2001 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Functional roles of background noise in detecting signals on auditory in formation processing
| Project/Area Number |
12480086
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Intelligent informatics
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| Research Institution | Osaka University |
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Principal Investigator |
TATENO Takashi Osaka Uni., Grad. Sch. Eng. Science, Research Associate, 基礎工学研究科, 助手 (00314401)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
NOMURA Taishin Osaka Uni., Grad. Sch. Eng. Science, Associate Professor, 大学院・基礎工学研究科, 助教授 (50283734)
SATO Shunsuke Osaka Uni., Grad. Sch. Eng. Science, Professor, 大学院・基礎工学研究科, 教授 (60014015)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2000 – 2001
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| Keywords | Neuroscience / signal detection / information processing / background noise / auditory system |
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| Research Abstract |
In the sound environment surrounding us, sound information is changing every moment and there exist various kinds of the sound information which is not necessary for us. In the past auditory studies, however, there is little knowledge that background noise plays a constructive role in detecting signals from the real sound environment rather than a distractive one. The main aim of this study is to reveal background-noise effects on biological information processing and information transmission of sensory nervous systems. To this end, at the first step, we concentrate on single neurons and a small network of the neurons, because those neurons and the network are basic elements of the nervous systems. We used neural models and investigated response characteristics of the models derived by an external current in the presence of noise. To analyze the response characteristics of the models, we also used a method of the random dynamical theory, which has been recently developed intensively. In the result, the analysis revealed that background noise increases sensibility of neurons in detecting weak external signals. Thus, one of the future subjects is to understand functional roles of this noise phenomenon in the level of larger neural networks and higher perceptional processing in the brain.
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