The recovery cycle of bat duration-selective collicular neurons varies with hunting phase.

During hunting, duration selectivity and recovery cycle underlie a bat's ability to determine echo duration and target distance (echo ranging). This study shows that the recovery cycle of most duration-selective neurons in the bat central nucleus of the inferior colliculus neurons varies with biologically relevant pulse-echo (P-E) duration and amplitude. As such, neurons with short best duration recover rapidly when stimulated with P-E pairs with short duration and small P-E amplitude difference, whereas neurons with long best duration recover rapidly when stimulated with P-E pairs with long duration and large P-E amplitude difference. These data indicate that different groups of duration-selective neurons underlie the bat's ability to effectively perform echo recognition and ranging during different phases of hunting.