Everyday we are inundated with sounds. Our brain’s ability to detect different patterns within sounds is how we’re able to tell a cricket chirping from a phone ringing, or to recognize the voice of a loved one. Despite the importance of sound pattern recognition across the animal kingdom, the underlying neural mechanisms are not well understood. Animals that engage in acoustic communication, including humans, produce species-specific sound patterns which auditory systems have evolved to detect. Are mechanisms of auditory processing universal across brains or specialized for their own species’ patterns?
We use fruit flies to study sound pattern recognition due to their small brains, complex acoustic communication signals, and near-unparalleled experimental tractability. Some of the questions we are interested in include:
- How do neural networks extract behaviorally relevant features from complex patterns of sounds to drive responsive behaviors?
- How do auditory systems establish selectivity for different categories of sounds (ie, conspecific vs. predator)?
- How do factors such as experience, neuromodulation, and internal/behavioral state impact auditory processing?
- Do non-neuronal cell types play a role in sound recognition?
- How do auditory systems co-evolve with sound production?
Baker Lab 