Spectro-temporal Receptive Fields Constructed on Neuronal Input and Output in the Auditory Cortex
Abstract
Frequency coding is a principal function of the auditory system. Frequency selectivity and level tolerances are reflected by the sharpness of frequency tuning, often quantified as frequency bandwidths. Along the ascending auditory pathway, spectral information of complex acoustic stimuli is progressively decomposed with higher-level subcortical nuclei evincing more sharply-tuned neurons. Auditory cortical neurons feature broad variation in bandwidths, due to convergent thalamocortical projections. Oppositely, cortical modulation characterized by input and output frequency receptive fields most likely acts by sharpening frequency tuning.
Spectro-temporal receptive fields (STRFs) constructed on post-synaptic potential (PSP) amplitude and action potential (AP) firing rates were recorded from mouse auditory cortex layer IV neurons using in vivo whole-cell current-clamp without blocking voltage-dependent conductances. AP-based STRFs showed smaller bandwidths than PSP-based STRFs while frequency bandwidths increased with sound level using multi-frequency stimuli, but less so using single-frequency stimuli. Bandwidth ratios of PSP- and AP-based STRFs were reduced by raising sound level or stimulus density.
Description
Keywords
Neuroscience
Citation
Bao, X. (2017). Spectro-temporal Receptive Fields Constructed on Neuronal Input and Output in the Auditory Cortex (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27852