QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online December 14, 2005
Journal of Experimental Biology 209, 152-157 (2006)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2006
doi: 10.1242/jeb.01975

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Schuchmann, M. Articles by Wiegrebe, L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Schuchmann, M. Articles by Wiegrebe, L. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The absence of spatial echo suppression in the echolocating bats Megaderma lyra and Phyllostomus discolor

Maike Schuchmann, Matthias Hübner and Lutz Wiegrebe^*

Department Biologie II, Universität München, Großhadernerstrasse 2, 82152 Planegg-Martinsried, Germany

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: lutzw{at}lmu.de)

Accepted 9 November 2005

Acoustic orientation most often takes place in echoic environments. The mammalian auditory system shows a variety of specializations to suppress misleading spatial information mediated by echoes. Psychophysically these specializations are summarized as the precedence effect. This study investigates how echolocating bats deal with multiple reflections of their sonar emissions from different spatial positions.

In a two-alternative, forced choice paradigm, a study was made of the extent to which the echolocating bats Megaderma lyra and Phyllostomus discolor spontaneously suppress the spatial information of a second reflection of their sonar emission. The delay between the first and the second reflection ranged between 0 and 12.8 ms.

In general, M. lyra (five individuals) and P. discolor (two individuals) did not suppress the spatial information of the second reflection of their sonar emission, whatever the delay. Only one M. lyra showed significant suppression for delays between 0.8 and 3.2 ms. However, this suppression could not be confirmed in an exact repetition of the experiment.

The current data indicate that although bats may be able to suppress the spatial information of a second reflection, this is not their default mode of auditory processing. The reason for this exceptional absence of spatial echo suppression may lie in the shorter time constants of cochlear processing in the ultrasonic frequency range and the strong influence of cognitive components associated with the `precedence effect'.

Key words: echolocation, precedence effect, sound localization, bat, Megaderma lyra, Phyllostomus discolor

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				H. R. Goerlitz, M. Hubner, and L. Wiegrebe Comparing passive and active hearing: spectral analysis of transient sounds in bats J. Exp. Biol., June 15, 2008; 211(12): 1850 - 1858. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Pecka, T. P. Zahn, B. Saunier-Rebori, I. Siveke, F. Felmy, L. Wiegrebe, A. Klug, G. D. Pollak, and B. Grothe Inhibiting the Inhibition: A Neuronal Network for Sound Localization in Reverberant Environments J. Neurosci., February 14, 2007; 27(7): 1782 - 1790. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]