Modeling mechanisms that contribute to the precedence effect: From auditory periphery to midbrain

The precedence effect (PE) describes a perceptual phenomenon whereby a pair of temporally close clicks from different directions is perceived as coming from a location near that of the first-arriving sound. The objective of this thesis is to build a physiologically plausible model that predicts perceptual aspects of the PE. The project explores different mechanisms that may contribute to the PE at different levels of the auditory system. The roles of peripheral processing and frequency dominance on the PE were explored by modeling the auditory nerve fiber and using a binaural, cross-correlation model whose outputs were weighted across frequency to predict perceived location. New behavioral results confirmed model predictions that (1) lateralization of narrowband clicks is strongly influenced by the stimulus center frequency and the inter-stimulus delay (ISD) between leading and lagging clicks, and (2) decrements in the leading click level influence lateralization of wideband clicks differently at different ISDs. The role of adaptation was explored by modeling neurons in the cochlear nucleus and the medial superior olive (MSO), both of which are important in computing the localization cues of the auditory stimuli. Simulation results indicated that low-threshold potassium currents (a form of fast adaptation) can prevent jittery, subthreshold inputs from accumulating, thus enhancing synchronization. Synaptic depression (a form of slow adaptation) can produce a sustained decline of the responses after accurately encoding the stimulus onset. The role of long-lasting inhibition was explored by modeling inferior colliculus neurons with inhibitory inputs from both ipsilateral and contralateral MSOs. Psychophysical predictions were generated from a population of model neurons. The model simulated how the physiological suppression of the lagging response depends on the ISD and relative lead and lag locations, as well as behavioral results showing that the perceived location of the lagging click moves from the lead location to the lag location as ISD increases. Although all these mechanisms contribute to the PE in some conditions, none of them alone is able to account for all the physiological and psychophysical results. This work shows that multiple mechanisms contribute to the precedence effect, promoting robust sound localization in complex acoustic settings.