Spatial Information Codes

摘要 这个项目涉及视觉和听觉整合的计算挑战。 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，带有视觉空间和米或速率的地图 听觉空间的代码。编码格式的差异给以下方面带来了挑战 连接共同的底层物体或事件的视觉和听觉方面。 拟议中的实验调查了视觉刺激引起 听觉表征的根本变化，通过改变整体结构 听觉空间敏感性(目标1)和/或通过捕捉听觉中的时间波动- 诱发活动(目标2)。这些实验将阐明神经机制。 可以支持视觉-听觉感知现象，例如使用唇读 有助于语音理解的线索，以及有助于集中注意力的视觉信息 在拥挤的听觉场景中，例如鸡尾酒会上的特定声音。这些 在正常、老龄化和感官受损的人群中，能力很重要。 这些实验涉及行为、神经生理学和 关于神经波动模式评估的高级统计分析 活动。这项工作由一个由教授领导的合作团队带头进行。苏里亚·托克达尔 (杜克大学统计科学)和Jennifer Groh(杜克大学神经生物学 大学)，并建立在使用时间等技术系统的类比基础上 将来自不同声音的信号分散到波动的神经中的分路多路传输 射击模式。这种计算方法将深入了解感官系统是如何 克服彼此的差异，相互协作，特别是在 刺激之间的竞争，争夺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.