Hearing in Mice by GSR Audiometry: II. Magnitude of Unconditioned GSR as a Function of Intensity and Frequency Interactions

Abstract

The unconditioned GSR’s elicited by tones of 60, 70, 80, and 90 dB SPL were largest in the mouse in the ranges around 10,000 Hz. The growth of response magnitude with intensity followed a power law (10 .17 to 10 .22 , depending upon frequency) and suggested that the unconditioned GSR magnitude assessed overall subjective magnitude of tones to the mouse in an orderly fashion. It is suggested that hearing sensitivity as assessed by these means may be closely related to the spectral content of the mouse’s vocalization as well as to the number of critically sensitive single units in the mouse’s VIIIth nerve.