Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Auditory Pathway01:15

Auditory Pathway

Auditory pathways constitute the complex neural circuits responsible for transmitting and interpreting auditory information from the peripheral auditory system to the brain. Sound waves are initially captured by the outer ear, funneled through the ear canal, and reach the tympanic membrane (eardrum). These vibrations are transmitted via the middle ear's ossicles to the inner ear's cochlea.
When viewed cross-sectionally, the cochlea reveals the scala vestibuli and scala tympani flanking the...
Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location01:21

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location

The human brain perceives pitch through two primary mechanisms reflected in place theory and frequency theory. Each mechanism describes how sound waves are interpreted as specific pitches by the brain, offering insights into the intricate processes of auditory perception.
Place theory, or place coding, suggests that different pitches are heard because various sound waves activate specific locations along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The brain determines the pitch of a sound by identifying...
Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex01:14

Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

The cerebral cortex, the brain's outermost layer, is pivotal in processing complex cognitive tasks, emotions, and various sensory inputs and executing voluntary motor activities. This intricate structure is divided into three primary functional areas: the motor areas, sensory areas, and association areas.
Motor Areas
The motor areas located in the frontal lobe are central to controlling voluntary movements. This region is further subdivided into the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex.
The Cochlea01:13

The Cochlea

The cochlea is a coiled structure in the inner ear that contains hair cells—the sensory receptors of the auditory system. Sound waves are transmitted to the cochlea by small bones attached to the eardrum called the ossicles, which vibrate the oval window that leads to the inner ear. This causes fluid in the chambers of the cochlea to move, vibrating the basilar membrane.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

An Electronic Phenotype Series for Measuring Adherence to the Wake Up and Breathe Protocol in Mechanically Ventilated ICU Patients.

Research square·2026
Same author

Auditory Cortex Distinguishes between Spontaneous and Sound-Evoked Movements.

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience·2026
Same author

Auditory regularity detection in the ferret.

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America·2026
Same author

Hierarchical recurrent temporal prediction as a model of the mammalian dorsal visual pathway.

PLoS computational biology·2026
Same author

Intelligent Reasoning Cues: A Framework and Case Study of the Roles of AI Information in Complex Decisions.

Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. CHI Conference·2026
Same author

Rethinking hierarchy: the auditory system as an integrated cortical-subcortical network.

Nature reviews. Neuroscience·2026

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 16, 2026

Functional Imaging of Auditory Cortex in Adult Cats using High-field fMRI
10:50

Functional Imaging of Auditory Cortex in Adult Cats using High-field fMRI

Published on: February 19, 2014

Physiological and behavioral studies of spatial coding in the auditory cortex.

Andrew J King1, Victoria M Bajo, Jennifer K Bizley

  • 1Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, Sherrington Building, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. andrew.king@physiol.ox.ac.uk

Hearing Research
|February 23, 2007
PubMed
Summary

Inactivating the auditory cortex impairs sound localization in ferrets, highlighting its crucial role in spatial hearing. This brain region is also vital for adapting auditory localization skills through training.

More Related Videos

Combined Shuttle-Box Training with Electrophysiological Cortex Recording and Stimulation as a Tool to Study Perception and Learning
08:43

Combined Shuttle-Box Training with Electrophysiological Cortex Recording and Stimulation as a Tool to Study Perception and Learning

Published on: October 22, 2015

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition
07:14

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition

Published on: October 29, 2018

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 16, 2026

Functional Imaging of Auditory Cortex in Adult Cats using High-field fMRI
10:50

Functional Imaging of Auditory Cortex in Adult Cats using High-field fMRI

Published on: February 19, 2014

Combined Shuttle-Box Training with Electrophysiological Cortex Recording and Stimulation as a Tool to Study Perception and Learning
08:43

Combined Shuttle-Box Training with Electrophysiological Cortex Recording and Stimulation as a Tool to Study Perception and Learning

Published on: October 22, 2015

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition
07:14

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition

Published on: October 29, 2018

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Auditory Perception
  • Sensory Processing

Background:

  • The auditory cortex is considered essential for sound localization, but its precise role and information encoding remain unclear.
  • Understanding how different cortical areas contribute to spatial hearing is critical for advancing auditory neuroscience.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the behavioral impact of inactivating the primary auditory cortex (A1) on sound localization in ferrets.
  • To explore the neural mechanisms of spatial information processing within A1.
  • To determine the role of the auditory cortex in auditory plasticity and relearning.

Main Methods:

  • Temporary inactivation of ferret primary auditory cortex (A1) using muscimol.
  • Creating large bilateral lesions extending beyond A1.
  • Recording neuronal spatial receptive fields (SRFs) using virtual acoustic space stimuli.
  • Assessing auditory localization performance before and after interventions and during training.

Main Results:

  • Silencing A1 caused reversible deficits in horizontal and vertical sound localization.
  • More extensive auditory cortex lesions resulted in severe, persistent localization deficits.
  • Neuronal recordings revealed spatial receptive fields in A1, with response properties explainable by acoustic cues and binaural tuning.
  • Slopes of azimuth response profiles and spike timing variations were identified as key information-bearing parameters in awake ferrets.
  • Auditory cortex inactivation slowed adaptation during auditory localization training, while disrupting cortico-collicular pathways prevented relearning.

Conclusions:

  • The auditory cortex plays a significant role in both the immediate processing of auditory spatial information and in the long-term plasticity of sound localization.
  • Descending cortical pathways likely mediate the auditory cortex's contribution to training-induced auditory localization improvements.