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

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2024 · $489,915

## Abstract

Project Summary
Neurons throughout the auditory system are remarkably plastic, allowing auditory circuits to flexibly adapt to
changing task demands and context. Flexible auditory behavior is the result of a dynamic interaction between
several auditory regions including upstream and downstream areas. The auditory cortex (AC) is modulated by
many behavioral factors including expectation, enagagement, and reward supporting the view that it is a hub for
perception. However, AC does not operate in isolation receiving direct top-down inputs from frontal-motor cortex
(M2) and bottom-up inputs from auditory thalamus (MGB) forming a central auditory axis important for auditory
perception and behavior.
The canonical view of auditory circuits has exclusively focused on the role of classically responsive neurons.
Thus, non-classically responsive neurons with highly variable trial-to-trial firing patterns have typically been
excluded from analysis despite being widely reported for decades. Thus, the mechanisms by which non-classically responsive neurons contribute to auditory processing, perception, and behavior is unclear. The goal
of this proposal is to directly investigate how local circuits in AC comprised of diverse ensembles interact with
downstream and upstream auditory brain regions to flexibly gate auditory behavior. We will take an unbiased,
inclusive approach by considering the entire spectrum of classically to non-classically responsive neurons, to
auditory perception and learning. We will record spiking and synaptic responses from adult mouse AC (Aim1),
record simultaneously from AC and an auditory domain of frontal-motor cortex (M2; Aim 2), and record spiking
responses from auditory thalamus (vMGB; Aim 3) during learning and perform optogenetic experiments to reveal
synaptic mechanisms and network dynamics involved in perceptual learning. These experiments will provide
unique insight into the neural basis of flexible auditory behaviors, and help identity novel therapeutic targets for
improving hearing disorders.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10824349
- **Project number:** 5R01DC021067-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Michele Insanally
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $489,915
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-04-10 → 2025-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10824349

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10824349, The significance of nominally non-responsive neural dynamics in auditory perception and behavior (5R01DC021067-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10824349. Licensed CC0.

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