AudioPred Neurophysiological Mechanisms of Human Auditory Predictions

About the project

The project "Neurophysiological Mechanisms of Human Auditory Predictions: From population- to single neuron recordings" (AudioPred) contributes to understanding how auditory predictive processes are computed in the human brain. In a broad sense, predictive processes incorporate knowledge from the past to predict future states of the body and the environment, shaping how we perceive the world.

AudioPred is implemented by its project manager, Dr. Alejandro Blenkmann, a core team of researchers at the University of Oslo, and international collaborators (see detailed list on the right).

Methodology

While patients listen to streams of sounds, electrical signals will be recorded directly from individual neurons and groups of thousands of neurons. The signals will be recorded via electrodes already implanted for clinical reasons.

In contrast to other methods, our methodological approach allows us to find out more precisely where in the brain this processing occurs and how it evolves over time.

Objective

Reality as we perceive it is built from the interaction between real-world events and predictions based on our past experiences. The overarching aim of AudioPred is to delineate the neurophysiological basis of auditory predictions.

The project aims to delineate how individual neurons and distinct brain areas play different roles and communicate when encoding auditory regularities, predicting future sounds, and detecting unexpected sounds.

We study the role of distinct brain areas and the different oscillations supporting their communication during:

1. The omission of predicted stimuli
2. The prediction of nested regularities
3. Dynamical changes of predictions
4. The interaction between attention and predictions
5. The role of single-unit activity underlying predictions