Topic: auditory cues

In this talk I’ll discuss our recent work on how visual and auditory cues to space are integrated as we move. There are at least 3 reasons why this turns out to be a difficult problem for the brain to solve (and us to understand!). First, vision and hearing start off in different coordinates (eye-centred vs head-centred), so they need a common reference frame in which to communicate. By preventing eye and head movements, this problem has been neatly sidestepped in the literature, yet self-movement is the norm. Second, self-movement creates visual and auditory image motion. Correct interpretati

To communicate effectively, two individuals must take turns to prevent overlap in their signals. How does the nervous system coordinate vocalizations between two individuals? Female and male plain-tailed wrens sing a duet in which they alternate syllable production so rapidly and precisely it sounds as if a single bird is singing. I will talk about experiments that examine the interaction between sensory cues and motor activity, using behavioral manipulations and neurophysiological recordings from pairs of awake, duetting wrens. I will show evidence that auditory cues link the brains of the wr

Using sounds for social interactions is common across many taxa. Humans engaged in conversation, for example, take rapid turns to go back and forth. This ability to act upon sensory information to generate a desired motor output is a fundamental feature of animal behavior. How the brain enables such flexible sensorimotor transformations, for example during vocal interactions, is a central question in neuroscience. Seeking a rodent model to fill this niche, we are investigating neural mechanisms of vocal interaction in Alston’s singing mouse (Scotinomys teguina) – a neotropical rodent native to