Dr. Mitch Day
The Mathematical Biology and Dynamical Systems Seminar presents “Neural encoding and decoding of a centrally computed sound feature: sound source location,” presented by Dr. Mitchell Day on Tuesday, Sept. 19, from 3:05-4 p.m. in Morton 218 .
Day is Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at Ohio University.
Abstract: In this talk I will discuss how sound source location is encoded in the firing rates of neurons of the inferior colliculus (IC)—a subcortical auditory nucleus in the midbrain that is necessary for normal sound localization. The firing rates of IC neurons are also sensitive to changes in other features of sound, including sound level and spectrum. If higher levels of the brain (such as cortex) are tasked with “decoding” the location of a sound source from the firing rates of a population of IC neurons, this task is made more complex by the fact that IC firing rates change with respect to other non-spatial sound features. Here, I will present data regarding how the spatial tuning of IC neurons (i.e., the function of firing rate vs. sound location) changes when the intensity or spectrum of a sound stimulus is changed. Then I will show how higher levels of the brain may decode location regardless of the intensity or spectrum of the sound source.
