title: Firing-rate resonances in the peripheral auditory system of the cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus.
abstract: In many communication systems, information is encoded in the temporal pattern of signals. For rhythmic signals that carry information in specific frequency bands, a neuronal system may profit from tuning its inherent filtering properties towards a peak sensitivity in the respective frequency range. The cricket Gryllus bimaculatus evaluates acoustic communication signals of both conspecifics and predators. The song signals of conspecifics exhibit a characteristic pulse pattern that contains only a narrow range of modulation frequencies. We examined individual neurons (AN1, AN2, ON1) in the peripheral auditory system of the cricket for tuning towards specific modulation frequencies by assessing their firing-rate resonance. Acoustic stimuli with a swept-frequency envelope allowed an efficient characterization of the cells' modulation transfer functions. Some of the examined cells exhibited tuned band-pass properties. Using simple computational models, we demonstrate how different, cell-intrinsic or network-based mechanisms such as subthreshold resonances, spike-triggered adaptation, as well as an interplay of excitation and inhibition can account for the experimentally observed firing-rate resonances. Therefore, basic neuronal mechanisms that share negative feedback as a common theme may contribute to selectivity in the peripheral auditory pathway of crickets that is designed towards mate recognition and predator avoidance.
authors: Behavioral Physiology, Department of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstr. 43, 10115, Berlin, Germany. florian.rau@hu-berlin.de.
authors: Florian
authors: F
authors: Rau
authors: Behavioral Physiology, Department of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstr. 43, 10115, Berlin, Germany.|Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099, Berlin, Germany.
authors: Jan
authors: J
authors: Clemens
authors: Behavioral Physiology, Department of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstr. 43, 10115, Berlin, Germany.
authors: Victor
authors: V
authors: Naumov
authors: Behavioral Physiology, Department of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstr. 43, 10115, Berlin, Germany.
authors: R Matthias
authors: RM
authors: Hennig
authors: Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099, Berlin, Germany.|Institute for Theoretical Biology, Department of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Philippstr. 13, Haus 4, 10115, Berlin, Germany.
authors: Susanne
authors: S
authors: Schreiber
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005260:Female; D017952:Ganglia, Invertebrate / Q000502:physiology*; D006135:Gryllidae / Q000502:physiology*; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology*; D016014:Linear Models; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics
keywords: Acoustic communication; Auditory processing; Band-pass filtering; Negative feedback; Neuron models