Spectrotemporal contrast kernels for neurons in primary auditory cortex.

Auditory neurons are often described in terms of their spectrotemporal receptive fields (STRFs). These map the relationship between features of the sound spectrogram and firing rates of neurons. Recently, we showed that neurons in the primary fields of the ferret auditory cortex are also subject to...

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Príomhchruthaitheoirí: Rabinowitz, N, Willmore, B, Schnupp, J, King, A
Formáid: Journal article
Teanga:English
Foilsithe / Cruthaithe: 2012
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author Rabinowitz, N
Willmore, B
Schnupp, J
King, A
author_facet Rabinowitz, N
Willmore, B
Schnupp, J
King, A
author_sort Rabinowitz, N
collection OXFORD
description Auditory neurons are often described in terms of their spectrotemporal receptive fields (STRFs). These map the relationship between features of the sound spectrogram and firing rates of neurons. Recently, we showed that neurons in the primary fields of the ferret auditory cortex are also subject to gain control: when sounds undergo smaller fluctuations in their level over time, the neurons become more sensitive to small-level changes (Rabinowitz et al., 2011). Just as STRFs measure the spectrotemporal features of a sound that lead to changes in the firing rates of neurons, in this study, we sought to estimate the spectrotemporal regions in which sound statistics lead to changes in the gain of neurons. We designed a set of stimuli with complex contrast profiles to characterize these regions. This allowed us to estimate the STRFs of cortical neurons alongside a set of spectrotemporal contrast kernels. We find that these two sets of integration windows match up: the extent to which a stimulus feature causes the firing rate of a neuron to change is strongly correlated with the extent to which the contrast of that feature modulates the gain of the neuron. Adding contrast kernels to STRF models also yields considerable improvements in the ability to capture and predict how auditory cortical neurons respond to statistically complex sounds.
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spelling oxford-uuid:e6c19668-a6b2-4e4a-ac78-49b36e2cc7dc2022-03-27T10:33:22ZSpectrotemporal contrast kernels for neurons in primary auditory cortex.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:e6c19668-a6b2-4e4a-ac78-49b36e2cc7dcEnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2012Rabinowitz, NWillmore, BSchnupp, JKing, AAuditory neurons are often described in terms of their spectrotemporal receptive fields (STRFs). These map the relationship between features of the sound spectrogram and firing rates of neurons. Recently, we showed that neurons in the primary fields of the ferret auditory cortex are also subject to gain control: when sounds undergo smaller fluctuations in their level over time, the neurons become more sensitive to small-level changes (Rabinowitz et al., 2011). Just as STRFs measure the spectrotemporal features of a sound that lead to changes in the firing rates of neurons, in this study, we sought to estimate the spectrotemporal regions in which sound statistics lead to changes in the gain of neurons. We designed a set of stimuli with complex contrast profiles to characterize these regions. This allowed us to estimate the STRFs of cortical neurons alongside a set of spectrotemporal contrast kernels. We find that these two sets of integration windows match up: the extent to which a stimulus feature causes the firing rate of a neuron to change is strongly correlated with the extent to which the contrast of that feature modulates the gain of the neuron. Adding contrast kernels to STRF models also yields considerable improvements in the ability to capture and predict how auditory cortical neurons respond to statistically complex sounds.
spellingShingle Rabinowitz, N
Willmore, B
Schnupp, J
King, A
Spectrotemporal contrast kernels for neurons in primary auditory cortex.
title Spectrotemporal contrast kernels for neurons in primary auditory cortex.
title_full Spectrotemporal contrast kernels for neurons in primary auditory cortex.
title_fullStr Spectrotemporal contrast kernels for neurons in primary auditory cortex.
title_full_unstemmed Spectrotemporal contrast kernels for neurons in primary auditory cortex.
title_short Spectrotemporal contrast kernels for neurons in primary auditory cortex.
title_sort spectrotemporal contrast kernels for neurons in primary auditory cortex
work_keys_str_mv AT rabinowitzn spectrotemporalcontrastkernelsforneuronsinprimaryauditorycortex
AT willmoreb spectrotemporalcontrastkernelsforneuronsinprimaryauditorycortex
AT schnuppj spectrotemporalcontrastkernelsforneuronsinprimaryauditorycortex
AT kinga spectrotemporalcontrastkernelsforneuronsinprimaryauditorycortex