RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Stimulus-Specific Adaptation in the Inferior Colliculus of the Anesthetized Rat
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 5483
OP 5493
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4153-08.2009
VO 29
IS 17
A1 Manuel S. Malmierca
A1 Salvatore Cristaudo
A1 David Pérez-González
A1 Ellen Covey
YR 2009
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/29/17/5483.abstract
AB To identify sounds as novel, there must be some neural representation of commonly occurring sounds. Stimulus-specific adaptation (SSA) is a reduction in neural response to a repeated sound. Previous studies using an oddball stimulus paradigm have shown that SSA occurs at the cortex, but this study demonstrates that neurons in the inferior colliculus (IC) also show strong SSA using this paradigm. The majority (66%) of IC neurons showed some degree of SSA. Approximately 18% of neurons showed near-complete SSA. Neurons with SSA were found throughout the IC. Responses of IC neurons were reduced mainly during the onset component of the response, and latency was shorter in response to the oddball stimulus than to the standard. Neurons with near-complete SSA were broadly tuned to frequency, suggesting a high degree of convergence. Thus, some of the mechanisms that may underlie novelty detection and behavioral habituation to common sounds are already well developed at the midbrain.