RUI: Neural Encoding of Behaviorally Relevant Sounds

许多动物用特定的声音与同类交流。这些声音与动物的行为有关，因为它们促进了重要的行为，比如维护领地或在觅食归来时寻找后代。当动物听到这些与行为相关的声音时，它必须根据声音中的信息做出适当的反应。要做到这一点，听觉系统必须检测、区分和分类每一个声音。当前项目的目标是了解听觉系统用来完成这些任务的策略和机制。电生理技术将用于确定小鼠听觉中脑中的单个神经元如何编码与行为相关的声音。老鼠在不同的行为（如建立支配地位和攻击性互动）中发出的声音将被用作刺激，以唤起单个神经元的反应。个体神经对不同声音的反应速度和时间的差异将被用来确定听觉中脑用来编码与行为相关的声音的策略。这项研究的重要性在于理解大脑是如何进化到最佳编码行为相关声音的。这项研究将增加对声音感知如何帮助动物生存的理解。项目期间将提供多种培训机会。博士后、研究生、本科生和高中生将接受神经生理学技术的培训。学生还将通过与数学家的积极合作获得定量技术方面的培训。该项目将通过研究机会吸引少数民族学生参与科学，并将研究和教学活动整合到本科课堂中。将向学校和社区团体作报告，说明科学的重要性。

Many animals communicate with members of their own species using specific sounds. These sounds are behaviorally relevant to the animals because they facilitate important behaviors such as maintaining a territory or finding offspring on return from foraging. When an animal hears one of these behaviorally relevant sounds, it must make an appropriate response based on the information in the sound. To do this, the auditory system must detect, discriminate and categorize each of the sounds. The goal of the current project is to understand the strategies and mechanisms that the auditory system utilizes to achieve these tasks. Electrophysiological techniques will be used to determine how individual neurons in the auditory midbrain of mice encode behaviorally relevant sounds. Sounds emitted by mice during different behaviors (such as establishing dominance and aggressive interactions) will be used as stimuli to evoke responses from individual neurons. Differences in the rate and timing of individual neural responses to different sounds will be used to determine the strategies that the auditory midbrain uses to encode behaviorally relevant sounds. The importance of this research is in understanding how the brain has evolved to optimally encode behaviorally relevant sounds. This research will increase the understanding of how sound perception helps animals survive. A variety of training opportunities will be provided during this project. Post-doctoral, graduate, undergraduate and high school students will be trained in neurophysiological techniques. Students will also gain training in quantitative techniques through active collaborations with mathematicians. This project will engage minority students in science through research opportunities, and research and teaching activities will be integrated in undergraduate classes. Presentations will be given to schools and community groups to illustrate the importance of science.