ABOUT LUCIANA

ABOUT MY PROJECT

Neuronal responses to particular sounds depend on the context in which they are presented and on their functional relevance to the animals. I am interested in understanding how sound representation in the mammalian auditory cortex is shaped by auditory experience, particularly, how complex natural sounds alter auditory processing of upcoming information in the brain of the short-tailed bat, Carollia perspicillata. Interestingly, in addition to acoustic signals, auditory cortex neurons can integrate other sensory inputs (such as visual) that are relevant to the interpretation of sounds. I am also interested in exploring how visual context can shape auditory representations in the cortex of bats. By employing multi-array electrophysiology, I will use information from local field potentials along with spike data to study context-dependent auditory processing in the mammalian cortex as well as specializations associated to bats’ brains.