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SUMMARY:From ears to brain (and back): Imaging the brain computations for 
 sound analysis. - Prof Elia Formisano Maastricht-Brain Imaging Center (M-B
 IC)\, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience\, Maastricht University\, The N
 etherlands 
DTSTART:20180216T163000Z
DTEND:20180216T173000Z
UID:TALK100255@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Louise White
DESCRIPTION:A friend speaking\, a bird chirping\, a piano playing. Any liv
 ing being or non-living object that vibrates generates acoustic waveforms\
 , which we call sounds. How does our brain transform these acoustic vibrat
 ions into meaningful percepts? This lecture illustrates current research b
 ased on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) aimed at discovering 
 the computations the brain performs to achieve this amazing feat. \n\nIn a
  first part\, I will present research combining high resolution fMRI with 
 computational modelling aiming at revealing how natural sounds are encoded
  in auditory cortex\, the part of the brain most relevant for the processi
 ng of sounds. Results show that in humans (as well as in macaque monkeys) 
 the cortical encoding of natural sounds entails the simultaneous formation
  of multiple representations with different degrees of spectral and tempor
 al detail. This multi-resolution analysis of sounds may be crucially relev
 ant for enabling flexible and context-dependent processing of the sounds\,
  in the highly dynamic everyday environment. Analyses of cross-species dif
 ferences between human and macaque monkeys suggest that – in the human c
 ortex alone - even “general purpose” cortical mechanisms of sound anal
 ysis are shaped by the characteristic acoustic properties of speech.  In a
  second part\, I will show how the high spatial resolution (< 1 mm) and sp
 ecificity achievable with new fMRI techniques at ultra-high magnetic field
 s (7 and 9.4 Tesla) opens up the possibility to examine “unknown” terr
 itories in humans\, such as the columnar and laminar architecture in (prim
 ary) auditory cortical areas. Finally\, I will elaborate on the potential 
 and challenges of combining computational modeling and laminar fMRI to stu
 dy relevant neuro-computational mechanisms in human auditory cortex.\n\n \
 n\nElia Formisano received in 2000 his PhD in Bioengineering from the nati
 onal (Italian) program. In 1998-1999\, he was a research fellow at the Max
  Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt/Main (with Dr. Rainer Go
 ebel/Prof. Wolf Singer). In January 2000\, he was appointed Assistant Prof
 essor at Maastricht University (Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience) wh
 ere he is now Full Professor of Neuroimaging Methods at the Department of 
 Cognitive Neuroscience. He is Scientific Director of the Maastricht Brain 
 Imaging Centre (MBIC) and core member of the Maastricht Centre for Systems
  Biology (MaCSBio). In 2000-2002\, he was visiting researcher at the Cente
 r for Magnetic Resonance Research\, University of Minnesota\, USA (Prof. K
 amil Ugurbil) where he pioneered the use of ultra-high magnetic field (7 T
 esla) fMRI in studying the functional organization of the human auditory c
 ortex. Together with his research group\, he studies the neural representa
 tion and processing of (natural) sounds and auditory scenes in human audit
 ory cortex by combining multimodal functional neuroimaging with machine le
 arning and computational modelling. 
LOCATION:Ground Floor Lecture Theatre\, Department of Psychology
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