A theoretical study of neural mechanisms specialized in the detection of articulatory-acoustic events

A model for possib1e neural mechanisms specialized in the detection of articulatoryacoustic events is described. The model comprises two types of channels respectively specialized for onset and offset events. All channels are organized in parallel, and further process the spatiotemporal diseilarge pattem of the auditory nerve fibers which is simulated by a model incorporating the cochlear filtering in general and neural adaptation in particular. Channels for onset events are composed of "ON" mechanisms followed by !arge scale spatial integration, while channels for offset events are characterized by differentiation coding and temporal integration. These channels are very powerful in the detection of the concemed events. They are also used as a tool to explain some related psychoacoustic