Biophysical mechanisms for precise temporal signaling in the auditory system

Specialized neurons in the auditory system represent sound with the precise timing of their action-potentials, or spikes. Although spike-timing is used to code information in other parts of the central nervous system, it can be an order of magnitude more precise in the auditory system. This precision starts in the first neurons in the auditory pathway and is actually improved by some second order neurons. These cells feature unique anatomical or physiological specializations that potentially enable their temporal precision. In this thesis, I employ two distinct computational methods to explore how such biophysical specializations relate to the precise temporal signaling of two different cell types