Binaural gain modulation of spectrotemporal tuning in the interaural level difference-coding pathway

Effect of Stimulus-Dependent Spike Timing on Population Coding of Sound Location in the Owl's Auditory Midbrain

In the auditory system, the spectrotemporal structure of acoustic signals determines the temporal pattern of spikes. Here, we investigated this effect in neurons of the barn owl's auditory midbrain (Tyto furcata) that are selective for auditory space and whether it can influence the coding of sound direction. We found that in the nucleus where neurons first become selective to combinations of sound localization cues, reproducibility of spike trains across repeated trials of identical sounds, a metric of across-trial temporal fidelity of spiking patterns evoked by a stimulus, was maximal at the sound direction that elicited the highest firing rate. We then tested the hypothesis that this stimulus-dependent patterning resulted in rate co-modulation of cells with similar frequency and spatial selectivity, driving stimulus-dependent synchrony of population responses. Tetrodes were used to simultaneously record multiple nearby units in the optic tectum (OT), where auditory space is topographically represented. While spiking of neurons in OT showed lower reproducibility across trials compared with upstream nuclei, spike-time synchrony between nearby OT neurons was highest for sounds at their preferred direction. A model of the midbrain circuit explained the relationship between stimulus-dependent reproducibility and synchrony, and demonstrated that this effect can improve the decoding of sound location from the OT output. Thus, stimulus-dependent spiking patterns in the auditory midbrain can have an effect on spatial coding. This study reports a functional connection between spike patterning elicited by spectrotemporal features of a sound and the coding of its location.

Spike threshold adaptation diversifies neuronal operating modes in the auditory brain stem

Single neurons function along a spectrum of neuronal operating modes whose properties determine how the output firing activity is generated from synaptic input. The auditory brain stem contains a diversity of neurons, from pure coincidence detectors to pure integrators and those with intermediate properties. We investigated how intrinsic spike initiation mechanisms regulate neuronal operating mode in the avian cochlear nucleus. Although the neurons in one division of the avian cochlear nucleus, nucleus magnocellularis, have been studied in depth, the spike threshold dynamics of the tonically firing neurons of a second division of cochlear nucleus, nucleus angularis (NA), remained unexplained. The input-output functions of tonically firing NA neurons were interrogated with directly injected in vivo-like current stimuli during whole cell patch-clamp recordings in vitro. Increasing the amplitude of the noise fluctuations in the current stimulus enhanced the firing rates in one subset of tonically firing neurons ("differentiators") but not another ("integrators"). We found that spike thresholds showed significantly greater adaptation and variability in the differentiator neurons. A leaky integrate-and-fire neuronal model with an adaptive spike initiation process derived from sodium channel dynamics was fit to the firing responses and could recapitulate >80% of the precise temporal firing across a range of fluctuation and mean current levels. Greater threshold adaptation explained the frequency-current curve changes due to a hyperpolarized shift in the effective adaptation voltage range and longer-lasting threshold adaptation in differentiators. The fine-tuning of the intrinsic properties of different NA neurons suggests they may have specialized roles in spectrotemporal processing.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Avian cochlear nucleus angularis (NA) neurons are responsible for encoding sound intensity for sound localization and spectrotemporal processing. An adaptive spike threshold mechanism fine-tunes a subset of repetitive-spiking neurons in NA to confer coincidence detector-like properties. A model based on sodium channel inactivation properties reproduced the activity via a hyperpolarized shift in adaptation conferring fluctuation sensitivity.

Neural coding and perception of auditory motion direction based on interaural time differences

While motion is important for parsing a complex auditory scene into perceptual objects, how it is encoded in the auditory system is unclear. Perceptual studies suggest that the ability to identify the direction of motion is limited by the duration of the moving sound, yet we can detect changes in interaural differences at even shorter durations. To understand the source of these distinct temporal limits, we recorded from single units in the inferior colliculus (IC) of unanesthetized rabbits in response to noise stimuli containing a brief segment with linearly time-varying interaural time difference ("ITD sweep") temporally embedded in interaurally uncorrelated noise. We also tested the ability of human listeners to either detect the ITD sweeps or identify the motion direction. Using a point-process model to separate the contributions of stimulus dependence and spiking history to single-neuron responses, we found that the neurons respond primarily by following the instantaneous ITD rather than exhibiting true direction selectivity. Furthermore, using an optimal classifier to decode the single-neuron responses, we found that neural threshold durations of ITD sweeps for both direction identification and detection overlapped with human threshold durations even though the average response of the neurons could track the instantaneous ITD beyond psychophysical limits. Our results suggest that the IC does not explicitly encode motion direction, but internal neural noise may limit the speed at which we can identify the direction of motion.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Recognizing motion and identifying an object's trajectory are important for parsing a complex auditory scene, but how we do so is unclear. We show that neurons in the auditory midbrain do not exhibit direction selectivity as found in the visual system but instead follow the trajectory of the motion in their temporal firing patterns. Our results suggest that the inherent variability in neural firings may limit our ability to identify motion direction at short durations.

