Interpretation of the whole-nerve action potential off-effect in response to tone bursts

Abstract

The growth of an off-effect in the whole-nerve action potential (AP) at the end of a tone burst is explained by means of some fundamental laws of systems theory applied to the available knowledge of the mechanisms of generation of the AP. The dependence of the amplitude and of the shape of the off-AP on the burst paradigms (frequency, amplitude and phase) is successfully predicted on the ground of a simple model for the cochlear events.