Corticofugal modulation of frequency processing in bat auditory system

Yunfeng Zhang, Nobuo Suga () and Jun Yan
Additional contact information
Yunfeng Zhang: Washington University
Nobuo Suga: Washington University
Jun Yan: Washington University

Nature, 1997, vol. 387, issue 6636, 900-903

Abstract: Abstract Auditory signals are transmitted from the inner ear through the brainstem to the higher auditory regions of the brain. Neurons throughout the auditory system are tuned to stimulus frequency, and in many auditory regions are arranged in topographical maps with respect to their preferred frequency. These properties are assumed to arise from the interactions of convergent and divergent projections ascending from lower to higher auditory areas1; such a view, however, ignores the possible role of descending projections from cortical to subcortical regions2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. In the bat auditory system, such corticofugal connections modulate neuronal activity to improve the processing of echo-delay information11,12, a specialized feature. Here we show that corticofugal projections are also involved in the most common type of auditory processing, frequency tuning. When cortical neurons tuned to a specific frequency are inactivated, the auditory responses of subcortical neurons tuned to the same frequency are reduced. Moreover, the responses of other subcortical neurons tuned to different frequencies are increased, and their preferred frequencies are shifted towards that of the inactivated cortical neurons. Thus the corticofugal system mediates a positive feedback which, in combination with widespread lateral inhibition, sharpens and adjusts the tuning of neurons at earlier stages in the auditory processing pathway.

Date: 1997
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/43180 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:387:y:1997:i:6636:d:10.1038_43180

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/43180

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().