RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Cross-Correlation in the Auditory Coincidence Detectors of Owls
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 8107
OP 8115
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1969-08.2008
VO 28
IS 32
A1 Fischer, Brian J.
A1 Christianson, G. Björn
A1 Peña, José Luis
YR 2008
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/28/32/8107.abstract
AB Interaural time difference (ITD) plays a central role in many auditory functions, most importantly in sound localization. The classic model for how ITD is computed was put forth by Jeffress (1948). One of the predictions of the Jeffress model is that the neurons that compute ITD should behave as cross-correlators. Whereas cross-correlation-like properties of the ITD-computing neurons have been reported, attempts to show that the shape of the ITD response function is determined by the spectral tuning of the neuron, a core prediction of cross-correlation, have been unsuccessful. Using reverse correlation analysis, we demonstrate in the barn owl that the relationship between the spectral tuning and the ITD response of the ITD-computing neurons is that predicted by cross-correlation. Moreover, we show that a model of coincidence detector responses derived from responses to binaurally uncorrelated noise is consistent with binaural interaction based on cross-correlation. These results are thus consistent with one of the key tenets of the Jeffress model. Our work sets forth both the methodology to answer whether cross-correlation describes coincidence detector responses and a demonstration that in the barn owl, the result is that expected by theory.