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Tonotopic organization in the cochlea forms throughout pre- and post-natal development through a series of changes that occur in response to auditory stimuli. [7] Research suggests that the pre-natal establishment of tonotopic organization is partially guided by synaptic reorganization; however, more recent studies have shown that the early changes and refinements occur at both the circuit and ...
The tonotopic layout of sound information begins in the cochlea where the basilar membrane vibrates at different positions along its length depending upon the frequency of the sound. Higher frequency sounds are at the base of the cochlea, if it were unrolled, and low frequency sounds are at the apex.
This graph reflects the frequency selectivity and the tuning of the basilar membrane. The auditory filter of a "normal" cochlea. The tuning of the basilar membrane is due to its mechanical structure. At the base of the basilar membrane it is narrow and stiff and is most responsive to high frequencies.
This means that the organization in the periphery mirrors the order of the information processing in the brain. This organization can be somatotopic, [10] as in the tactile sense of touch, or tonotopic, [11] as in the ear, and the retinotopic map which is laid out in the brain as the cells are arranged on the retina. Neurons on the surface of ...
Tonotopic mapping is preserved throughout most of the audition circuit. The primary auditory cortex receives direct input from the medial geniculate nucleus of the thalamus and thus is thought to identify the fundamental elements of music, such as pitch and loudness.
This spatial arrangement of sounds and their respective frequencies being processed in the basilar membrane is known as tonotopy. When the hair cells on the basilar membrane move back and forth due to the vibrating sound waves, they release neurotransmitters and cause action potentials to occur down the auditory nerve.
The nucleus is tonotopically organized, but the azimuthal receptive field projection is "most likely a complex, nonlinear map". [5] The projections of the medial superior olive terminate densely in the ipsilateral central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (CNIC). The majority of these axons are considered to be "round shaped" or type R.
Neuronal tuning can be strong and sharp, as observed in primary visual cortex (area V1), [2] or weak and broad, as observed in neural ensembles. Single neurons are hypothesized to be simultaneously tuned to several modalities, such as visual, auditory, and olfactory. Neurons hypothesized to be tuned to different signals are often hypothesized ...