# The significance of nominally non-responsive neural dynamics in auditory perception and behavior

> **NIH NIH R00** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2022 · $76,550

## Abstract

The auditory system is often challenged with the task of assigning behavioral meaning to sounds: the cry of an
infant immediately commands your attention, a fire alarm signals the need for a hasty departure, and the familiar
sound of your cell phone causes an early exit from a meeting. How does the brain accomplish this seemingly
effortless feat? A network of regions in the brain are implicated in the act of auditory perception, but even regions
thought to be primarily concerned with the representation of sounds have cells that seem unmoved by the
behaviorally-relevant acoustic inputs. These “nominally non-responsive cells” are highly prevalent,
underexplored, and may provide key insights into how the brain accomplishes auditory-related learning and
contextualizes audition. For example, there is emerging evidence that these cells are important for generating
flexible behaviors. Developing a systems-level understanding of these widely observed but rarely analyzed
neurons is essential for relating auditory-related behavior to neural activity in the auditory pathway and may yield
critical insights into rehabilitation strategies for cochlear-implant (CI) users as CI stimulation can result in highly
variable cortical activation.
This proposal will investigate how nominally non-responsive cells emerge and evolve over auditory learning to
construct flexible neuronal representations in a central auditory pathway. I aim to dissect the local and long-
range circuit dynamics that modulate nominally non-responsive activity during learning and discover how these
dynamics gate auditory learning and perception. This proposal leverages cutting-edge electrophysiological
recordings in behaving rats, optogenetic manipulation, and computational tools to address the following aim:
Determine how auditory circuits are modulated in a central auditory axis during learning (Aim 2). The results
from this work will provide critical insights into how animals process sounds with behavioral significance and
remain flexible in behaviorally challenging environments. Clarification of the specific role each auditory station
plays in generating adaptive behaviors will have implications for improving diagnosis and treatment of hearing
deficits caused by disease or injury as well as auditory prosthetic devices to enhance auditory perception. In
these cases, we lack clinically proven measures for whether the activity of highly variable neurons is normal,
which makes judging the efficacy of treatments at the neural level challenging. Determining the relevance and
utility of this large population of highly variable cells to auditory learning and perception is the goal of this
proposal.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10634831
- **Project number:** 3R00DC015543-05S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Michele Insanally
- **Activity code:** R00 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $76,550
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-06-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10634831

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10634831, The significance of nominally non-responsive neural dynamics in auditory perception and behavior (3R00DC015543-05S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10634831. Licensed CC0.

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