Lifelong Plasticity of Functional Circuits in the Auditory Forebrain

Dr. Polley studies the mechanisms and therapeutic potential of brain plasticity. Brain plasticity (or neuroplasticity) is the science of brain change. Of all the organs in our body, the brain exhibits a unique capacity to change its basic anatomy, physiology and chemistry as we accumulate experiences from the surrounding world. The mechanisms that convert experience into neural change form the basis for our individuality and play an essential role in our ability to rapidly encode, recall, predict, learn and act in a fast-paced world.

We choose to study experience-dependent plasticity in auditory regions of the rodent thalamus and neocortex. Experience plays a vital role in refining the basic patterns of connectivity in these forebrain regions and shapes how social animals from mice to men perceive environmental and communication sounds. Our lab seeks to elucidate the mechanisms of plasticity in auditory forebrain circuits through the combined application of in vivo extracellular recordings, auditory behavioral assays, neuropharmacology, computational models and genetic manipulations. Our overall goal is to understand how experience with sound shapes the organization of the auditory forebrain in early postnatal development and how remediation methods based on the science of brain plasticity might be used to correct the functional properties of aberrant brain circuits in later life.