Effects of Eye Position in the Auditory Pathway

Dartmouth College, Hanover NH

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Abstract

The locations of stimuli or events are initially encoded in separate frames of reference (eye-centered, head- (or ear-) centered, or body- centered). To coordinate and integrate the information gathered by the different sensory systems, the brain must translate the signals into a common frame of reference. This laboratory reported recently that eye position influences the auditory responses of some neurons in the inferior colliculus and auditory cortex, but that the frame of reference in these areas is intermediate between head- and eye-centered reference frames. Why does the brain process auditory space in such a fashion? Answering this question will lead to a better understanding of how the brain processes spatial information. Hence, the objective of this proposal is to explore in more detail the behavioral and computational significance of the modulatory influence of eye position on the processing of sound in the auditory pathway. Electrophysiological recordings of inferior colliculus neurons will be conducted in awake, behaving animals in order to characterize the interaction between eye position and auditory responses, and identify its role in sound localization behavior. Elucidating the nature of the interaction between eye position and auditory responses in the auditory pathway will help advance our understanding of the neural mechanisms that underlie cross-modal integration of sensory information, as well as contribute to the development of more rational therapeutic strategies for individuals with hearing dysfunction and other sensorimotor impairments.