PROCESSING AM SIGNALS IN AUDITORY SYSTEM

描述：(改编自《调查员摘要》)长期 该研究计划的目标是了解时间模式是如何在 交流声音在中枢听觉中被表现和处理 系统。通信信号中的许多信息，包括人类 语言，存在于它们的时间结构中。了解如何将 声音的时间结构在神经中被表现和处理 因此，系统对于理解交流的神经基础至关重要 和沟通障碍。这项研究将在听觉上进行 无尾目动物的系统，因为它们发声的时间结构 在它们的生殖生物学和行为研究中起着重要作用 可以用来描绘他们的时间加工能力。 目前，对于颞叶的神经机制还知之甚少。 在听觉系统中进行处理。在基本层面上，时间结构 声音包括其幅度和频率如何变化，即如何被调制， 随着时间的推移。这项研究的具体目标是深入了解 幅度调制在大脑中被记录下来，而在 这些陈述。在包括哺乳动物在内的许多脊椎动物物种中， 存在从幅度速率的周期性编码的变换 对AM滤波器表示的调制；中脑中的大多数神经元响应 在特定的AM速率范围内最好，即带通。其作用机制 人们对这种转变背后的原因知之甚少。具体的实验 本研究提案中概述的是旨在测试以下假设的 产生带通调幅选择性。恢复过程的作用和 将对时间整合进行研究。其他实验应该会揭示 中脑中是否存在“AM图”。

DESCRIPTION: (Adapted from the Investigator's Abstract) The long-term objectives of this research program are to understand how temporal patterns in communication sounds are represented and processed in the central auditory system. Much of the information in communication signals, including human language, resides in their temporal structure. An understanding of how the temporal structure of sounds is represented and processed in the nervous system, therefore, is vital to understanding the neural bases of communication and communicative disorders. The research will be conducted on the auditory system of anurans because the temporal structure of their vocalizations has been shown to be important in their reproductive biology and behavioral studies can be conducted to delineate their temporal processing abilities. Presently, little is known concernng the neural mechanisms of temporal processing in the auditory system. At a basic level, the temporal structure of sound consists of how its amplitude and frequency changes, i.e., is modulated, over time. The specific goals of this research are to gain insight into how amplitude modulations are represeted in the brain and the transformations in these representations. In a number of vertebrate species, including mammals, there is a transformation from a periodicity coding of the rate of amplitude modulation to an AM filter representation; most neurons in the midbrain respond best over a particular range of AM rate, i.e., are band-pass. The mechanisms underlying this transformation are poorly understood. The specific experiments outlined in this research proposal are designed to test hypotheses concerning the generation of band-pass AM selectivity. The roles of recovery processes and temporal integration will be investigated. Other experiments should reveal whether an 'AM map' exists in the midbrain.