In: Biology
Why do you think the auditory system has so many stages of processing before the signals reach the auditory cortex, compared to the visual system? Is there a difference in the speed of processing required?
Ans . The auditory system is the sensory system for the sense of hearing. It includes both sensory organs (the ears) and the auditory parts of the sensory system.
Different aspects of environmental sounds ((e.g., attenuation:how loud the sound is ; location in space;frequency, and combination sensitivity ) are processed in each of the central auditory areas.
1) Attenuation( the intensity of sound ) :- It is processed within the auditory system by neurons that fire action potentials at different rates based on the sound intensity.Most neurons respond by increasing their firing rate in response to increased attenuation.
2) Location of sound :- The brain processes the location of a sound in space by comparing differences in attenuation and timing of inputs from both ears within the superior olivary complex.
The Visual system senses motion from the pattern of displaced retinal image features, whereas the auditory system is provided with dynamically changing intraural time or intraural intensity differences.
The faster the stimulus reaches the brain, the faster the signal is processed and the necessary responses are sent for the necessary motor reaction. Since the auditory stimulus reaches the cortex faster than the visual stimulus, the auditory reaction time is faster than the visual reaction time.