Tom C. T. Yin

 

 

Neurobiology of Binaural Hearing

E-mail: tcyin@wisc.edu

Office Phone: (608) 262-0368

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

My general area of interest is in studying how sensory signals are transformed into motor output in the mammalian central nervous system. My approach is to couple electrophysiological methods with anatomical or behavioral methods, when appropriate. Work is now directed primarily at studying the neural mechanisms of sound localization and other binaural phenomena. Experiments involve recording from single cells in anesthetized cats using dichotic and free-field acoustic stimuli. In some experiments neurons are injected intracellularly to permit morphological studies. Most experiments use stimuli that are designed to mimic psychophysical phenomena, such as the precedence effect. In addition, we train cats to look at sounds by monitoring their eye movements to study the psychophysics of sound localization in the cat as well as to make chronic electrophysiological recordings while the cat is actively engaged in the task. When possible, neuronal responses are simulated on computer models of the circuits.

Lab Website:

http://www.physiology.wisc.edu/yin/

Selected Publications:

• Tollin, D.J., J.L. Ruhland, and T.C.T. Yin. 2009. The vestibulo-auricular reflex. J. Neurophysiol. 101: 1258-1266.
• Moore, J.M., D.J. Tollin, and T.C.T. Yin. 2008. Can measures of sound localization acuity be related to the precision of absolute location estimates? Hear. Res. 238: 94-109.
• Joris, P.X. and T.C.T. Yin. 2007. A matter of time: internal delays in binaural processing. Trends in Neurosci. 30: 70-78.
• Tollin, D.J. and T.C.T. Yin. 2005. Interaural phase and level difference sensitivity in low-frequency neurons in the lateral superior olive. J. Neurosci. 25: 10648-10657.
• Tollin, D.J., L.C. Populin, J. Moore, J.L. Ruhland, and T.C.T. Yin. 2005. Sound localization performance in the cat: The effect of restraining the head. J. Neurophysiol. 93: 1223-1234.
• Dent, M.L., D.J. Tollin, and T.C.T. Yin. 2004. Cats exhibit the Franssen effect illusion. J. Acoust. Soc. Amer. 116: 3070-3074.
• Populin, L.C., D.J. Tollin, and T.C.T. Yin. 2004. Effect of eye position on saccades and neuronal responses to acoustic stimuli in the superior colliculus of the behaving cat. J. Neurophysiol. 92: 2151-2216.
• Tollin, D.J., L.C. Populin, and T.C.T. Yin. 2004. Neural correlates of the precedence effect in the inferior colliculus of behaving cats. J. Neurophysiol. 92: 3286-3297.
• Batra, R. and T.C.T. Yin. 2004. Cross-correlation by neurons in the medial superior olive: A re-examination. J. Assoc. Res. Otolaryngol. 5: 238-252.
• Tollin, D.J. and T.C.T. Yin 2003. Psychophysical investigation of an auditory spatial illusion in cats: The precedence effect. J. Neurophysiol. 90: 2149-2162.
• Tollin D.J. and T.C.T. Yin. 2003. Spectral cues explain illusory elevation effects with stereo sounds in cats. J. Neurophysiol. 90: 525-530. [PDF]
• Tollin, D.J. and T.C.T. Yin. 2002. The coding of spatial location by single units in the lateral superior olive of the cat. II. The determinants of spatial receptive fields in azimuth. J. Neurosci. 22: 1468-1479.
• Tollin, D.J. and T.C.T. Yin. 2002. The coding of spatial location by single units in the lateral superior olive of the cat. I. Spatial receptive fields in azimuth. J. Neurosci. 22: 1454-1467.
• Populin, L.C. and T.C.T Yin. 2002. Bimodal interactions in the superior colliculus of the behaving cat. J. Neurosci. 22: 2826-2834.