Pitch discrimination in locusts

Abstract

Sound stimulation of the tympanic organ of Locusta migratoria and Schistocerca gregaria initiates responses in the tympanic nerve and these in turn stimulate a few interneurones which ascend the ventral cord from the metathoracic ganglion to the brain. Some of the preparations show the following evidence of pitch discrimination. The response of the whole tympanic nerve to a pulsed note of low pitch cannot be made identical to the response to the same pulse at high pitch no matter how the relative inten­sities are adjusted. A continuous note, which presumably adapts some but not all of the primary receptors, modifies the relation between pre- and post-ganglionic responses in a way which depends on the pitch of the continuous note. The relative intensities of a pure tone of high pitch (10 to 15 kc/s) and one of low pitch (0.5 to 2.0 kc/s) can, in a preparation showing only ‘on' responses, be adjusted so that there is a post-ganglionic response to the former but not to the latter, although the latter causes a larger response in the tympanic nerve. Certain large interneurones, identifiable by their spike height, do not have the same curve of threshold to pulses of various pitch as does the summed response from the whole tympanic nerve. The post-ganglionic response is, therefore, towards a selected fraction of the sensory axons. In each of the above tests the effects are small and pitch discrimination cannot be of great significance for the life of the animal.