Popper, A., Fay, R. (eds) Bat Bioacoustics. Springer Handbook of Auditory Research, vol 54. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3527-7_7

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