cells are found in a small region of the posterior ventral cochlear nucleus (PVCN). The distinguishing features of these cells are their long, thick and tentacle-shaped dendrites that typically emanate from one side of the cell body. Octopus cells produce an "Onset Response" to simple tonal stimuli. That is, they respond only at the onset of a broad-band stimulus. The octopus cells can fire with some of the highest temporal precision of any neuron in the brain. Electrical stimuli to the auditory nerve evoke a graded excitatory postsynaptic potential in the octopus cells. These EPSPs are very brief. The octopus cells are thought to be important for extracting timing information. It has been reported that these cells can respond to click trains at a rate of 800 Hz. Two types of principal cells convey information out of the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) to the contralateral inferior colliculus. The principal cells receive two systems of inputs. Acoustic input comes to the deep layer through several paths. Excitatory acoustic input comes from auditory nerve fibers and also from stellate cells of the VCN. Acoustic input is also conveyed through inhibitory interneurons (tuberculoventral cells of the DCN and "wide band inhibitors" in the VCN). Through the outermost molecular layer, the DCN receives other types of sensory information, most importantly information about the location of the head and ears, through parallel fibers. This information is distributed through a cerebellar like circuit that also includes inhibitory interneurons. Fusiform cells (also known as pyramidal cells). Fusiform cells integrate information through two tufts of dendrites, the apical dendrites receiving multisensory, excitatory and inhibitory input through the outermost molecular layer and the basal dendrites receiving excitatory and inhibitory acoustic input from the basal dendrites that extend into the deep layer. These neurons are thought to enable mammals to analyze the spectral cues that enable us to localize sounds in elevation and when we lose hearing in one ear. Giant cells also integrate inputs from the molecular and deep layers but input from the deep layer is predominant. It is unclear what their role is in hearing. Function The cochlear nuclear complex is the first integrative, or processing, stage in the auditory system. Information is brought to the nuclei from the ipsilateral cochlea via the cochlear nerve. Several tasks are performed in the cochlear nuclei. By distributing acoustic input to multiple types of principal cells, the auditory pathway is