source file: m1409.txt Date: Thu, 7 May 1998 19:30:52 EDT Subject: Ear hairs, uptakes etc..... From: A440A Graham Breed, ( who knows more about this than I do.....) writes: >I would question whether neurons can react at such high frequencies at >all. I don't have experimental data to hand, but I remember evidence that >low frequencies are perceived in a different way to high ones, probably >because of this. I have read that the potassium (or magnesium or something like them), uptake requirements for a nerve cell to "reload" and fire again requires enough time so that a single cell can only trigger 600 times a second. This has repercussions when you are trying to transmit a 4,000 Hz signal over the the ol' brain. I believe that the "volley theory" attempts to explain the process by which multiple hairs share the task of transmitting an appropriate signal. >The usual mechanism suggested for high frequency perception is that each >hair in the inner ear responds to vibrations of a particular frequency, >plus their harmonics. The harmonics would be registered in a different location along the Organ of Corti, would they not? I mean, your ear doesn't necessarily know that they are harmonics, does it? It is just a set of frequencies that are being received. >In the Mandelbrot set, though, there is a >fairly large period 3 region. I have been reading of the Mandelbrot sets for a long time, but there is no one around to actually discuss this with, so I have a question: How do you pronounce this name? is is Mandel Brot as in "rot" or Brot with a long "o"? ( excuse the small pocket of ignorance here, but I gotta know. ) Regards, Ed Foote Precision Piano Works Nashaville, Tn.