Temporal hyperacuity in the electric sense of fish

Abstract

It has recently become evident that sensory thresholds for certain tasks are lower than those expected from the properties of individual receptors1. This perceptual capacity, termed hyperacuity, reveals the impressive information-processing abilities of the central nervous system. Although much is known about spatial hyperacuity, temporal hyperacuity has received little attention2. Here we demonstrate that an electric fish, Eigenmannia, can detect modulations in the timing (phase) of an electrical signal at least as small as 400 ns. Such sensitivity exceeds the temporal resolution of individual phase-coding afferents. This hyperacuity results from a nonlinear convergence of parallel afferent inputs to the central nervous system; subthreshold inputs from particular areas of the body surface accumulate to permit the detection of these extremely small temporal modulations.