“Associative learning of the quality of two sensory modalities and its underlying mechanism”

Multisensory integration is important for cognitive functions. It has long been believed that multisenrory integration is the function of the association areas of the cortex. In recent years, evidence has been accumulating that primary sensory areas respond to multi-modal sensory stimulations, suggesting a possible role of early cortical sensory areas in multisensory integration. We have demonstrated a weak auditory response in the primary visual cortex (Nishimura and Song, 2012), and somatosensory responses in auditory cortical areas (Nishimura et al., 2015). Here we further examine the role of early auditory cortical areas in multisensory integration from a learning perspective. We will train animals to learn the association of the qualities of auditory and visual stimuli, and examine the responsiveness of cortical neurons to the sensory stimuli before, during and after training. In so doing, we aim to reveal the adaptive changes in the responsiveness of cortical neurons, which may underlie the learning behavior.

 
Recent Publications
1. Nishimura M, Song W-J (2014) Greenwood frequency-position relationship in the primary auditory cortex in guinea pigs. NeuroImage 89:181-191.
2. Takemoto M, Hasegawa K, Nishimura M, Song W-J (2014) The insular auditory field receives input from the lemniscal subdivision of the auditory thalamus in mice. J Comp Neurol 522:1373–1389.
3. Nishimura M, Song W-J (2012) Temporal sequence of visuo-auditory interaction in multiple areas of the guinea pig visual cortex. PLoS One 7(9): e46339.
4. Lu M-H, Takemoto M, Watanabe K, Luo H, Nishimura M, Yano M, Tomimoto H, Okazaki T, Oike Y, Song W-J (2012) Deficiency of sphingomyelin synthase-1 but not sphingomyelin synthase-2 causes hearing impairments in mice. J Physiol 590(Pt 16):4029-44.

Posted:2016/03/10