Contralateral efferent inhibition is nonlinear and output-dependent, amplifying asymmetries

Evidence

Of course, the gains of the left-ear MOC processor were also inhibited by the right-ear processor to some extent. As a result, the output amplitude in the left-ear processor was slightly lower for the MOC than for the STD strategy (green arrow in Fig. 2a ). The amount of this inhibition was, however, smaller than for the right-ear MOC processor because (1) the stimulus level was lower on the right ear, and (2) the gain in the right-ear processor was further inhibited by the higher left-ear processor output. In other words, the asymmetry in the amount of contralateral inhibition of gain (or compression) was enhanced because it depended on the processors’ output rather on their input amplitudes. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 1968

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the mechanism by which output-dependent (rather than input-dependent) inhibition creates positive feedback that sharpens the neural contrast between ears.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 1968