Spatial Information Codes

总结 这个项目关注视觉和听觉整合中的计算挑战 大脑中的信号。灵长类动物的大脑使用不同的编码格式来编码 视觉和听觉刺激的位置，以及视觉空间和米或速率的地图 听觉空间的代码编码格式的差异对以下方面提出了挑战： 连接共同的潜在对象或事件的视觉和听觉方面。 所提议的实验调查视觉刺激引起 听觉表征的根本变化，通过改变整体结构， 听觉空间灵敏度（Aim 1）和/或通过捕获听觉空间中的时间波动， 诱发活动（Aim 2）。这些实验将有助于阐明 其可以支持视觉-听觉感知现象，例如使用唇读阅读 提示，以促进言语理解，并使用视觉信息，以帮助重点 在拥挤的听觉场景（如鸡尾酒会）中的特定声音。这些 能力在正常、老化和感觉受损的人群中是重要的。 这些实验涉及一种综合方法，涉及行为，神经生理学， 关于神经系统波动模式评估的高级统计分析 活动这项工作是由一个由教授领导的合作团队带头。苏里亚·托克达尔 （统计科学，杜克大学）和詹妮弗格罗（神经生物学，杜克 大学），并建立在类比从技术系统，如使用时间 分割多路复用，将来自不同声音的信号散布到波动的神经网络中， 射击模式这种计算方法将有助于深入了解感觉系统 克服分歧，相互协作，特别是在 刺激之间竞争神经表征中的一个位置。

SUMMARY This project concerns computational challenges in the integration of visual and auditory signals in the brain. The primate brain uses different coding formats to encode the locations of visual and auditory stimuli, with maps of visual space and meters or rate codes for auditory space. The disparity in coding format poses challenges for connecting the visual and auditory aspects of common underlying objects or events. The proposed experiments investigate the possibility that visual stimuli cause fundamental changes in auditory representations, by changing the overall structure of auditory spatial sensitivity (Aim 1) and/or by capturing temporal fluctuations in auditory- evoked activity (Aim 2). These experiments will shed light on the neural mechanisms that can support visual-auditory perceptual phenomena such as the use of lip reading cues to facilitate speech comprehension, and the use of visual information to help focus on a particular sound in a crowded auditory scene such as a cocktail party. These abilities are important in normal, aging, and sensory-impaired populations. The experiments involve a combined approach involving behavior, neurophysiology, and advanced statistical analyses concerning evaluation of fluctuating patterns of neural activity. The work is spearheaded by a collaborative team led by Profs. Surya Tokdar (Statistical Science, Duke University) and Jennifer Groh (Neurobiology, Duke University), and builds on analogies from technological systems such as the use of time division multiplexing to intersperse signals from different sounds into a fluctuating neural firing pattern. This computational approach will yield insights into how sensory systems overcome their differences to work in synergy with each other, particularly when there is competition among stimuli for a slot in neural representations.