A Neural Map of lnteraural Intensity Differences in the Brain Stem of the Barn Owl

A neural map of interaural intensity differences in the brain stem of the barn owl.

The nucleus ventralis lemnisci lateralis pars posterior (VLVp) is the first binaural station in the intensity-processing pathway of the barn owl. Contralateral stimulation excites and ipsilateral stimulation inhibits VLVp cells. The strength of the inhibition declines systematically from dorsal to ventral within the nucleus. Cells selective for different intensity disparities occur in an orderl...

Bilateral inhibition generates neuronal responses tuned to interaural level differences in the auditory brainstem of the barn owl.

I investigated the neural algorithms by which neurons gain selectivity for interaural level difference in the brainstem of the barn owl (Tyto alba). Differences in the timing and in the level of sounds at the ears are used by this owl to encode, respectively, azimuthal and vertical position of sound sources in space. These two cues are processed in two parallel neural pathways. Below the level ...

A Circuit for Detection of lnteraural Time Differences in the Brain Stem of the Barn Owl

Detection of interaural time differences underlies azimuthal sound localization in the barn owl Tyto alba. Axons of the cochlear nucleus magnocellularis, and their targets in the binaural nucleus laminaris, form the circuit responsible for encoding these interaural time differences. The nucleus laminaris receives bilateral inputs from the cochlear nucleus magnocellularis such that axons from th...

Barn owl and sound localization

The barn owl is a nocturnal predator with excellent sound localization ability. Due to the asymmetric ears of this bird, the interaural time and level differences, respectively, provide information for the horizontal and vertical direction of a sound source. Forty years of behavioral, anatomical and physiological research on the owl’s auditory system have revealed that these two acoustic cues a...

Temporal coding in the auditory brainstem of the barn owl