Neural signals encode auditory information through spike timing patterns

Evidence

The Matlab code in Section 13.6.1 produces the outputs plotted in Figure 13.12, demonstrating the effects of the different processing steps. Figure 13.12a shows the waveform of the vowel signal, and the outputs of the filter bank are shown in Figure 13.12b. The latter plot is often referred to as a cochleogram. In addition, the signals following the hair-cell processing are shown in Figure 13.12c, while the correlogram and the summary autocorrelation function are illustrated in Figure 13.12d. The last of the graphs shows a clear peak at 9 ms that corresponds to the fundamental frequency of 110 Hz of the vowel input. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1655 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Two distinct models have been proposed to explain the perception of pitch: the place model and the temporal model. These two codes likely work in concert to produce the perception of pitch. For pure tones, the temporal model is likely the strongest for lowfrequency sounds and the place model for high-frequency sounds. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1338 (#expands, via linked claim)

The low-frequency stimulus was a spectrally shaped multicomponent complex (SSMC), which was a harmonic complex with a fundamental frequency (F 0 ) of 100 Hz. The spectral envelope had a flat passband and sloping edges (5×F 0 centered at 1100 Hz).The overall level of the complex was 54 dB SPL. Threshold equalizing noise, extending from 125 to 15,000 Hz, was added. The high-frequency stimulus was a ˵transposed stimulus,˶ which was a 4-kHz tone carrier amplitude-modulated with a half-wave rectified 125-Hz sinusoid (Bernstein and Trahiotis 2002 ). It is considered that the auditory-nerve firing is phase locked to the modulator waveform, which provides the cue for judging the ITD and modulation rate of the stimulus. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 1031 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Population coding across many neurons achieves precise and robust auditory processing — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 794; Pulse shapes require measurably different current levels to evoke equal neural responses; Click stimuli achieve neural timing precision of about twenty microseconds (+11 more)

Related

• Dominant pitch models derive pitch from auditory nerve spike timing. (similarity 0.93)
• Neural pitch coding produces a butte of equal-rate activity centered on the stimulus frequency (similarity 0.93)
• Pitch can be encoded by scalar firing rate rather than tuned vector codes (similarity 0.92)
• The temporal code mainly handles pitch at low frequencies where pitch is strong (similarity 0.91)
• Pitch perception is encoded by the timing of neural firing in the cochlea (similarity 0.90)
• The ear switches from place to temporal pitch coding when harmonics stop being resolved (similarity 0.89)
• Phase invariance of pitch might arise from some neurons always entracking (similarity 0.86)
• Pitch may be jointly coded by temporal patterns and their cochlear location (similarity 0.86)
• Hearing analyzes pitch through both place and timing mechanisms (similarity 0.86)
• Adjacent cochlear nucleus axons fire at matched phase despite differing absolute start times (similarity 0.85)
• High-frequency transposed stimuli make auditory-nerve firing phase-lock to a low-frequency modulator (similarity 0.85)
• Pitch perception combines place-based and timing-based neural analysis of complex tones (similarity 0.85)
• Auditory nerve phase locking can encode slow waveform fluctuations across filters (similarity 0.84)
• Neural information is encoded in the patterning of voltage spikes (similarity 0.83)
• Pitch perception is explained by two competing physiological models of the inner ear (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Pitch perception is encoded by the timing of neural firing in the cochlea #corroborates (0.95) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1655
• Pitch may be jointly coded by temporal patterns and their cochlear location #expands (0.90) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1338
• High-frequency transposed stimuli make auditory-nerve firing phase-lock to a low-frequency modulator #exemplifies (0.85) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 1031