Essential auditory contrast-sharpening is preneuronal

doi:10.1073/pnas.0308446101

Essential auditory contrast-sharpening is preneuronal

R. Stoop* and
A. Kern

Institute of Neuroinformatics, University/Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland

Edited by Charles S. Peskin, New York University, New York, NY (received for review December 18, 2003)

Abstract

Contrast-sharpening is a fundamental feature of mammalian sensory perception. Whereas visual contrast-sharpening has been fully understood in terms of the retinal neuronal wiring [DeVries, S. H. & Baylor, D. A. (1993) Cell 72, Suppl., 139–149], a corresponding explanation of auditory contrast-sharpening is still lacking. Here, we show that the essentials of auditory contrast-sharpening can be explained by using cochlear biophysics. This finding indicates that the phenomenon is basically of preneuronal origin.

Footnotes

↵ * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ruedi{at}ini.phys.ethz.ch.
This paper was submitted directly (Track II) to the PNAS office.
Abbreviation: BM, basilar membrane.