YNiC Seminar: Internal project proposal presentations

1. David Watson
   "The Role of Image Properties in the Representation of Objects in the Brain"
   
   The  human ventral visual pathway is known to play an important role in the  neural representation of visual objects.  Current theories suggest that  the organization of the ventral stream is based upon categorical  principles.  For example, there are regions that are selective for faces  and scenes.  In this fMRI study we will present images drawn from two  categories (faces or houses) but which have also been manipulated in  terms of image properties by way of low- or high-pass filtering.  Using  MVPA we can then directly compare and contrast the relative  contributions of category and image information to neural responses in  face and scene selective regions.
   
    
2. Rebecca Millman
   "Brain function and dynamics during successful and unsuccessful understanding of speech in noise"
   
   Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is a natural consequence of aging. Background noise is a primary complaint of listeners with SNHL. The intensity and complexity of everyday environmental noises, such as background conversations, fluctuate over time. It is thought that young NH listeners can cope with a background noise (a masker) that varies over time because they are good at “listening in the dips” of fluctuating noise backgrounds, i.e. whilst the target speech is momentarily unmasked by the noise. Senescent changes in audition and cognition may weaken dip listening through a combination of deficits in peripheral/central auditory processing and higher-level cognitive systems. This project will use neuroimaging to: 1) disentangle the relative contributions of some potential cortical auditory and cognitive deficits to weakened dip listening in SNHL listeners, 2)establish whether there is a cortical neural marker of successful vs. unsuccessful dip listening in the presence of a fluctuating masker and 3) determine whether differences exist in the brain dynamics of young NH compared with older SNHL listeners when they are listening to speech in quiet and in noise.

See here for further YNiC Seminar events or contact Dr. Rebecca Millman