Katie Halvorson

A Computational Model of the Vertebrate Peripheral Auditory System

Biology, Drs. Ferragamo and Wotton
About My Research:

The anuran auditory system was utilized to construct a computational model of the auditory periphery that can be applied across multiple vertebrate systems. The model was constructed from anatomical and physiological properties in the literature and electrophysiological data collected in our laboratory. Analysis of the peripheral level demonstrates that the model complements the physiological data in the temporal dimension in areas such as phase-locking and encoding of the signal envelope. In the spectral dimension, the model has also produced similar frequency tuning curve, dynamic range, and adaptation properties to the known physiological data. Continued construction of a multi-layered neural network model centrally (into the dorsolateral nucleus and the torus semicircularis) will allow study of acoustically driven behaviors that could lead to application across homologous mammal auditory systems.

Professional Abstract:

The anuran auditory system was utilized to construct a computational model of the auditory periphery that can be applied across multiple vertebrate systems. The model was constructed from anatomical and physiological properties in the literature and electrophysiological data collected in our laboratory. Analysis of the peripheral level demonstrates that the model complements the physiological data in the temporal dimension in areas such as phase-locking and encoding of the signal envelope. In the spectral dimension, the model has also produced similar frequency tuning curve, dynamic range, and adaptation properties to the known physiological data. Continued construction of a multi-layered neural network model centrally (into the dorsolateral nucleus and the torus semicircularis) will allow study of acoustically driven behaviors that could lead to application across homologous mammal auditory systems.

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