Summary
The effects of stimulus intensity and stimulus spectrum on tuning for stimulus temporal pattern were compared in crickets (Teleogryllus oceanicus) performing flight phonotaxis. Previous work has shown that tuning became sharper when the intensity of a 5 kHz stimulus was increased. We tested the hypothesis that this sharpening was due to activation of high-frequency tuned, negative phonotactic circuitry, by asking whether adding ultrasound to a 5 kHz stimulus also sharpens tuning. We found that the addition of ultrasound to a 5 kHz stimulus resulted in a slight broadening of the temporal pattern tuning curve. Responses to stimuli composed only of ultrasound are temporal-pattern dependent, and ultrasonic pulses delivered in a pattern similar to the courtship song elicited transient negative phonotactic responses that were followed by sustained positive phonotactic responses.
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Pollack, G.S., El-Feghaly, E. Calling song recognition in the cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus: comparison of the effects of stimulus intensity and sound spectrum on selectivity for temporal pattern. J Comp Physiol A 171, 759–765 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00213072
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00213072