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Dear List,
We are looking for a talented postdoc and/or graduate student to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying rhythm perception in songbirds.
This work is an NIH-funded collaboration between the lab of Dr. Mimi Kao (songbird neurobiology) in Biology and my lab (music cognition) in Psychology at Tufts University.
The work involves behavioral experiments on rhythm perception and neural recordings from auditory and motor regions in zebra finches.
The positions are based in the Biology department.
The ideal
postdoctoral candidate
should have experience in neurophysiology and animal behavior as well as excellent experimental design, analytical, and communication skills. Programming
skills (including python and MATLAB) and prior bioacoustics experience are preferred.
The
ideal graduate student
should have
a bachelor's degree in biology, psychology, or other technical field. Programming
skills (e.g., python and MATLAB), prior bioacoustics experience, and experience conducting experiments with small animals are preferred. Some
experience in neurophysiological recording is ideal, but this is not a requirement.
The PhD program in Biology is a research-intensive program that also has a strong focus on teaching (https://as.tufts.edu/biology/prospective-students/graduate-programs).
PhD students in Biology receive full tuition support for six years, a competitive stipend, and health coverage, and receive extensive training in pedagogy, outreach and communication.
The application deadline for graduate students is Dec. 1, 2022.
The project summary from our grant is below, followed by 3 relevant publications.
If interested, please send a CV and short bio to Mimi Kao (mimi.kao@xxxxxxxxx)
or me (a.patel@xxxxxxxxx).
Regards,
Ani Patel
Aniruddh D. Patel
Professor, Dept. of Psychology, Tufts University
CIFAR Fellow
Program in Brain, Mind, and Consciousness
https://as.tufts.edu/psychology/people/faculty/aniruddh-patel
Project summary:
Much of the world’s music has periodic rhythms with events repeating regularly in time, to which people clap, move, and sing.
The ability to detect and predict periodic auditory rhythms is central to the positive effects of music-based therapies on a variety of neurological disorders, including improving phonological processing
in dyslexia, enhancing language recovery after stroke, and normalizing gait in Parkinson’s disease.
Yet the neural mechanisms underlying rhythm perception are not well understood, and progress is impeded by the lack of an animal model that allows precise measurement and manipulation of neural circuits
during rhythm perception.
Human neuroimaging studies indicate that perceiving periodic musical rhythms strongly engages the motor planning system, including premotor cortex and basal ganglia, even when the listener is not moving or preparing to move.
Here, we test the hypothesis that the motor planning system is actively involved in learning to recognize temporal periodicity and communicates predictions about the timing of periodic events to
the auditory system.
We propose to take advantage of the well-described auditory-motor circuits in vocal learning songbirds and leverage the mechanistic studies possible in an animal model to test these ideas. Like humans (and unlike nonhuman primates), vocal learning birds have
strong connections between motor planning regions and auditory regions due to their reliance on complex, learned vocal sequences for communication. Auditory-motor circuits in songbirds and humans have many structural and functional parallels.
Recently, we showed that songbirds can readily learn to recognize a fundamental periodic pattern (isochrony, or equal timing between events) and can detect this pattern across a broad range of tempi.
In Aim 1, we will test whether neural signals from premotor regions play a causal role in this ability to flexibly recognize periodic rhythms. In Aim 2, by recording in auditory cortex while reversibly silencing activity in a reciprocally connected premotor
region, we will test whether premotor signals influence auditory processing of periodic rhythms. In Aim 3, by recording activity in a premotor
region as birds learn to recognize isochrony as a global temporal pattern, we will determine whether premotor neurons develop sensitivity to temporal
regularity and exhibit activity that predicts the timing of upcoming events.
Establishing an animal model for rhythm perception will be transformative for music neuroscience, allowing detailed investigation of the neural mechanisms underlying rhythm perception and informing rhythm-based musical interventions to enhance function
in normal and disease states.
Relevant papers:
Rouse,
A. A., Patel, A. D., & Kao, M. H. (2021). Vocal learning and flexible rhythm pattern perception are linked: Evidence from songbirds. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(29),
e2026130118.
Cannon,
J. J., & Patel, A. D. (2021). How beat perception co-opts motor neurophysiology. Trends
in Cognitive Sciences, 25(2),
137-150.
Moorman, S., Ahn, J. R., & Kao, M. H. (2021). Plasticity of stereotyped birdsong driven by chronic manipulation
of cortical-basal ganglia activity. Current Biology, 31(12), 2619-2632. |