# Circuit Mechanisms of Sound Processing and Detection in the Auditory Pathway

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2020 · $552,636

## Abstract

CIRCUIT MECHANISMS OF SOUND PROCESSING AND DETECTION IN THE AUDITORY PATHWAY
 Auditory perception relies on predicting statistics of incoming signals, be it identifying the speech of a
conversation partner in a crowded room or recognizing the sound of a bubbling brook in a forest. The human brain
detects statistical regularities in sounds as a fundamental aspect of prediction, evidenced by reduced responses to
repeated sound patterns and enhanced responses to unexpected sounds. Multiple studies demonstrate that the neuronal
responses to regular signals are reduced through adaptation, which can contribute to prediction. However, adaptation
alone is not sufficient to account for prediction and studies at cellular and neuronal population level in animals thus far
lend onto partial support to existing theories of predictive coding. As such, the circuit level mechanisms for the
prediction of statistical regularities beyond tone frequency in sounds, and their role in behavior, remain unknown. Our
goal is to close this gap in knowledge and to determine the circuits that predict signals and detect statistical regularity and
its violation in auditory behavior. To identify feedforward and feedback components of prediction of statistical
regularities in sounds in the auditory system, we combine optogenetic selective perturbation and large-scale imaging and
electrophysiology with behavioral methods in awake mice. First, we test whether and how excitatory-inhibitory
interactions within the auditory cortex (AC) establish predictive code for sound patterns, detect statistical regularities, and
contribute to enhanced responses for unexpected sounds. Second, we test whether and how detection of statistical
regularities at the neuronal level contributes to behavioral detection of change in sound regularity. Third, we test whether
and how feedback from higher cortical areas provides information about regularity and violation. Our results will identify
the neuronal circuits for encoding statistical regularity and its violation in sound and establish their role in auditory
behavior.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10072989
- **Project number:** 2R01DC014479-06A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Maria Neimark Geffen
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $552,636
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2015-04-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10072989

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10072989, Circuit Mechanisms of Sound Processing and Detection in the Auditory Pathway (2R01DC014479-06A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10072989. Licensed CC0.

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