Nesc 2470- November 19th 2009 11/19/2009

 - The louder the sound, the more neurons that are active because the
more sensory receptors are activated- codes for intensity
 - We can code for frequency based on tonotopy: the basilar membrane
vibrates for different frequencies. But frequency determination in the
basilar membrane isn’t that good. Because the frequency in this case is
determined by loudness.
 - An individual neuron is not specified for a particular frequency.
- Encoding for Sound Frequencies:
 Phase locking:
o For low frequency sound, the depolarization of the sensory
cell maps the sound frequency. The spiral ganglion cell fires
at the same point of the sound wave (eg. Just past the peak)
for low frequencies.
o So action potential is fired at same frequency as cell.
o Tonotopy is not very accurate for low frequencies
 Medium frequencies: Tonotopy and phase locking
 High frequencies: Tonotopy
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 Auditory Cortex
 Axons leaving the MGN project to auditory cortex via internal capsule

 Neuronal Response Properties
 Cortical columns- isofrequency bands
 Tonotopy-
 There isn't as organized as the auditory system.
 Very early on the information from both ears are combined
  Binaural
 Mix of slow and rapidly adapting- some neurons respond briefly and
then fade away. Others maintain the firing rate for as long as the
sound is going on.
 Some sharply tuned (only respond to precise frequency), some
have “Best intensity”- but this is not divided into stripes as in the
visual system.
 There are layers which have different response properties depending on
the different frequencies

CHAPTER 20: LANGUAGE

 Requires specialized brain areas
 The brain areas are located near the areas for audition
 Specialized language areas tend to be on the left side in most people.
 Broca's area: production of speech- very close to motor cortex which

Asymmetrical Language Processing in the Cerebral Hemispheres:

 Split Brain Studies:
 When you sever axons in the corpus Callosum the right and left
cortex are now separated (although there are still connections in
midbrain, etc)
 The language ability is not connected to right side of the brain
 If shown in right visual field goes to left brain- could determine
that it was a bell
 If shown in left visual field goes to right brain but couldn’t speek
and say that they couldn’t see anything.
 Right hemisphere could have object recognition but they could find
word to describe (could still draw)
 Left Hemisphere Language Dominance:
 Right visual field, repeated easily
 Left visual field, difficulty verbalizing- have visual recognition ability
but can't form words
 Language Functions of the Right Hemisphere:
 Functions of right hemisphere: Read and understand numbers,
letters, and short words (nonverbal responses)
 If left side of brain was asleep, they could draw picture or scribble
word, but couldn't talk
 Wada Procedure:
 Anesthetize ½ of brain (inject left or right internal carotid artery)
 Ask patient to speak
 If left side of brain anesthetized, person no longer able to speak
 Aphasia:
 Partial/ complete loss of language abilities following brain damage
to specific areas.
1. Broca’s Aphasia
o Motor, nonfluent aphasia
o Difficulty speaking- forming words
o Pause to search for words
o Telegraphic speech
o Can comprehend speech, except for complex sentences-
suggests that still processes auditory information so that we
can comprehend complex sentences.
2. Wernicke’s aphasia
o Next to auditory cortex that gets large input from auditory
input
o Damage to this area, are able to produce seemingly perfectly
fluid speech but devoid of meaning. Right syntax but no
meaning.
o Comprehension is poor
o Strange mixture of clarity and gibberish
o Correct sounds, incorrect sequences
Aphasia and the Wernicke-Geschwind Model
 Start at auditory cortex  Angular gyrus Wernicke’s areaArcuate
fasciculus Broca’s area (form words) ???
 Damage to arcuate fasciculus: comprehension is good, speech fluent.
Chief deficit: trouble repeating sentences. The argument was that
Wernicke’s cannot talk to Broca’s area.
 Problems with the Model:
 Information can reach Broca’s area from visual areas directly,
bypassing the angular gyrus- they could read words from a page so
there must be a way to figure out the meaning of words without
Wernicke’s area.
 Used modeling of brain using brain imaging:
o Area functions not as distinct
o Other areas are involved
o More activity on right side than expected.
 Degree of speech deficit depends on damage to other nearby
structures
 Often substantial recovery from past stroke.
 Probably more complex connections than descrived in the WG model

Language Acquisition
 Animal model for language acquisition is bird song.
 Difficult task
 Acoustic analysis shows no pauses between words in English. Your brain
inserts pause in between each word so you hear them as distinct units,
but there is no breaks in production of sound. Brain learned to associate
certain sounds as a break.
 Mechanism in infants:
 3 month infant, brain response (fMRI) to spoken words similar to
adults- region well developed even though they don’t know how to
speak
 Details still unknown.
**No sound localization

THE VESTIBULAR SYSTEM

 Importance of Vestibular System:
 Balance, equilibrium, posture, head, body, eye movement
 Otolith Organs- acceleration, tilt of head
 Semicircular cannals:
 Head rotation

Otolith Organs
 Receptor cells same as cochlea
 Have cilia which stick up into Galatenous cap
 Cilia very sensitive to bending, which changes membrane potential
depending on direction.: depolarizes in one direction, opposite direction-
hyperpolarized.
 Two otolith organs: saccule and utricle
 Sensory epithelium- Macula
 Macula- vertical in saccule
 Maccula- horizontal and utricle
 Brain combines information from saccule and utricle to determine linear
motion.

Semicircular Canals
 In 3 different angles
 filled with Endolymph
 As you turn your head quickly, the cupula which have cilia sensitive to
stretch pushes cupula.. This is sensitive to stretch and responds in
opposite directions.
 Function: Detect head movements. Looking for subtle changes in head
movement so that your eyes are on track.

Structure of Vestibular System

 Crista: where hair cells of semicircular canals clustered
 Ampulla: bulge along cana, contains crista
 Cilia: project ito gelatinous cupula
 Semicircular canals: filled with Endolymph
 High spontaneous firing rate.

Push-Pull Activation of Semicircular Canals

 Three semicircular canals:
 Helps sense all possible head-rotation angles
 Canal: Each paired with another on opposite side of head
 Push-pull arrangement of vestibular axons: rotation causes excitation on
one side, inhibition on the other.

Central Vestibular Pathway

 One pathway sends direct connections to cerebellum (bypasses brain
stem)
 Go to vestibular nucleus in the brain stem.
 The lateral vestibular nucleus sends information to cerebellum
 A lot of information goes direction to limb and neck motor neurons
(process information without higher brain processing)
 A small tract goes to VP nucleus of thalamus to extraocular motor
neurons (III, IV, VI)
 Majority of information goes into motor stream very quickly without
cortical analysis (why we are unconscious of vestibular apparatus(
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