SHS 311 Exam 2B Questions with
All Correct Answers
What is spontaneous activity? - Answer- It is activity that occurs without external stimuli.
On a graph it is the y-axis when there is no sound input
What is the threshold of a neuron? - Answer- Threshold potential is about -55mV
Shown on the x-axis on a graph
What effect does the MOC activation have on the rate-level function of an auditory
nerve? - Answer- It causes the response rate to be low
How is a tuning curve obtained from rate-level functions? - Answer- look at the sound
level required to generate a fixed neural response rate as a function of frequency
sound level (y-axis)/frequency (x-axis)
How is are response areas obtained from rate-level functions? - Answer- plotting the
neural response rate at a fixed sound level as a function of frequency
spike rate (y-axis)/frequency (x-axis)
What are the basic characteristics of an auditory nerve fiber tuning curve? - Answer- -
steep high-frequency roll-off; too steep for a passive system
-bandwidth: width of tuning curve at 10dB above the Cf threshold level
-characteristic frequency (CF): frequency with the lowest threshold level
What is a PST histogram? - Answer- A post-stimulus time histogram measures the
distribution of a neural response over time.
How is a PST histogram measured? - Answer- It records the neural spike chain for the
same input sound and same auditory neuron. The number of neural spikes per bin
(section of time) are counted
What is an ISI histogram? - Answer- An Inter-Spike Interval histogram shows the
distribution of the time intervals between adjacent spikes; allows us to detect the period
of the input stimulus
How is an ISI histogram measured? - Answer- by counting the number of occurrence of
each time interval between adjacent neural spikes
All Correct Answers
What is spontaneous activity? - Answer- It is activity that occurs without external stimuli.
On a graph it is the y-axis when there is no sound input
What is the threshold of a neuron? - Answer- Threshold potential is about -55mV
Shown on the x-axis on a graph
What effect does the MOC activation have on the rate-level function of an auditory
nerve? - Answer- It causes the response rate to be low
How is a tuning curve obtained from rate-level functions? - Answer- look at the sound
level required to generate a fixed neural response rate as a function of frequency
sound level (y-axis)/frequency (x-axis)
How is are response areas obtained from rate-level functions? - Answer- plotting the
neural response rate at a fixed sound level as a function of frequency
spike rate (y-axis)/frequency (x-axis)
What are the basic characteristics of an auditory nerve fiber tuning curve? - Answer- -
steep high-frequency roll-off; too steep for a passive system
-bandwidth: width of tuning curve at 10dB above the Cf threshold level
-characteristic frequency (CF): frequency with the lowest threshold level
What is a PST histogram? - Answer- A post-stimulus time histogram measures the
distribution of a neural response over time.
How is a PST histogram measured? - Answer- It records the neural spike chain for the
same input sound and same auditory neuron. The number of neural spikes per bin
(section of time) are counted
What is an ISI histogram? - Answer- An Inter-Spike Interval histogram shows the
distribution of the time intervals between adjacent spikes; allows us to detect the period
of the input stimulus
How is an ISI histogram measured? - Answer- by counting the number of occurrence of
each time interval between adjacent neural spikes
