The tuning of Fuzzy Rule Base-Systems is necessary to improve their performance after the extraction of rules. This optimization problem can become a hard one when the size of the considered system in terms of the number of variables, rules and data samples is big. To alleviate this growth in complexity, we propose a distributed genetic algorithm which explotes the nowadays available parallel h...

It is well recognized that in the visual cortex of the cat, some of the cells (hypercomplex) are sharply tuned for the length of a bar moving backwards and forwards across their receptive fields. Other cells (simple) exhibit no such tuning but appear to respond proportionately over a range of bar lengths. The tuning seen in hypercomplex cells is already observable to a lesser degree in retinal ...

Interaural time differences (ITDs) are an important cue for azimuthal sound localization. Sensitivity to this cue depends on temporal synchrony to the waveform (i.e., phase locking) that begins in the hair cells and is relayed to the neural comparators. The synchrony function is low-pass. Therefore, it is expected that neural tuning to ITDs will become narrower with frequency according to a 1/f...

The mechanosensory lateral line of fish is a hair cell based sensory system that detects water motion using canal and superficial neuromasts. The trunk lateral line of the plainfin midshipman fish, Porichthys notatus, only has superficial neuromasts. The posterior lateral line nerve (PLLn) therefore innervates trunk superficial neuromasts exclusively and provides the opportunity to investigate ...

Cortical inhibition plays an important role in shaping neuronal processing. The underlying synaptic mechanisms remain controversial. Here, in vivo whole-cell recordings from neurons in the rat primary auditory cortex revealed that the frequency tuning curve of inhibitory input was broader than that of excitatory input. This results in relatively stronger inhibition in frequency domains flanking...

When a sounding tuning fork is brought close to the ear, and rotated about its long axis, four distinct maxima and minima are heard. However, when the same tuning fork is rotated while being held at arm’s length from the ear only two maxima and minima are heard. Misconceptions concerning this phenomenon are addressed and the fundamental mode of the fork is described in terms of a linear quadrup...

The barn owl's optic tectum contains a map of auditory space that is based, in part, on a map of interaural time difference (ITD). Previous studies have shown that this ITD map is shaped by auditory experience. In this study, we investigated whether the plasticity responsible for experience-induced changes in ITD tuning in the tectum occurs within the tectum itself or at an earlier stage in the...

Tuning curves of afferent electroreceptive fibers in the anterior lateral line nerve of the weakly electric fish, Sternopygus macrurus, indicate that the tuberous electroreceptors of each individual are well-tuned to its own electric organ discharge (EOD) frequency. In order to study how receptor tuning may develop, new receptor organs were induced to form in regenerating cheek skin, and their ...

The response of a sensory neuron to an unchanging stimulus typically adapts, showing decreases in response gain that are accompanied by changes in the shape of tuning curves. It remains unclear whether these changes arise purely due to spike rate adaptation within single neurons or whether they are dependent on network interactions between neurons. Further, it is unclear how the timescales of n...