Representation of Dynamic Broadband Spectra in Auditory Cortex; Briefing Charts

摘要

In Primary Auditory Cortex (AI) of Ferrets, we have previously characterized cells responses to dynamic broad-band sounds. We found best responses to temporal modulations from 4 to 16 Hz, and spectral modulations from 0.4 to 1.6 cycles/octave in the stimulus's spectro-temporal envelope. The Spectro-Temporal Response Field (STRF) explains the linear component of the response to the spectro-temporal envelope of a broad-band sound. The STRF is often a good predictor of the response to an arbitrary sound. However, previous measurements of the STRF using sinusoidal spectro-temporal envelopes were hampered by the time required to accumulate data from a cell. We use sums of spectro-temporal sinusoids as stimuli: these reduce recording time; confirm quadrant spectro-temporal separability; and can be used to explore non- linearities.