Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2008 May 15;76(1-2):1-7.
doi: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2007.07.013. Epub 2007 Aug 2.

Use of a modified prepulse inhibition paradigm to assess complex auditory discrimination in rodents

R Holly Fitch  1 , Steven W Threlkeld, Melissa M McClure, Ann M Peiffer
Affiliations
Review

Use of a modified prepulse inhibition paradigm to assess complex auditory discrimination in rodents

R Holly Fitch et al. Brain Res Bull. .

Abstract

Prepulse inhibition (PPI; also termed startle reduction or reflex modification, see Ref. [H.S. Hoffman, J.R. Ison, Reflex modification in the domain of startle: I. Some empirical findings and their implications for how the nervous system processes sensory input, Psychol. Rev. 87 (1980) 175-189]) provides an efficient and accurate method to assess both simple and complex acoustic discrimination in rodents [J.R. Ison, G.R. Hammond, Modification of the startle reflex in the rat by changes in the auditory and visual environments, J. Comp. Physiol. Psychol. 75 (1971) 435-452]. Assessment of acoustic processing using PPI is less time consuming than operant conditioning paradigms, allows for the testing of many subjects simultaneously, and largely eliminates confounds due to motivation and attention [M. Clark, G. Rosen, P. Tallal, R.H. Fitch, Impaired processing of complex auditory stimuli in rats with induced cerebrocortical microgyria, J. Cog. Neurosci. 12 (2000) 828-839]. Moreover, PPI procedures allow for data acquisition from the first day of testing, and can be used on rats as young as P14-15 [J.T. Friedman, A. Peiffer, M. Clark, A. Benasich, R.H. Fitch, Age and experience related improvements in gap detection in the rat, Dev. Brain Res. 152 (2004) 83-91; M. McClure, S. Threlkeld, G. Rosen, R.H. Fitch, Rapid auditory processing and learning deficits in rats with P1 versus P7 neonatal hypoxic-ischemic injury, Behav. Brain Res. 172 (2006) 114-121; S.W. Threlkeld, M.M. McClure, G.D. Rosen, R.H. Fitch, Developmental timeframes for the induction of microgyria and rapid auditory processing deficits in the rat, Brain Res. 1109 (2006) 22-31]. For these and additional reasons, the PPI paradigm has more recently been adapted to the assessment of complex acoustic discrimination (tone sequences and FM sweeps), and applied to the study of normally developing as well as neuropathologically affected rodent populations. The purpose of the current review is to provide a background on the PPI paradigm, and to summarize what has been learned more recently using modified versions of PPI with rodent models.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None of the authors have any conflict of interest regarding the research performed here, the funding of said research, nor the publication of said research.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Testing apparatus
Figure 2
Figure 2. Sample two-tone sequence trials (cued and uncued)
Comparable results are obtained when the background stimulus is lo-hi, and the oddball is hi-lo (unpublished data); adapted from [6].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Benasich AA, Tallal P. Infant discrimination of rapid auditory cues predicts later language impairment. Behavioral Brain Research. 2002;136:31–49. - PubMed
    1. Benasich AA, Choudhury N, Friedman JT, Realpe-Bonilla T, Chojnowska C, Gou Z. The infant as a prelinguistic model for language learning impairments: Predicting from event-related potentials to behavior. Neuropsychologia. 2006;44:396–411. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Braff DL, Grillon C, Geyer MA. Gating and habituation of the startle reflex in schizophrenic patients. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1992;49:206–215. - PubMed
    1. Chen J, McClure MM, Fitch RH, Markus EJ. Cross modal sensory processing assessments in rodent models of early brain damage. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts. 2004:919.3.
    1. Choudhury N, Leppanen PH, Leevers HJ, Benasich AA. Infant information processing and family history of specific language impairment: converging evidence for RAP deficits from two paradigms. Dev Sci. 2007;10:213–236. - PMC - PubMed