Topic: gerbils

Having two ears enables us to localize sound sources by exploiting interaural time differences (ITDs) in sound arrival. Principal neurons of the medial superior olive (MSO) are sensitive to ITD, and each MSO neuron responds optimally to a best ITD (bITD). In many cells, especially those tuned to low sound frequencies, these bITDs correspond to ITDs for which the contralateral ear leads, and are often larger than the ecologically relevant range, defined by the ratio of the interaural distance and the speed of sound. Using in vivo recordings in gerbils, we found that shortly after hearing onset

Studies on sound duration discrimination in rodents have consistently reported extraordinarily higher (approx. 2-3x) threshold levels compared to humans and other primates. This finding sharply contrasts with the notion of high temporal precision being a general hallmark of mammalian auditory processing, and raises the question: what other factors might be causing the reported high perceptual thresholds? Here, we investigate duration discrimination in gerbils using the Sensory Island Task (SIT, Ferreiro et al. 2020, Fig. 1A). This paradigm combines closed-loop auditory feedback during self-mot