PROCESSING AM SIGNALS IN AUDITORY SYSTEM

描述：（改编自研究者摘要）长期 这项研究计划的目标是了解时间模式， 交流声音在中央听觉系统中被表示和处理 系统通信信号中的大部分信息，包括人类 语言，存在于它们的时间结构中。了解如何 声音的时间结构在神经系统中表现和处理 因此，这个系统对于理解交流的神经基础至关重要 和沟通障碍研究将在听觉上进行 系统的无尾类，因为他们的发声的时间结构， 在它们的生殖生物学和行为学研究中， 可以用来描述他们的时间处理能力。 目前，关于颞叶神经元的神经机制还知之甚少， 听觉系统中的处理。在基本层面上， 声音由其振幅和频率如何变化组成，即，被调制， 随着时间这项研究的具体目标是深入了解如何 振幅调制在大脑中表现出来， 这些代表。在许多脊椎动物物种中，包括哺乳动物， 存在从振幅的速率的周期性编码的变换 调制到AM滤波器表示;中脑中的大多数神经元响应 最好在特定的AM速率范围内，即，是带通的的机制 对这种转变的基本原理知之甚少。的具体实验 在这项研究计划中概述的是旨在测试假设， 带通AM选择性的产生。恢复进程的作用， 将研究时间积分。其他实验应该能揭示 中脑中是否存在"AM地图"。

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.