Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA.
J Exp Biol. 2010 Oct 15;213(Pt 20):3399-408. doi: 10.1242/jeb.031195.
Barn owls can capture prey in pitch darkness or by diving into snow, while homing in on the sounds made by their prey. First, the neural mechanisms by which the barn owl localizes a single sound source in an otherwise quiet environment will be explained. The ideas developed for the single source case will then be expanded to environments in which there are multiple sound sources and echoes--environments that are challenging for humans with impaired hearing. Recent controversies regarding the mechanisms of sound localization will be discussed. Finally, the case in which both visual and auditory information are available to the owl will be considered.
仓鸮可以在完全黑暗中或在潜入雪地时捕获猎物,同时根据猎物发出的声音进行定位。首先,将解释仓鸮在其他安静环境中定位单个声源的神经机制。然后,将把针对单声源情况开发的思路扩展到存在多个声源和回声的环境中,这些环境对听力受损的人类来说是具有挑战性的。本文将讨论有关声音定位机制的最新争议。最后,将考虑仓鸮可以获得视觉和听觉信息的情况。