Inhibition shapes the barn owl’s binaural temporal window for sound localization

Evidence

Duration of the noise sweeps per se had only a moderate effect on the behavioural sensitivity. Sensitivity was lower for short than for long stimulus durations. We could observe the lowest sensitivity for stimuli of 30 ms duration. This result is in accord with data describing the barn owl’s binaural temporal window for ITD processing ranging from 4 to 42 ms (Wagner 1991 ). Inhibitory neuronal processing has been observed to be effective already between 20 and 40 ms after stimulus onset (Wagner 1990 ). Inhibition could thus contribute to the dynamic sharpening of the ITD representation in the barn owl’s IC and to the duration of the binaural temporal window. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3219

This result is in accord with data describing the barn owl’s binaural temporal window for ITD processing ranging from 4 to 42 ms (Wagner 1991 ). Inhibitory neuronal processing has been observed to be effective already between 20 and 40 ms after stimulus onset (Wagner 1990 ). Inhibition could thus contribute to the dynamic sharpening of the ITD representation in the barn owl’s IC and to the duration of the binaural temporal window. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3181

Stimulus velocity had a moderate effect on motion direction sensitivity provided that the stimulus duration was not too short. Duration of the noise sweeps per se had only a moderate effect on the behavioural sensitivity. Sensitivity was lower for short than for long stimulus durations. We could observe the lowest sensitivity for stimuli of 30 ms duration. This result is in accord with data describing the barn owl’s binaural temporal window for ITD processing ranging from 4 to 42 ms (Wagner 1991 ). Inhibitory neuronal processing has been observed to be effective already between 20 and 40 ms after stimulus onset (Wagner 1990 ). Inhibition could thus contribute to the dynamic sharpening of the ITD representation in the barn owl’s IC and to the duration of the binaural temporal window. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3216

Categorization

• XREF: Relates to the interaural-time-difference processing mechanisms discussed elsewhere in this book on binaural hearing in owls.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3219; Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3181; Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3216