Guest Lecture: Prof. Eli Nelken

Stimulus-specific adaptation in the auditory system: more than you wanted to know

Prof. Eli Nelken (Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Abstract: Stimulus-specific adaptation (SSA) is the reduction in a response to a common stimulus that is not, or only partially, generalized to other, even rather similar stimuli. SSA has been described in many stations of the auditory system, starting as low as the inferior colliculus, and in many species, including mammals and birds. Here I will review our current understanding of (1) the phenomenology of SSA, (2) cortical circuit mechanisms that may participate in shaping SSA, and (3) three models of SSA, some of which we tested and none of which is satisfactory.