A Neural Map of Auditory Space in the Owl

Knudsen, Eric I.; Konishi, Masakazu

doi:10.1126/science.644324

Cited by 440 publications

(282 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…At the neural level, one such internal representation that seems to be involved in this decision-making process is an auditory space map in the midbrain. In the barn owl, external space is represented by topographical neuronal populations that exhibit firing patterns largely consistent with the assumptions listed above (Knudsen and Konishi, 1978). Moreover, the widths of cumulative neural response histograms closely correspond to the size of the MAA 2007).…”

Section: Relating Behavioral Measures To Neural Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 56%

Can measures of sound localization acuity be related to the precision of absolute location estimates?

2008

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Studies of sound localization use relative or absolute psychoacoustic paradigms. Relative tasks assess acuity by determining the smallest angle separating two sources that subjects can discriminate, the minimum audible angle (MAA), whereas absolute tasks measure subjects' abilities to indicate sound location. It is unclear whether or how measures from the two tasks are related, though the belief that the MAA is specifically related to the precision of absolute localization is common. The present study aimed to investigate the basis of this relationship by comparing the precision of absolute location estimates with a measure of spatial acuity computed from the same data. Three cats were trained to indicate apparent sound source locations that varied in azimuth and elevation via orienting gaze shifts (combined eye and head movements). The precision of these absolute responses, as measured by their standard deviation, was compared with acuity thresholds derived from receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses of the cumulative distributions. Surprisingly, the acuity measures were occasionally very poor indicators of absolute localization precision. Incongruent results were attributed to errors in mean accuracy, which are disregarded in analyses of traditional relative tasks. Discussion focuses on the potential for internal biases to affect measures of localization acuity.

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Section: Relating Behavioral Measures To Neural Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 56%

Can measures of sound localization acuity be related to the precision of absolute location estimates?

2008

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“…Certainly, this kind of general auditory ability does exist, but it is no part of auditory localization, either psychologically or physiologically. Animals perceive the location of sounding objects only by means of neural structures specialized to take advantage of the systematic but special relation between proximal stimulus and distal location (see, for example, Knudsen, 1984). The relation is systematic for obvious reasons; it is special because it depends on the circumstance that the animal has two ears, and that the ears are set a certain distance apart.…”

Section: How the Motor Theory Makes Speech Perception Like Other Specmentioning

confidence: 99%

The motor theory of speech perception revised

1985

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A motor theory of speech perception, initially proposed to account for results of early experiments with synthetic speech, is now extensively revised to accommodate recent findings, and to relate the assumptions of the theory to those that might be made about other perceptual modes. According to the revised theory, phonetic information is perceived in a biologically distinct system, a 'module' specialized to detect the intended gestures of the speaker that are the basis for phonetic categories. Built into the structure of this module is the unique but lawful relationship between the gestures and the acoustic patterns in which they are variously overlapped. In consequence, the module causes perception of phonetic structure without translation from preliminary auditory impressions. Thus, it is comparable to such other modules as the one that enables an animal to localize sound. Peculiar to the phonetic module are the relation between perception and production it incorporates and the fact that it must compete with other modules for the same stimulus variations.

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“…2). Neurons in these layers respond to sounds that arrive from a certain location in space (space-specific neurons) and are organized to form a mapped representation of auditory space (Knudsen and Konishi 1978;Knudsen 1982). An auditory map is not unique to barn owls; all species studied show some degree of topographic representation of auditory space in the OT (Lewald and Dorrscheidt 1998;King and Palmer 1985;King and Hutchings 1987).…”

Section: The Barn Owl's Otmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stimulus-specific adaptation, habituation and change detection in the gaze control system

Gutfreund¹

2012

Biol Cybern

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This prospect article addresses the neurobiology of detecting and responding to changes or unexpected events. Change detection is an ongoing computational task performed by the brain as part of the broader process of saliency mapping and selection of the next target for attention. In the optic tectum (OT) of the barn owl, the probability of the stimulus has a dramatic influence on the neural response to that stimulus; rare or deviant stimuli induce stronger responses compared to common stimuli. This phenomenon, known as stimulus-specific adaptation, has recently attracted scientific interest because of its possible role in change detection. In the barn owl's OT, it may underlie the ability to orient specifically to unexpected events and is therefore opening new directions for research on the neurobiology of fundamental psychological phenomena such as habituation, attention, and surprise.

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A Neural Map of Auditory Space in the Owl

Cited by 440 publications

References 9 publications

Can measures of sound localization acuity be related to the precision of absolute location estimates?

Can measures of sound localization acuity be related to the precision of absolute location estimates?

The motor theory of speech perception revised

Stimulus-specific adaptation, habituation and change detection in the gaze control system

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