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Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) with Auditory Stimulation in Songbirds
Published on: June 3, 2013
Auditory streaming of amplitude-modulated sounds in the songbird forebrain
1Animal Physiology and Behaviour Group, Institute for Biology and Environmental Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University-Oldenburg, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany. naoya.itatani@uni-oldenburg.de
Abstract:
Streaming in auditory scene analysis refers to the perceptual grouping of multiple interleaved sounds having similar characteristics while sounds with different characteristics are segregated. In human perception, auditory streaming occurs on the basis of temporal features of sounds such as the rate of amplitude modulation. We present results from multiunit recordings in the auditory forebrain of awake European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) on the representation of sinusoidally amplitude modulated (SAM) tones to investigate the effect of temporal envelope structure on neural stream segregation. Different types of rate modulation transfer functions in response to SAM tones were observed. The strongest responses were found for modulation frequencies (fmod) <160 Hz. The streaming stimulus consisted of sequences of alternating SAM tones with the same carrier frequency but differing in fmod (ABA-ABA-ABA-...). A signals had a modulation frequency evoking a large excitation, whereas the fmod of B signals was
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