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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.
Place theory is a theory of hearing that states that our perception of sound depends on where each component frequency produces vibrations along the basilar membrane.By this theory, the pitch of a sound, such as a human voice or a musical tone, is determined by the places where the membrane vibrates, based on frequencies corresponding to the tonotopic organization of the primary auditory neurons.
A sensory map is an area of the brain which responds to sensory stimulation, and are spatially organized according to some feature of the sensory stimulation. In some cases the sensory map is simply a topographic representation of a sensory surface such as the skin , cochlea , or retina .
There are multiple auditory areas (much like the multiple areas in the visual cortex), which can be distinguished anatomically and on the basis that they contain a complete "frequency map." The purpose of this frequency map (known as a tonotopic map ) likely reflects the fact that the cochlea is arranged according to sound frequency.
The basilar membrane is a pseudo-resonant structure [1] that, like the strings on an instrument, varies in width and stiffness. But unlike the parallel strings of a guitar, the basilar membrane is not a discrete set of resonant structures, but a single structure with varying width, stiffness, mass, damping, and duct dimensions along its length.
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 ...