Mechanics of Learning and Attention in the Auditory System of the Barn Owl

 


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Air date: Wednesday, May 23, 2007, 3:00:00 PM
Category: Wednesday Afternoon Lectures
Runtime: 60 minutes
NLM Title: Mechanics of learning and attention in the auditory system of the barn owl [electronic resource] / Eric Knudsen.
Series: NIH director's Wednesday afternoon lecture series
Author: Knudsen, Eric I.
National Institutes of Health (U.S.)
Publisher: [Bethesda, Md. : National Institutes of Health, 2007]
Other Title(s): NIH director's Wednesday afternoon lecture series
Abstract: (CIT): One of the most fascinating properties of the brain is its ability to learn: its ability to alter its functional properties as a consequence of the interactions of an animal with the environment. The influence of experience on the brain is strong especially during early life and is modulated throughout life by the internal state of the animal. Attention, in particular, has a powerful modulating effect on learning. I will discuss a well-studied example of these principles: The effects of experience and attention on sound localization and auditory spatial processing in the barn owl. Dr. Knudsen is the Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. His research focuses on mechanisms of learning and attention and strategies of information processing in the central auditory system. He investigates how the capacity for learning changes with development and the effects of experience on structure and function in the brain. Dr. Knudsen received his Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego in 1976, completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the California Institute of Technology in 1979, when he joined the faculty of the Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University. Dr. Knudsen has received awards that include the Newcomb Cleveland Prize, the Society for Neuroscience Young Investigator Award, McKnight Neuroscience Development and Senior Investigator Awards, the Troland Research Award, and the Peter Gruber Prize in Neuroscience. Dr. Knudsen is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. The NIH Director's Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series includes weekly scientific talks by some of the top researchers in the biomedical sciences worldwide.
Subjects: Attention--physiology
Auditory Pathways--physiology
Learning--physiology
Neuronal Plasticity--physiology
Sound Localization--physiology
Strigiformes
Publication Types: Government Publications
Lectures
Download: Download Video
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NLM Classification: QL 696.S85
NLM ID: 101308589
CIT File ID: 13840
CIT Live ID: 5202
Permanent link: http://videocast.nih.gov/launch.asp?13840

 

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