Sound Science — Through the Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience Program, which funds innovative approaches to science and engineering research on brain function, the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders has awarded Dr. José Luis Peña and collaborators at University of Oregon and Seattle University $1.8 million over five years to study how the brain optimally determines sound location. Working with barn owls, which are particularly adept at locating prey by sound, Dr. Peña and his research team will develop statistical models to describe how the brain can approach optimal hearing function. To do so, he will collaborate with Drs. Terry Takahashi and Brian Fischer, experts in the fields of behavioral research and mathematics, respectively. The ultimate aim of the research will be to further advance our knowledge of how neuronal networks guide behavior and process natural scenes. Dr. Peña is associate professor in the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience. Dr. Takahashi is on the faculty at University of Oregon and Dr. Fischer is at Seattle University.
Posted on: Thursday, August 23, 2012