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Temporal Processing by the Auditory System of Fishes

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Time Resolution in Auditory Systems

Part of the book series: Proceedings in Life Sciences ((LIFE SCIENCES))

Abstract

The earliest experimental interests in the hearing mechanisms of fishes were motivated in part by questions of the functional significance of inner ear structure (e.g. Bigelow 1904; Manning 1924; von Frisch 1938). As will be described below, the otolithic ears of fishes do not seem suited for the type of mechanical frequency analysis characteristic of the mammalian cochlea, and questions arose regarding the capacities of fishes to extract information from the acoustic waveform. Are fishes capable of frequency discrimination, and if so, how is the acoustic waveform coded by the ear and analyzed by the brain? Without obvious mechanisms for a frequency-domain analysis, processing in fishes is likely based on waveform analysis in the time-domain. The fishes thus are a possible model system for studying temporal analysis which is relatively uncontaminated by a peripheral frequency analysis.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Parmly Hearing Institute, Loyola University of Chicago, 6525 N. Sheridan Rd., 60626, Chicago, IL, USA

    Richard R. Fay

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  1. Richard R. Fay
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biology, Odense University, 5230, Odense M, Denmark

    Axel Michelsen

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© 1985 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Fay, R.R. (1985). Temporal Processing by the Auditory System of Fishes. In: Michelsen, A. (eds) Time Resolution in Auditory Systems. Proceedings in Life Sciences. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70622-6_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70622-6_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-70624-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-70622-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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