Entracking codes low-frequency pitch through uniform firing across neurons while high-frequency firing varies

Evidence

For a given stimulus and time window, a neuron can only have one firing rate. One may wonder what distinguishes the low firing rate of an entracking neuron to a low frequency component vs. the low firing rate to a component above the entracking limit. The key would again be in the uniform firing rate, with low variability, across neurons in the case of a low frequency component. Above the entracking limit, firing rate is no longer clamped to the value dictated by the dominant ISI of a neuron’s inputs and will vary across neurons. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 4520

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies how an entracking neuron’s uniform low firing rate distinguishes genuine pitch coding from merely low firing on high-frequency components.