Computational Principles of Primate Auditory Cortex

Dr. Xiaoqin Wang is a professor of Biomedical Engineering, Neuroscience and Otolaryngology at Johns Hopkins University.

The auditory cortex is situated at the top of a hierarchical processing pathway and plays a crucial role in speech and music perception as well as vocal communication. It has long been considered a challenging brain region to study and remains one of the least understood sensory cortices. Unlike other sensory systems, the auditory system has a longer pathway between sensory receptors and the cerebral cortex. This unique organization reflects the auditory system’s need to process time-varying and spectrally overlapping acoustic signals, which enter the ears from multiple spatial directions. Research has shown that neural computation in the auditory cortex is highly nonlinear. In contrast to the visual or somatosensory cortices, the auditory cortex must also distinguish between externally generated sounds and self-produced sounds (such as during speaking). Neural representations of acoustic information in the auditory cortex are shaped by auditory feedback and vocal control signals during speech production. Our laboratory has developed a unique, highly vocal non-human primate model—the common marmoset—along with quantitative tools to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying auditory perception and vocal communication.

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Hosted by Dr. Nace Golding

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