# Understanding how cortex supports flexible sensory representations

> **NIH NIH K99** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2022 · $124,299

## Abstract

Project Summary
Learning is a fundamental function of the brain: sensory representations must be flexible to adjust to changes in
environmental demands and experience, thus allowing us to adapt to the world around us. Understanding the
mechanisms of learning are important not only for normal function of the brain but also in disease, for example,
after unilateral hearing loss. One important but often overlooked principle of learning is the importance of
feedback from other brain areas. In this grant I propose to investigate the function of corticofugal feedback, from
auditory cortex (ACx) to inferior colliculus (IC), in sound localization learning after unilateral hearing loss. I will
test (1) the hypothesis that the function of cortico-collicular feedback is to provide information about the current
sensory conditions using optogenetics and behavior; and (2) the hypothesis that acetylcholine (ACh) release in
ACx modulates activity in IC during learning, using fiber photometry to record ACh release dynamics in ACx and
neural activity in IC simultaneously. In the independent phase, I will test (3) the hypothesis that burst activity in
feedback from ACx to IC contains an error signal which directs plasticity in IC and leads to behavioral adaptation
to the new listening environment using electrophysiology and opto-tagging in ACx and IC. Understanding the
mechanisms by which the brain compensates for changes in sensory input can provide information about how
to best develop treatments, such as hearing and other sensory aids, or perceptual training for patients who
experience such losses, thus improving their ability to communicate and quality of life.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10448054
- **Project number:** 1K99DC019504-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Katherine Charlotte Wood
- **Activity code:** K99 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $124,299
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-04-04 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10448054

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10448054, Understanding how cortex supports flexible sensory representations (1K99DC019504-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-03 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10448054. Licensed CC0.

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