Auditory Processing – Hearing (PSY,BIO)

00:01 So let’s get into how we actually process information.

00:06 So it’s a really unique process that involves more than just the ear because obviously you need to process that sound and that’s done in the parts of the central nervous system, the brain.

00:16 So sound information has to travel from the cochlea down to the cochlear nucleus in the brainstem.

00:22 If we look at this little flow chart here, we have the picture of the cochlea, the cochlear nucleus, which is in the brainstem, and that goes on to an area called the inferior colliculus.

00:31 An inferior colliculus is an area where a lot of the integration takes place.

00:38 It’s also where we have something called the startle response, which is the integration of auditory information.

00:43 So we call it the startle response because of that integration.

00:47 It’ll be capturing information from various sources and it might be used in terms of that startle response.

00:54 Then as you can see, we’re moving up, we go into the medial geniculate nucleus and then ultimately into the primary auditory cortex where some of that processing actually happens.

01:02 So the first three boxes and plus cochlea represent movement of information.

01:08 But the actual processing of information happens in the primary auditory cortex.