the principle that individual fibers in an auditory nerve respond to one or another stimulus in a rapid succession of rhythmic sound stimuli, whereas other fibers in the nerve respond to the second, third, or nth stimulus. The result is that successive volleys of impulses are fired to match the inputs of stimuli, yet no single fiber is required to respond to every stimulus. Thus, a nerve can reflect a more rapid frequency of stimulation (e.g., 1000 Hz) than any individual fiber could follow
- this fixes the rebuttle of frequency theory where it is impossible to explain perception of sounds above 500 Hz since neuron's refractory period renders neruon incapable of firing above 500 impulses per second