Figure 2.

Time scales of hair-bundle responsiveness to electrical stimulation. (A) Application of 10 cycles of 100-Hz electrical current entrained the motion of the bundle, eliciting movements of a polarity opposite that of the stimulus. After cessation of the stimulus, a damped oscillation occurred at the cell's natural frequency of ≈7 Hz. (B) Electrical pulses 1 ms in duration elicited rapid mechanical responses of opposite polarity, followed by a slower oscillation at the natural frequency of the cell of ≈16 Hz. Note the asymmetry in the responses to negative (Upper) and positive (Lower) stimuli. Each of the three records displays the average of 50 successive measurements.