Aspects of Temporal Processing of FM Stimuli in Primary Auditory Cortex

Abstract

The timing of the phasic responses of neurons in cat primary auditory cortex to linear frequency modulated (FM) sweeps was studied and compared in detail with the neurons-responses to tone bursts of different frequencies. FM sweeps differed in direction and rate of change of frequency (RCF) and entirely traversed the neuron's excitatory frequency response area. It is demonstrated that a neuron's response to FM sweeps in a given direction is initiated whenever the instantaneous frequency of the sweep reaches a particular value, the effective Fi, independent of RCF. Effective Fi for upward and downward sweeps are closely associated with the steepest slopes of the neuron's tone burst frequency response function below and above the best frequency, respectively. This predictability of response timing appears ideal for encoding of FM parameters, such as direction, RCF, and form of modulation (e.g. linear, exponential) in the spatiotemporal pattern of excitation and in the inter-response-intervals of different neurons, i.e. in latency place codes.