Stimulus Coding in the Auditory Nerve and Cochlear Nucleus

Abstract

The average time pattern of response of any auditory nerve fiber to simple acoustic stimuli is predictable from its “tuning curve” and rate of spontaneous discharge. In contrast units in the cochlear nucleus may exhibit radically different response patterns to the same stimulus though their tuning curves and rates of spontaneous discharge are virtually identical. Messages carried by the auditory nerve are apparently recoded in the cochlear nucleus in a number of different ways. Consequently the nucleus should not be considered merely as a relay station.