On the other hand, since our method highlights putative novel interactions, more directed experiments could now be performed.
In any case, more directed experiments to resolve the aforementioned side reactions are necessary to clarify this phenomenon.
In the projects that we envisage, modeling is not the final goal; rather, it is a tool that can be used to advance understanding of the system, to develop more directed experiments in the laboratory and, ultimately, to generate testable predictions to enable improved therapies and prophylaxes.
Therefore, in Experiment 3 we also included a stimulus-specific stop-training condition with neutral stimuli that were consistently associated with stopping to allow a more direct comparison between Experiments 2 and 3.
We aim to take a different approach to modelling the pathway in order to gain a different perspective on its operation, with a greater focus on spatial detail and a more direct comparison with experiment.
Although rats received multiple trials, only the first 4 trials are considered in the results as: (a) any differences between the two conditions (intervening objects vs. none) should diminish over successive trials with the increase in interference, and (b) the focus on the initial trials provides a more direct comparison with Experiment 4.3, which only involved 4 trials.
The error rate, however, provides a more direct metric also in practical experiments [8] and is more suited for the comparison between different coding schemes, which is the main target of this paper.
More direct evidence from studies of experiments with animals and humans, however, suggests that we may have to alter the very concept of what we mean by hearing loss, and that current tests - particularly pure-tone audiometry which measures our ability to perform "pin-drop" hearing - may not be sufficient to pick up the early signs of a decline in hearing function.
