Document Detail


Localization dominance and the effect of frequency in the Mongolian Gerbil, Meriones unguiculatus.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20490810     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Due to its good low-frequency hearing, the Mongolian Gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) has become a well-established animal model for human hearing. In humans, sound localization in reverberant environments is facilitated by the precedence effect, i.e., the perceptual suppression of spatial information carried by echoes. The current study addresses the question whether gerbils are a valid animal model for such complex spatial processing. Specifically, we quantify localization dominance, i.e., the fact that in the context of precedence, only the directional information of the sound which reaches the ear first dominates the perceived position of a sound source whereas directional information of the delayed echoes is suppressed. As localization dominance is known to be stimulus-dependent, we quantified the extent to which the spectral content of transient sounds affects localization dominance in the gerbil. The results reveal that gerbils show stable localization dominance across echo delays, well comparable to humans. Moreover, localization dominance systematically decreased with increasing center frequency, which has not been demonstrated in an animal before. These findings are consistent with an important contribution of peripheral-auditory processing to perceptual localization dominance. The data show that the gerbil is an excellent model to study the neural basis of complex spatial-auditory processing.
Authors:
Miriam Wolf; Maike Schuchmann; Lutz Wiegrebe
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Randomized Controlled Trial     Date:  2010-05-21
Journal Detail:
Title:  Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology     Volume:  196     ISSN:  1432-1351     ISO Abbreviation:  J. Comp. Physiol. A Neuroethol. Sens. Neural. Behav. Physiol.     Publication Date:  2010 Jul 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-06-23     Completed Date:  2010-09-22     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  101141792     Medline TA:  J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol     Country:  Germany    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  463-70     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Kraepelinstr. 2-10, 80804, Munich, Germany.
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Acoustic Stimulation / methods
Age Factors
Animals
Auditory Threshold / physiology*
Dominance, Cerebral*
Female
Gerbillinae / physiology*
Male
Psychoacoustics
Sound Localization / physiology*

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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