# Auditory cortical processing of self-generated vocalizations

> **NIH NIH F31** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $36,435

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Effective auditory processing of vocalizations including human speech depends on the ability to distinguish
self-generated sounds from external sounds. How the brain makes this distinction is still not well understood.
Studies in vocalizing humans and monkeys suggest that a vocal motor-related (i.e., corollary discharge) signal
that selectively suppresses auditory cortical responses to predictable acoustic features of ensuing
vocalizations enables this distinction. Notably, such predictive corollary discharge signals also figure
prominently in models of speech learning, while their dysfunction is a possible source of the auditory
hallucinations that characterize various neuropsychiatric disorders. Despite their importance, the neural circuits
that convey vocalization-related signals to the auditory cortex during vocalization are largely unknown, in large
part because detailed circuit interrogation is impractical in humans and monkeys. Here I aim to delineate the
neural circuits that convey vocalization-related corollary discharge signals to the auditory cortex of the mouse
using a combination of innovative viral genetic tools, optogenetics, and in vivo electrophysiological recordings.
I will use a novel genetic method to tag and manipulate a subpopulation of functionally relevant neurons in the
midbrain periaqueductal gray whose activity is necessary and sufficient to drive ultrasonic vocalization. I will
selectively elicit vocalizations by optogenetically stimulating these neurons, allowing me to systematically map
and manipulate the neurons and circuits that convey vocalization-related corollary discharge signals to the
auditory cortex. I will use this approach, along with advanced techniques for monitoring neural activity, to
demonstrate that, as in primates, the mouse auditory cortex is suppressed by self-generated vocalizations. By
harnessing the viral and transgenic strategies uniquely available in the mouse model I aim in the proposed
experiments to reveal underlying circuit and synaptic mechanisms of vocalization-related corollary discharge,
which would represent a major step forward in our understanding of this phenomenon, a step which would not
be feasible in the primate. Completion of these aims would provide mechanistic insight into a phenomenon that
is thought to facilitate hearing and auditory-guided motor learning and whose dysfunction is hypothesized to
result in auditory hallucinations, a hugely disruptive psychiatric symptom. This project will take place under the
mentorship of Dr. Richard Mooney in the Department of Neurobiology at Duke University, an experienced
mentor whose research group focuses on the neurobiology of vocal communication in songbirds and mice
using a wide variety of circuits, systems, and behavioral neuroscience approaches. The project proposed here,
as well as my choice of research sponsor, would provide me the opportunity to master advanced techniques
such as in vivo neurophysiology, optoge...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9899732
- **Project number:** 5F31DC017879-02
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Valerie Michael
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $36,435
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-03-01 → 2022-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9899732

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9899732, Auditory cortical processing of self-generated vocalizations (5F31DC017879-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9899732. Licensed CC0.

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