Representation of waveform periodicity in the auditory midbrain of the bullfrog, Rana catesbeiana

The period of complex signals is encoded in the bullfrog's eighth nerve by a synchrony code based on phase-locked responding. We examined how these arrays of phase-locked activity are represented in different subnuclei of the auditory midbrain, the torus semicircularis (TS). Recording sites in different areas of the TS differ in their ability to synchronize to the envelope of complex stimuli, and these differences in synchronous activity are related to response latency. Cells in the caudal principal nucleus (cell sparse zone) have longer latencies, and show little or no phase-locked activity, even in response to low modulation rates, while some cells in lateral areas of the TS (magnocellular nucleus, lateral part of principal nucleus) synchronize to rates as high as 90-100 Hz. At midlevels of the TS, there is a lateral-to-medial gradient of synchronization ability: cells located more laterally show better phaselocking than those located more medially. Pooled all-order interval histograms from short latency cells located in the lateral TS represent the waveform periodicity of a biologically relevant complex harmonic signal at different stimulus levels, and in a manner consistent with behavioral data from vocalizing male frogs. Long latency cells in the caudal parts of the TS (cell sparse zone, caudal magnocellular nucleus) code stimulus period by changes in spike rate, rather than by changes in synchronized activity. These data suggest that neural codes based on rate processing and time domain processing are represented in anatomically different areas of the TS. They further show that a populationbased analysis can increase the precision with which temporal features are represented in the central auditory system.