Tim Gentner
Primary Investigator
Tim Gentner is the PI of the lab. He has been running Gentner Lab since 2006.
in the laboratory
Research in the lab takes an integrative, systems-level approach to understanding the neural mechanisms that govern the sensory, perceptual, and cognitive processing of acoustic communication signals and real-world sounds. Our primary focus is on the elaborate vocal communication system of the European starling, a species of songbird.
of Decision Processes
Female mate-choice in songbirds provides an excellent context to study the specific neural mechanisms of decision processes involving natural stimuli. The lab has developed a novel procedure for assaying female song preference that permits extracellular electrophysiology in awake behaving songbirds. We are exploring a number of behavioral manipulations that target more specific acoustic features of male songs which drive female choice
The lab uses a variety of behavioral techniques to examine the statistical organization of spectral and temporal song at multiple acoustic levels. We want to know how such information constrains and biases acoustic pattern perception, attention, and memory mechanisms. These studies are fueled in part by our recent demonstration that songbirds can learn very complex temporal patterns described by grammars thought to be uniquely human.
of Auditory Perception and Cognition
of Auditory Objects
We are studying multiple populations of neurons in the songbird brain, in areas analogous to mammalian auditory cortex, whose responses are directly linked to behaviorally relevant variation among conspecific songs. Current studies in the lab investigate the neural mechanisms that give rise to these representations across the auditory forebrain. We are interested in fundamental questions of stimulus coding and receptive field organization, the transformation of information across brain regions, and the role of network level activity in shaping the brain's responses to natural communication signals. Some of this work is carried out in collaboration with physicists at UCSD and the Salk Institute.
We investigate how humans produce and perceive spoken language and test novel computational theories in the neurobiology of language. We specialize in studying the neural dynamics underlying the perception and production of natural speech, including cross-linguistic work examining how these dynamics differ across languages. We use state-of-the-art techniques such as MEG and sEEG, and we take an interdisciplinary approach across systems neuroscience, linguistics, psychology, and engineering to advance current techniques in investigating how the brain directs everyday conversations.
of Natural Speech
Song is a precisely timed motor behavior, and the songbird provides a powerful system for studying how neural activity in premotor circuits generates learned vocalizations. We study the population-level dynamics of neural circuits in the song motor pathway and their relationship to the song they produce. Using chronic electrophysiology in freely singing birds alongside state-space models and biomechanical descriptions of vocal production, we ask how neural populations encode and time vocal sequences, how their dynamics map onto behavior, and how coordinated interactions between regions shape song production.
of Vocal Production
Current lab members
Primary Investigator
Tim Gentner is the PI of the lab. He has been running Gentner Lab since 2006.
Grad Student
Trevor is a Neurosciences PhD student interested in how information is relationally coded in songbird neuronal population activity.
Grad Student
Lauren is a PhD student in the Neurosciences Graduate Program and is interested in error processing and sensory-motor feedback.
Grad Student
Julia is a PhD student in Neurosciences leveraging in silico approaches to investigate neural dynamics in sensorimotor processes.
Grad Student
Jeffrey is a PhD student in the Psychology department studying songbird musicality and aesthetic preferences.
Grad Student
Lauren is an MD/PhD student in the Neurosciences Graduate Program studying the neural dynamics underlying vocal communication signals in birdsong and speech.
Grad Student
Ben is a PhD student in Linguistics with a specialization in Computational Social Science and is interested in phonetics and the neural bases of speech perception in humans.
Grad Student
Nathan is a PhD student in Psychology studying the processing and filtering of noise and sound textures.
Graduate Student
Travis is a Neurosciences PhD student interested in how the brain adapts to hearing loss in complex acoustic environments.
Research Assistant
Kate is a research assistant studying speech perception in humans.
Former lab members
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See a full list of publications on Google Scholar