Studies on the Function of the Higher Acoustic Nervous Centers in the Cat

The acoustic system of the cat is arranged in an orderly sequence of nervous centers and side-connections which are for the most part surgically accessible. Surgical disruption of this system of nuclei and tracts, combined with adequate methods of testing, permits a systematic survey of auditory function as mediated by the various cortical and sub-cortical integrative mechanisms. The present study is concerned with such a survey and utilizes for its criterion the most fundamental attribute of audition, the absolute intensity-threshold. This threshold is indeed but one of the phenomena which auditory experience and behavior provide. Yet by common consent the ability to hear, to differentiate presence from absence of acoustic stimulation, is the foundation of auditory research. When once this simple capacity has been examined at various levels of the acoustic system, the complex discriminative functions can be more effectively explored.