Neural processing of target distance by echolocating bats: Functional roles of the auditory midbrain

Bibliographic Details
Title: Neural processing of target distance by echolocating bats: Functional roles of the auditory midbrain
Authors: Wenstrup, Jeffrey J, Portfors, Christine V
Source: Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. 35:2073-2083
Publisher Information: Elsevier BV, 2011.
Publication Year: 2011
Subject Terms: Inferior Colliculi - physiology, Auditory Cortex, Neurons, 0301 basic medicine, Brain Mapping, Auditory Pathways, Auditory Cortex - physiology, Models, Neurological, Chiroptera - physiology, Echolocation - physiology, Auditory Perception - physiology, Inferior Colliculi, 03 medical and health sciences, Auditory Pathways - physiology, 0302 clinical medicine, Models, Chiroptera, Echolocation, Neurological, Brain Mapping - psychology, Auditory Perception, Animals, Neurons - physiology
Description: Using their biological sonar, bats estimate distance to avoid obstacles and capture moving prey. The primary distance cue is the delay between the bat's emitted echolocation pulse and the return of an echo. The mustached bat's auditory midbrain (inferior colliculus, IC) is crucial to the analysis of pulse-echo delay. IC neurons are selective for certain delays between frequency modulated (FM) elements of the pulse and echo. One role of the IC is to create these "delay-tuned", "FM-FM" response properties through a series of spectro-temporal integrative interactions. A second major role of the midbrain is to project target distance information to many parts of the brain. Pathways through auditory thalamus undergo radical reorganization to create highly ordered maps of pulse-echo delay in auditory cortex, likely contributing to perceptual features of target distance analysis. FM-FM neurons in IC also project strongly to pre-motor centers including the pretectum and the pontine nuclei. These pathways may contribute to rapid adjustments in flight, body position, and sonar vocalizations that occur as a bat closes in on a target.
Document Type: Article
Language: English
ISSN: 0149-7634
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.12.015
Access URL: https://europepmc.org/articles/pmc3100454?pdf=render
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21238485
Rights: Elsevier TDM
Accession Number: edsair.doi.dedup.....9a2de90fa6cfe069a3fc2bb0d3790bfc
Database: OpenAIRE
Description
ISSN:01497634
DOI:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.12.015