A realistic model of tonotopic reorganization in the auditory cortex in response to cochlear lesions

A realistic model of the auditory system has been used in the study of reor ganization of tonotopic cortical representations induced by restricted coch lear lesions. The application of a stimulation protocol resulted in the for mation of a tonotopic cortical map in the model auditory cortex. After that , a region of the cochlea specifically sensitive to a given frequency was r emoved and the cochlea was once again submitted to a stimulation protocol. After the lesion, isolated neurons which belonged to the area of cortical r epresentation of the lesioned frequency presented an increase in their sens itivity to neighbor frequencies spared by the lesion. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.