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...
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.
Hearing01:31

Hearing

When we hear a sound, our nervous system is detecting sound waves—pressure waves of mechanical energy traveling through a medium. The frequency of the wave is perceived as pitch, while the amplitude is perceived as loudness.
Hair Cells01:22

Hair Cells

Hair cells are the sensory receptors of the auditory system—they transduce mechanical sound waves into electrical energy that the nervous system can understand. Hair cells are located in the organ of Corti within the cochlea of the inner ear, between the basilar and tectorial membranes. The actual sensory receptors are called inner hair cells. The outer hair cells serve other functions, such as sound amplification in the cochlea, and are not discussed in detail here.
Nociception01:44

Nociception

Nociception—the ability to feel pain—is essential for an organism’s survival and overall well-being. Noxious stimuli such as piercing pain from a sharp object, heat from an open flame, or contact with corrosive chemicals are first detected by sensory receptors, called nociceptors, located on nerve endings. Nociceptors express ion channels that convert noxious stimuli into electrical signals. When these signals reach the brain via sensory neurons, they are perceived as pain. Thus, pain helps the...

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by
Same author

Imaging [<sup>18</sup>F]FDG PET/CT Study of Nicotinic Acetylcholinergic Receptor α2 Knock-Out Mice and α2 Hypersensitive Mice Compared to Control Mice: Male-Female Differences and Nicotine Effects.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same author

Perinatal methimazole exposure impairs the distribution and function of layer 5 neurons in the mouse auditory cortex.

Scientific reports·2025
Same author

Alpha-2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors regulate spectral integration in auditory cortex.

Frontiers in neural circuits·2024
Same author

Task-dependent effects of nicotine treatment on auditory performance in young-adult and elderly human nonsmokers.

Scientific reports·2021
Same author

Nicotine Enhances Amplitude and Consistency of Timing of Responses to Acoustic Trains in A1.

Frontiers in neural circuits·2021
Same author

Nicotine enhances auditory processing in healthy and normal-hearing young adult nonsmokers.

Psychopharmacology·2019
Same journal

Assessing circuit function in the developing <i>Xenopus</i> tadpole: a survey of the behavioral toolkit and underlying neural substrates.

Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience·2026
Same journal

Dawn of the dread: threatening cinematic virtual reality environments enhance general but not specific pavlovian-instrumental transfer.

Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience·2026
Same journal

Transcranial alternating current stimulation improves cognitive functions in healthy subjects through modifying frontoparietal and dorsal attention networks based on personalized individual theta frequency analysis.

Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience·2026
Same journal

Functional loss of PKMζ in the dorsal hippocampus potentiates the time-dependent increase in false contextual fear memory and impairs spatial recognition memory in mice.

Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience·2026
Same journal

Distinct orbitofrontal circuits with dorsal and ventral CA1 differentially regulate spatial memory and emotional behaviors.

Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience·2026
Same journal

Towards a neurophysiological model of kundalini: a theoretical framework informed by preliminary clinical observations.

Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 20, 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

Nicotinic filtering of sensory processing in auditory cortex.

Raju Metherate1, Irakli Intskirveli, Hideki D Kawai

  • 1Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Center for Hearing Research, University of California, Irvine, Irvine CA, USA.

Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
|July 27, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Nicotine enhances attention by narrowing neural receptive fields in the auditory cortex. This action sharpens focus on important stimuli while filtering out distractions, potentially improving cognitive function.

Keywords:
acetylcholineattentionmousenicotinerat

More Related Videos

Slicing the Embryonic Chicken Auditory Brainstem to Evaluate Tonotopic Gradients and Microcircuits
08:24

Slicing the Embryonic Chicken Auditory Brainstem to Evaluate Tonotopic Gradients and Microcircuits

Published on: July 12, 2022

In Vitro Wedge Slice Preparation for Mimicking In Vivo Neuronal Circuit Connectivity
10:31

In Vitro Wedge Slice Preparation for Mimicking In Vivo Neuronal Circuit Connectivity

Published on: August 18, 2020

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 20, 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

Slicing the Embryonic Chicken Auditory Brainstem to Evaluate Tonotopic Gradients and Microcircuits
08:24

Slicing the Embryonic Chicken Auditory Brainstem to Evaluate Tonotopic Gradients and Microcircuits

Published on: July 12, 2022

In Vitro Wedge Slice Preparation for Mimicking In Vivo Neuronal Circuit Connectivity
10:31

In Vitro Wedge Slice Preparation for Mimicking In Vivo Neuronal Circuit Connectivity

Published on: August 18, 2020

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Science
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Nicotine is known to improve cognitive function, particularly attention, by activating nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs).
  • Understanding nicotine's mechanisms is crucial for developing treatments for cognitive dysfunction and for understanding cholinergic system functions.
  • Nicotinic agonists are being developed for attention-related and age-related cognitive disorders.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the mechanisms underlying nicotine's cognitive-enhancing effects within the primary auditory cortex.
  • To examine how nicotine regulates cortical processing, specifically attentional filtering, using well-defined neural filters.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized tone-evoked current-source density (CSD) profiles in the primary auditory cortex.
  • Investigated the layer-dependent effects of nicotine on spectral and temporal processing.

Main Results:

  • Nicotine demonstrated complex, layer-specific effects on auditory processing.
  • Nicotine enhanced responses to characteristic frequency stimuli while suppressing responses to spectrally distant stimuli.
  • Observed narrowing of neural receptive fields and enhanced processing within these narrowed fields.

Conclusions:

  • Nicotine enhances attentional filtering by narrowing receptive fields in the auditory cortex.
  • These findings suggest a generalizable mechanism for nicotinic enhancement of cognitive functions across neocortical regions.
  • The study provides insights into how modulating nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) can impact sensory processing and cognition.