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

Hearing01:31

Hearing

52.0K
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.
52.0K
Auditory Pathway01:15

Auditory Pathway

5.3K
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...
5.3K
Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location01:21

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location

203
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...
203
The Cochlea01:13

The Cochlea

44.7K
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.
44.7K
Hair Cells01:22

Hair Cells

40.1K
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.
40.1K
Anatomy of the Ear01:16

Anatomy of the Ear

7.9K
Auditory sensation, commonly called hearing, involves the transformation of sonic waves into neural impulses facilitated by the structures of the auditory organ. The prominent, flesh-like structure on the side of the head, called the auricle, directs sound waves towards the auditory canal. The auricle is often mislabeled as the pinna, a term more aligned with mobile structures like a feline's external ear. The auditory canal penetrates the cranium via the external auditory meatus of the...
7.9K

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by
Same author

Correction: Long-interval neurons are selective for slower pulse rates in chorus frogs that are sympatric versus allopatric with congeneric heterospecifics.

Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology·2026
Same author

Long-interval neurons are selective for slower pulse rates in chorus frogs that are sympatric versus allopatric with congeneric heterospecifics.

Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology·2025
Same author

Projections from the supragenual nucleus to the lateral mammillary and dorsal tegmental nuclei.

Brain structure & function·2025
Same author

Evidence that interval-counting neurons play a critical role in call recognition by Cope's gray treefrogs.

Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology·2025
Same author

The head-direction signal is generated from two types of head direction cells in brainstem nuclei.

Nature communications·2025
Same author

Deep Learning for Neuromuscular Control of Vocal Source for Voice Production.

Applied sciences (Basel, Switzerland)·2024
Same journal

The TaMYB55-TaSnRK1α1-TabZIP9 module confers heat stress tolerance in wheat.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Superstatistics approach to turbulent circulation fluctuations.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

A molecular timescale for evolution of cobamide biosynthesis.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Pierre Chambon, a pioneer of molecular biology and gene regulation in eukaryotes.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Granulosa cell glycogen fuels the avascular corpus luteum.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Synthetic essentiality of TRAIL/TNFSF10 in VHL-deficient renal cell carcinoma.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 16, 2025

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations
06:34

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations

Published on: July 1, 2015

16.4K

How auditory neurons count temporal intervals and decode information.

Rishi K Alluri1, Gary J Rose1, Jamie McDowell2

  • 1School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|August 19, 2024
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Animals can count sequences of events by decoding temporal patterns in neural spikes. This study reveals interval-counting neurons in the anuran auditory midbrain use inhibition and excitation to achieve this numerical sense.

Keywords:
Countingburst decodingneural mechanismsnumerical abilitiestime perception

More Related Videos

fMRI Mapping of Brain Activity Associated with the Vocal Production of Consonant and Dissonant Intervals
11:15

fMRI Mapping of Brain Activity Associated with the Vocal Production of Consonant and Dissonant Intervals

Published on: May 23, 2017

7.2K
Quantitative Assessment of Cortical Auditory-tactile Processing in Children with Disabilities
09:38

Quantitative Assessment of Cortical Auditory-tactile Processing in Children with Disabilities

Published on: January 29, 2014

10.8K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 16, 2025

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations
06:34

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations

Published on: July 1, 2015

16.4K
fMRI Mapping of Brain Activity Associated with the Vocal Production of Consonant and Dissonant Intervals
11:15

fMRI Mapping of Brain Activity Associated with the Vocal Production of Consonant and Dissonant Intervals

Published on: May 23, 2017

7.2K
Quantitative Assessment of Cortical Auditory-tactile Processing in Children with Disabilities
09:38

Quantitative Assessment of Cortical Auditory-tactile Processing in Children with Disabilities

Published on: January 29, 2014

10.8K

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Animal Behavior
  • Auditory System

Background:

  • Animals possess a numerical sense, enabling them to discern the quantity of sequential events.
  • Neural spike temporal patterns encode event information, but the decoding mechanisms remain unclear.
  • Anuran auditory midbrain neurons exhibit "interval-counting" properties, responding after a specific number of timed sound pulses.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying interval counting in the anuran auditory system.
  • To investigate how temporal spike patterns are decoded into numerical information.
  • To explore the generalizability of this decoding mechanism across nervous systems.

Main Methods:

  • Electrophysiological recordings in the anuran auditory midbrain.
  • Analysis of neural responses to precisely timed auditory pulse sequences.
  • Modeling of neural circuit dynamics involving inhibition and excitation.

Main Results:

  • Interval counting arises from integrating phasic onset/offset inhibition with progressively augmenting excitation.
  • A decrease in inhibitory "shunting" effects may underlie the augmenting excitation across intervals.
  • These neural properties provide a mechanism for decoding temporal information.

Conclusions:

  • Interval counting in the anuran auditory midbrain is achieved through a specific interplay of inhibition and excitation.
  • This mechanism, based on ubiquitous neural properties, may represent a general strategy for decoding temporal spike patterns.
  • The findings suggest a potential mechanism for estimating elapsed time and processing complex temporal information like bursts.