Acoustic Stimuli

There are extremely few examples where we really know that the nervous system is doing from sensory 

Early studies of languages focused on differences and similarities among them, with the idea that languages were acquired and learned. The ideas that they conveyed were innate, but the means to communicate them to others were learned. The study of language was tied closely to anthropology (Lerer, 1998). 

Chomsky (1965) proposed a different concept, one that turned traditional ideas inside out. Chomsky promoted the idea that language is innate the capacity to communicate is not learned, but is hard-wired into the human brain. A model of communication exists within each child at birth. 

What must be learned are the words that make the model effective, and that allow others to comprehend the meaning of speech. Thus, human communication is likened to the ability to see and hear, in that no one must acquire these skills, but interpretation of the meaning of 

Animals, too, seem to have a limited ability to communicate without acquisition from their peers of the meanings of different sounds. Thus, there is a basic similarity between human and animal speech. Given the presumed difference in general intelligence between humans and animals, it probably makes more sense for humans to learn the meaning of animal utterances rather than attempt to teach human speech patterns to animals. 

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Concerning the phenomenon of imprinting Wallhauser and Scheich (1987) discovered what happened at the neuronal level when newly hatched chickens were imprinted to acoustic stimuli. Before imprinting ooccurs, the dendrites of the neurons, in processing the acoustic stimuli, show many spines. Following imprinting to a pure sound, most of the spines have disappeared, the neurons being tuned solely to the specific stimulus. If the experimenter uses the normal call of the hen, more spines remain. 

Furthermore, two autosomal recessive mouse mutants, spastic (spa) and spasmodic (spd), exhibit identical phenotypes with striking similarities to STHE in human. Phenotypically normal at birth, the affected animals develop rigidity and fall in response to sudden tactile or acoustic stimuli after the second postnatal week. A lethal mutant, oscillator (ot), displays more severe symptoms and may be allelic to spa. 

Tannenbaum PL, Stevens J, Binns J, Savitz AT, Garson SL, Fox SV, Coleman P, Kuduk SD, Gotter AL, Marino M, Tye SJ, Uslaner JM, Winrow CJ, Renger JJ (2014). Orexin receptor antagonist-induced sleep does not impair the ability to wake in response to emotionally salient acoustic stimuli in dogs. Front Behav Neurosci 8 182. 

Weighting The appiication of standard specified corrections or adjustments to measured values in order to take account of the human ear s differing responses to frequencies, intensities and duration of acoustic stimuli. Hence the purpose of weighting networks on measuring instruments is to make the readings correspond as closely as possible to the perceived noise level. 

Referred to as a conditioned fear paradigm, the fear potentiated startle response was first described by Brown et al. (1951). In the original test, an acoustic stimulus is presented in the presence of a conditioned stimulus that has previously been paired with an aversive, unconditioned stimulus. The amplitude of the acoustic startle response is thought to indicate the degree of conditioned anxiety, which can be reduced by anxiolytic drugs (Davis et al. 1993 Hijzen et al. 1995). 

Tinnitus is a subjective experience characterized by a ringing, buzzing, roaring, whistling, or hissing sound in the ear. The perception ofthe noise occurs without an acoustic stimulus. The noise may occur intermittently, continuously, or in synchrony with the heartbeats. Hearing loss is usually present with this disorder. Almost all disorders ofthe ear may be associated with tinnitus. 

The second technique, usually referred to as the PWP method, is really complementary to the first one in the sense that an acoustic wave is now used as the primary stimulus to displace the space charge and thereby produce an electrical signal. In the previous PEA method the primary stimulus was the electrical pulse whose direct effect on the space charge produced an acoustic... 

Wightman, F.L., and D.J. Kistler. 1989a. Headphone simulation of free-field listening I stimulus synthesis. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 85(2) 858-867. 

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