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Journal of Experimental Biology 54,373-390 (1971)
Published by Company of Biologists 1971

Mid-Brain Responses of the Auditory and Somatic Vibration Systems in Snakes

PETER H. HARTLINE ¹

¹ Department of Neurosciences, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, Calif. 92037

1. Evoked slow potentials were recorded extracellularly from the mid-brains of snakes of the genus Crotalus. For the auditory and somatic systems, amplitude, latency, and duration of responses were studied as the parameters of intensity, frequency, and rise time of sinusoidal vibratory or click stimuli were varied. Recovery curves were constructed for paired stimuli and for trains. Effects of body temperature on frequency-response threshold curves were determined. Results were verified for species of the families Boidae and Colubridae.

2. Intensity-amplitude curves increase logarithmically for c. 20 dB above threshold and then reach a plateau for the auditory system. These curves are generally increasing over a 40 dB range in the somatic system. Latency decreases monotonically with increasing intensity; it is independent of frequency for the auditory system but depends on frequency for the somatic system.

3. Differences in shape of intensity-amplitude curves for different frequencies lead to the hypothesis that there are auditory units with different frequency-response curves. This finding is relevant to the study of the evolution of audition. Differences in intensity-amplitude curves for the somatic system and differences in latencies for different frequencies suggest that several types of somatic vibration receptors contribute to the central response.

4. Increase in body temperature causes increase in the frequency of greatest sensitivity for the auditory system, and increases sensitivity by 1-3 dB per °C. Higher frequencies are affected more than lower frequencies. The somatic system sensitivity is increased by c. 1.5 dB per °C, except at the extremes of the frequency curve. These findings emphasize the importance of studying effects of temperature on the central nervous systems of cold-blooded vertebrates.

5. Of relevance to the biology of snakes is the observation that snakes are not well suited, at the mid-brain level, for rapid analysis of sequential vibratory events. A principle of general biological significance supported by comparison of temporal characteristics of mid-brain responses of snakes and other animals is that latency and recovery are related to auditory specialization rather than to phylogeny.

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