# Auditory Information Processing in the Amygdala

> **NIH NIH R01** · NORTHEAST OHIO MEDICAL UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $590,277

## Abstract

Project Summary
The long-term goal of this work is to improve the understanding of neural mechanisms that underlie acoustic
communication. Our premise is that the amygdala, a brain region associated with emotional expression, plays
a critical role in this process. The amygdala “decides” whether a vocal signal is significant, or salient, and
whether its valence is positive or negative based on contextual information from the vocal sequence, other
senses, and the listener's internal state. The amygdala orchestrates emotional responses that are appropriate
for the received vocal communication signals and their context. Further, the amygdala modulates
responsiveness to vocal signals through its direct and indirect projections to auditory cortex and other auditory
structures. In other words, the amygdala is likely to influence how we hear and respond to social vocalizations.
Our central hypothesis is that the basolateral amygdala (BLA) receives information about all types of social
vocalizations, and that mechanisms within the BLA provide moment-by-moment assessment of the meaning of
these social signals based on the surrounding context. This assessment is expressed by highly selective
responses of most BLA neurons for contextually aversive vocal stimuli and by context-dependent temporal
patterns of response. We hypothesize that this assessment depends on integration of excitatory auditory inputs
with GABAergic inhibition and neuromodulatory inputs. We will examine bases for selectivity, temporal
response patterns, and contextual modulation in four Specific Aims. First, we will use intracellular recording
to examine subthreshold and suprathreshold responses to vocal stimuli in BLA. Second, we will examine the
contributions of auditory cortical and thalamic inputs to the responses of amygdalar neurons, using optogenetic
methods to separately inactivate each of these inputs. In the final two Aims, we will combine local application
of drugs with single neuron recordings to examine the contributions of receptors mediating glutamatergic
excitation and GABAergic inhibition, as well as receptors for cholinergic modulation that are likely to convey
contextual information associated with the received social vocalizations. We will use a normal hearing mouse
strain, CBA/CaJ, that has a well understood acoustic communication system.
These Specific Aims provide an interconnected approach to understand the mechanisms acting within the
basolateral amygdala that contribute to the analysis of meaning in social vocalizations. These mechanisms are
important in acoustic communication because the amygdala is involved in disorders that result in an altered
emotional response to speech, such as schizophrenia, autism, and some forms of post-traumatic stress
disorder. Furthermore, these studies will assess mechanisms related to therapeutic drugs affecting
glutamatergic, GABAergic, and cholinergic transmission in the amygdala.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10186458
- **Project number:** 5R01DC000937-29
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHEAST OHIO MEDICAL UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Alexander Galazyuk
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $590,277
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1990-12-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10186458

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10186458, Auditory Information Processing in the Amygdala (5R01DC000937-29). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10186458. Licensed CC0.

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