Multidimensional stimulus encoding in the auditory nerve of the barn owl

Auditory perception depends on multi-dimensional information in acoustic signals that must be encoded by auditory nerve fibers (ANF). These dimensions are represented by filters with different frequency selectivities. Multiple models have been suggested; however, the identification of relevant filters and type of interactions has been elusive, limiting progress in modeling the cochlear output. Spike-triggered covariance analysis of barn owl ANF responses was used to determine the number of relevant stimulus filters and estimate the nonlinearity that produces responses from filter outputs. This confirmed that ANF responses depend on multiple filters. The first, most dominant filter was the spike-triggered average, which was excitatory for all neurons. The second and third filters could be either suppressive or excitatory with center frequencies above or below that of the first filter. The nonlinear function mapping the first two filter outputs to the spiking probability ranged from restricted to nearly circular-symmetric, reflecting different modes of interaction between stimulus dimensions across the sample. This shows that stimulus encoding in ANFs of the barn owl is multidimensional and exhibits diversity over the population, suggesting that models must allow for variable numbers of filters and types of interactions between filters to describe how sound is encoded in ANFs.

Distinct Correlation Structure Supporting a Rate-Code for Sound Localization in the Owl's Auditory Forebrain

While a topographic map of auditory space exists in the vertebrate midbrain, it is absent in the forebrain. Yet, both brain regions are implicated in sound localization. The heterogeneous spatial tuning of adjacent sites in the forebrain compared to the midbrain reflects different underlying circuitries, which is expected to affect the correlation structure, i.e., signal (similarity of tuning) and noise (trial-by-trial variability) correlations. Recent studies have drawn attention to the impact of response correlations on the information readout from a neural population. We thus analyzed the correlation structure in midbrain and forebrain regions of the barn owl’s auditory system. Tetrodes were used to record in the midbrain and two forebrain regions, Field L and the downstream auditory arcopallium (AAr), in anesthetized owls. Nearby neurons in the midbrain showed high signal and noise correlations (R_NCs), consistent with shared inputs. As previously reported, Field L was arranged in random clusters of similarly tuned neurons. Interestingly, AAr neurons displayed homogeneous monotonic azimuth tuning, while response variability of nearby neurons was significantly less correlated than the midbrain. Using a decoding approach, we demonstrate that low R_NC in AAr restricts the potentially detrimental effect it can have on information, assuming a rate code proposed for mammalian sound localization. This study harnesses the power of correlation structure analysis to investigate the coding of auditory space. Our findings demonstrate distinct correlation structures in the auditory midbrain and forebrain, which would be beneficial for a rate-code framework for sound localization in the nontopographic forebrain representation of auditory space.

Synaptic Inhibition in Avian Interaural Level Difference Sound Localizing Neurons

Synaptic inhibition plays a fundamental role in the neural computation of the interaural level difference (ILD), an important cue for the localization of high-frequency sound. Here, we studied the inhibitory synaptic currents in the chicken posterior portion of the dorsal nucleus of the lateral lemniscus (LLDp), the first binaural level difference encoder of the avian auditory pathway. Using whole-cell recordings in brain slices, we provide the first evidence confirming a monosynaptic inhibition driven by direct electrical and chemical stimulation of the contralateral LLDp, establishing the reciprocal inhibitory connection between the two LLDps, a long-standing assumption in the field. This inhibition was largely mediated by GABAA receptors; however, functional glycine receptors were also identified. The reversal potential for the Cl- channels measured with gramicidin-perforated patch recordings was hyperpolarizing (-88 mV), corresponding to a low intracellular Cl- concentration (5.2 mm). Pharmacological manipulations of KCC2 (outwardly Cl- transporter) activity demonstrate that LLDp neurons can maintain a low intracellular Cl- concentration under a high Cl- load, allowing for the maintenance of hyperpolarizing inhibition. We further demonstrate that hyperpolarizing inhibition was more effective at regulating cellular excitability than depolarizing inhibition in LLDp neurons.

The natural history of sound localization in mammals--a story of neuronal inhibition

Our concepts of sound localization in the vertebrate brain are widely based on the general assumption that both the ability to detect air-borne sounds and the neuronal processing are homologous in archosaurs (present day crocodiles and birds) and mammals. Yet studies repeatedly report conflicting results on the neuronal circuits and mechanisms, in particular the role of inhibition, as well as the coding strategies between avian and mammalian model systems. Here we argue that mammalian and avian phylogeny of spatial hearing is characterized by a convergent evolution of hearing air-borne sounds rather than by homology. In particular, the different evolutionary origins of tympanic ears and the different availability of binaural cues in early mammals and archosaurs imposed distinct constraints on the respective binaural processing mechanisms. The role of synaptic inhibition in generating binaural spatial sensitivity in mammals is highlighted, as it reveals a unifying principle of mammalian circuit design for encoding sound position. Together, we combine evolutionary, anatomical and physiological arguments for making a clear distinction between mammalian processing mechanisms and coding strategies and those of archosaurs. We emphasize that a consideration of the convergent nature of neuronal mechanisms will significantly increase the explanatory power of studies of spatial processing in both mammals and birds.

