Auditory filters, features, and redundant representations

Neuron. 2006 Aug 3;51(3):278-80. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2006.07.016.

Abstract

Responses in auditory cortex tend to be weaker, more phasic, and noisier than those of auditory brainstem and midbrain nuclei. Is the activity in cortex therefore merely a "degraded echo" of lower-level neural representations? In this issue of Neuron, Chechik and colleagues show that, while cortical responses indeed convey less sensory information than auditory midbrain neurons, their responses are also much less redundant.

Publication types

  • Comment
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Acoustic Stimulation / methods
  • Animals
  • Auditory Cortex / physiology*
  • Auditory Pathways / physiology
  • Auditory Perception / physiology*
  • Humans