Essential auditory contrast-sharpening is preneuronal.
Contrast-sharpening is a fundamental feature of mammalian sensory perception. Whereas visual contrast-sharpening has been fully understood in terms of the retinal neuronal wiring [DeVries, S. H. & Baylor, D. A. (1993) Cell 72, Suppl., 139-149], a corresponding explanation of auditory contrast-sharpening is still lacking. Here, we show that the essentials of auditory contrast-sharpening can be explained by using cochlear biophysics. This finding indicates that the phenomenon is basically of preneuronal origin.
Stoop
R
R
Institute of Neuroinformatics, University/Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland. ruedi@ini.phys.ethz.ch
Kern
A
A
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D003051:Cochlea / Q000502:physiology*; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology*; D008322:Mammals; D008954:Models, Biological; D010465:Perception; D009435:Synaptic Transmission