# A cortical role for skilled, sound-guided behavior in mice

> **NIH NIH F31** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2024 · $46,138

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The abilities to detect errors and improve performance following mistakes are paramount to behaviors such as
speech and musicianship. Although hearing is instrumental for monitoring and adapting these behaviors, the
neural circuits that integrate motor, acoustic, and goal-related signals to detect errors and guide
sensorimotor learning in mammals remain unidentified. In this proposal, we will employ two aims to
investigate how the mouse auditory cortex encodes error- and learning-related signals during skilled sound-
generating behavior, and whether auditory-cortical activity is necessary for learning from performance mistakes.
In Aim 1, we will develop a novel closed-loop, sound-guided behavior that requires mice to use real-time acoustic
feedback to guide skilled forelimb movements. Then, we will test whether this behavior is dependent upon intact
auditory cortex activity. In Aim 2, we will then explore how auditory cortex integrates acoustic and task-related
information at the neuronal level to determine how errors and predictions are encoded and whether auditory
cortical activity informs future improvements in behavioral outcomes. We hypothesize that auditory cortex
integrates acoustic, motor, and goal-directed information during this skilled sensorimotor behavior and plays a
critical role in error correction and learning both on short and long-time scales. This work will help reveal how
auditory and motor regions of the brain interact during sound-guided behavior and will advance our
understanding of predictive processing in sensory cortex. The implications of these results will lay the
groundwork for future research into how behavioral controlling regions of the brain then process sensory error
information and update behavior during skilled learning.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10901464
- **Project number:** 1F31DC021868-01
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Grant William Meany Zempolich
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $46,138
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-04-01 → 2027-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10901464

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10901464, A cortical role for skilled, sound-guided behavior in mice (1F31DC021868-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10901464. Licensed CC0.

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