Principal Investigator:
Israel Nelken
Processing of auditory information in the central nervous system
Location: Silberman Wing 3, 3rd. floor Room 3-351
Communication:
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E.Mail: Israel@cc.huji.ac.il
Phone: 6584229
Web: http://elsc.huji.ac.il/nelken/home
Brief Description of Research: The early auditory system represents sounds in terms of
spectro-temporal activity patterns. However, sounds are perceived in terms of objects and
sources. The process of grouping and segregation of acoustic components into perceptual entities
is called auditory scene analysis, and is believed to occur gradually within the auditory system.
We study this process and its manifestations in a number of auditory stations, with special
emphasis on primary auditory cortex where we believe auditory objects are first explicitly
represented.
Techniques used include: Intracellular recordings from anesthetized rats and mice; extracellular
recordings from anesthetized and awake rodents; calcium imaging of multiple single neurons
using 2-photon imaging; optogenetic approaches for activating and inactivating specific neural
populations; behavioral methods for training rodents on complex sound recognition tasks;
sophisticated sound processing methods for generating complex auditory stimuli and state-ofthe-art data analysis methods for analyzing results.
Proposed Research Projects:
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Topic 1: Short-term memory in the responses of neurons in auditory cortex: how long is
short?
o We have previously demonstrated that single neurons in auditory cortex are
affected by stimulus history over durations > 10 s, 'remembering' some aspects of
the sound sequence. In this project, we will study the limits of the complexity of
this type of memory using electrophysiological and behavioral methods.
Topic 2: How does auditory cortex remember noise?
o Humans can remember specific bits of noise to which they have been presented
for weeks. Neurons in auditory cortex of anesthetized rats can remember specific
bits of noise, and discriminate between them and other bits of noise, as well. In
this project, we will study the acoustic features that underlie this sensitivity using
a novel acoustic stimulus called 'tone clouds'.