Azimuth and envelope coding in the inferior colliculus of the unanesthetized rabbit: effect of reverberation and distance

Recognition and localization of a sound are the major functions of the auditory system. In real situations, the listener and different degrees of reverberation transform the signal between the source and the ears. The present study was designed to provide these transformations and examine their influence on neural responses. Using the virtual auditory space (VAS) method to create anechoic and moderately and highly reverberant environments, we found the following: 1) In reverberation, azimuth tuning was somewhat degraded with distance whereas the direction of azimuth tuning remained unchanged. These features remained unchanged in the anechoic condition. 2) In reverberation, azimuth tuning and envelope synchrony were degraded most for neurons with low best frequencies and least for neurons with high best frequencies. 3) More neurons showed envelope synchrony to binaural than to monaural stimulation in both anechoic and reverberant environments. 4) The percentage of envelope-coding neurons and their synchrony decreased in reverberation with distance, whereas it remained constant in the anechoic condition. 5) At far distances, for both binaural and monaural stimulation, the neural gain in reverberation could be as high as 30 dB and as much as 10 dB higher than those in the anechoic condition. 6) The majority of neurons were able to code both envelope and azimuth in all of the environments. This study provides a foundation for understanding the neural coding of azimuth and envelope synchrony at different distances in reverberant and anechoic environments. This is necessary to understand how the auditory system processes "where" and "what" information in real environments.

Neuronal specializations for the processing of interaural difference cues in the chick

Sound information is encoded as a series of spikes of the auditory nerve fibers (ANFs), and then transmitted to the brainstem auditory nuclei. Features such as timing and level are extracted from ANFs activity and further processed as the interaural time difference (ITD) and the interaural level difference (ILD), respectively. These two interaural difference cues are used for sound source localization by behaving animals. Both cues depend on the head size of animals and are extremely small, requiring specialized neural properties in order to process these cues with precision. Moreover, the sound level and timing cues are not processed independently from one another. Neurons in the nucleus angularis (NA) are specialized for coding sound level information in birds and the ILD is processed in the posterior part of the dorsal lateral lemniscus nucleus (LLDp). Processing of ILD is affected by the phase difference of binaural sound. Temporal features of sound are encoded in the pathway starting in nucleus magnocellularis (NM), and ITD is processed in the nucleus laminaris (NL). In this pathway a variety of specializations are found in synapse morphology, neuronal excitability, distribution of ion channels and receptors along the tonotopic axis, which reduces spike timing fluctuation in the ANFs-NM synapse, and imparts precise and stable ITD processing to the NL. Moreover, the contrast of ITD processing in NL is enhanced over a wide range of sound level through the activity of GABAergic inhibitory systems from both the superior olivary nucleus (SON) and local inhibitory neurons that follow monosynaptic to NM activity.

Emergence of band-pass filtering through adaptive spiking in the owl's cochlear nucleus

In the visual, auditory, and electrosensory modalities, stimuli are defined by first- and second-order attributes. The fast time-pressure signal of a sound, a first-order attribute, is important, for instance, in sound localization and pitch perception, while its slow amplitude-modulated envelope, a second-order attribute, can be used for sound recognition. Ascending the auditory pathway from ear to midbrain, neurons increasingly show a preference for the envelope and are most sensitive to particular envelope modulation frequencies, a tuning considered important for encoding sound identity. The level at which this tuning property emerges along the pathway varies across species, and the mechanism of how this occurs is a matter of debate. In this paper, we target the transition between auditory nerve fibers and the cochlear nucleus angularis (NA). While the owl's auditory nerve fibers simultaneously encode the fast and slow attributes of a sound, one synapse further, NA neurons encode the envelope more efficiently than the auditory nerve. Using in vivo and in vitro electrophysiology and computational analysis, we show that a single-cell mechanism inducing spike threshold adaptation can explain the difference in neural filtering between the two areas. We show that spike threshold adaptation can explain the increased selectivity to modulation frequency, as input level increases in NA. These results demonstrate that a spike generation nonlinearity can modulate the tuning to second-order stimulus features, without invoking network or synaptic mechanisms.

Bilateral gain control; an "innate predisposition" for all sorts of things

Empirical studies have revealed remarkable perceptual organization in neonates. Newborn behavioral distinctions have often been interpreted as implying functionally specific modular adaptations, and are widely cited as evidence supporting the nativist agenda. In this theoretical paper, we approach newborn perception and attention from an embodied, developmental perspective. At the mechanistic level, we argue that a generative mechanism based on mutual gain control between bilaterally corresponding points may underly a number of functionally defined “innate predispositions” related to spatial-configural perception. At the computational level, bilateral gain control implements beamforming, which enables spatial-configural tuning at the front end sampling stage. At the psychophysical level, we predict that selective attention in newborns will favor contrast energy which projects to bilaterally corresponding points on the neonate subject's sensor array. The current work extends and generalizes previous work to formalize the bilateral correlation model of newborn attention at a high level, and demonstrate in minimal agent-based simulations how bilateral gain control can enable a simple, robust and “social” attentional bias.