Luis C. Populin

 

 

Sensorimotor Integration

E-mail: lpopulin@wisc.edu

Office Phone: (608) 265-6451

Research Strengths: Behavior: Cognition and Emotion, Neural Circuits, Perception and Movement

Our laboratory is interested in studying the neural basis of perception and behavior. We use eye and head orienting movements to study how visual and auditory information are integrated to represent the world around us and how such information is used to generate and control motor responses. Orienting to the source of visual and/or acoustic stimulus is a natural behavior that can be studied under controlled conditions in both humans and behaving animals.

Currently we are studying how auditory and visual signals are integrated in the discharges of multisensory cells in the superior colliculus of the behaving cat and how such discharges relate to the kinematics of eye and head orienting movements. We are also carrying out parallel experiments in humans and monkeys using identical orienting experimental tasks to study the role of higher order variables, such as attention, on multisensory interactions. The human work provides the psychophysical benchmark for the tasks used and the behaving primate, through extracellular cortical recordings, provides the connection between behavior and the underlying neural substrate.

Selected Publications:

• Populin, L.C. 2006. Monkey sound localization: head-restrained vs. head unrestrained orienting. J. Neurosci. 26: 9820-9832
• Populin, L.C. 2005. Anesthetics change the excitation/inhibition balance that governs sensory processing in the cat superior colliculus. J. Neurosci. 25: 5903-5914
• Populin, L.C., D.J. Tollin, and J.M. Weinstein. 2002. Human gaze shifts to acoustic and visual targets. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 956: 468-473.
• Populin, L.C. and T.C.T. Yin. 2002. Bimodal interactions in the superior colliculus of the behaving cat. J. Neurosci. 22: 2826-2834.
• Smith, P.H., and L.C. Populin. 2001. Fundamental differences between the thalamocortical recipient layers of the cat auditory and visual cortices. J. Comp. Neurol. 436: 508-519.
• Populin, L.C., and T.C.T. Yin. 1999. Kinematics of eye movements of cats to broadband auditory targets. J. Neurophysiol. 82: 955-962.
• Populin, L.C. and T.C.T. Yin. 1998. Behavioral studies of sound localization in the cat. J. Neurosci. 18: 2147-2160.
• Populin, L.C. and T.C.T. Yin. 1998. Pinna movements of the cat during sound localization. J. Neurosci. 18: 4233-4243.