IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v399y1999i6737d10.1038_21424.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Auditory cortical responses in the cat to sounds that produce spatial illusions

Author

Listed:
  • Li Xu

    (Kresge Hearing Research Institute, University of Michigan)

  • Shigeto Furukawa

    (Kresge Hearing Research Institute, University of Michigan)

  • John C. Middlebrooks

    (Kresge Hearing Research Institute, University of Michigan)

Abstract

Humans and cats can localize a sound source accurately if its spectrum is fairly broad and flat1,2,3, as is typical of most natural sounds. However, if sounds are filtered to reduce the width of the spectrum, they result in illusions of sources that are very different from the actual locations, particularly in the up/down and front/back dimensions4,5,6. Such illusions reveal that the auditory system relies on specific characteristics of sound spectra to obtain cues for localization7. In the auditory cortex of cats, temporal firing patterns of neurons can signal the locations of broad-band sounds8,9. Here we show that such spike patterns systematically mislocalize sounds that have been passed through a narrow-band filter. Both correct and incorrect locations signalled by neurons can be predicted quantitatively by a model of spectral processing that also predicts correct and incorrect localization judgements by human listeners6. Similar cortical mechanisms, if present in humans, could underlie human auditory spatial perception.

Suggested Citation

  • Li Xu & Shigeto Furukawa & John C. Middlebrooks, 1999. "Auditory cortical responses in the cat to sounds that produce spatial illusions," Nature, Nature, vol. 399(6737), pages 688-691, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:399:y:1999:i:6737:d:10.1038_21424
    DOI: 10.1038/21424
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/21424
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/21424?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:399:y:1999:i:6737:d:10.1038_21424. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.