PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Matthew H. Higgs
AU  - Marina S. Kuznetsova
AU  - William J. Spain
TI  - Adaptation of Spike Timing Precision Controls the Sensitivity to Interaural Time Difference in the Avian Auditory Brainstem
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1865-12.2012
DP  - 2012 Oct 31
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 15489--15494
VI  - 32
IP  - 44
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/44/15489.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/44/15489.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.2012 Oct 31; 32
AB  - While adaptation is widely thought to facilitate neural coding, the form of adaptation should depend on how the signals are encoded. Monaural neurons early in the interaural time difference (ITD) pathway encode the phase of sound input using spike timing rather than firing rate. Such neurons in chicken nucleus magnocellularis (NM) adapt to ongoing stimuli by increasing firing rate and decreasing spike timing precision. We measured NM neuron responses while adapting them to simulated physiological input, and used these responses to construct inputs to binaural coincidence detector neurons in nucleus laminaris (NL). Adaptation of spike timing in NM reduced ITD sensitivity in NL, demonstrating the dominant role of timing in the short-term plasticity as well as the immediate response of this sound localization circuit.