Response adaptation to broadband sounds in primary auditory cortex of the awake ferret

Driven by previous reports of adaptation to persistent stimuli in other brain regions, we investigated adaptive effects in the Primary Auditory Cortex of awake non-behaving ferrets (Mustela putorius furo). Electrophysiological data was obtained in response to the presentation of auditory gratings with a structured spectro-temporal envelope of varying bandwidth which had repeated transitions between low and high modulation depths. The responses were analyzed in terms of the evoked spike rates and in terms of the degree of phase locking to the modulation. We found two populations of cells, both of which showed adaptation in the traditional sense. For one population, we also found a second order of adaptation – i.e., adaptation of the adaptation. This suggests the existence of at least two coding strategies which differ in the weight placed on sensory context.