We study the neural circuits that make auditory cognition possible. Our goal is to understand how we assign meaning to sounds, how we attend to sounds or ignore them, how we remember them, and how disorders of the brain can affect these processes.
Of particular interest is how our responses to sounds can change depending on context, a phenomenon called behavioral flexibility. Behaving appropriately after changes in context requires that organisms rapidly modify their expectations, associations between cues and rewards, or attentional state. Our lab investigates these cognitive processes by addressing three questions:
  • What happens to the speed and accuracy of behavioral responses after a change in context?
  • Where in the brain is information selected and re-routed to allow for different interpretations of the same stimulus?
  • How do neural circuits implement this flexibility?
In our experiments, we use techniques such as optogenetics, electrophysiology, and two-photon imaging, to monitor and manipulate neuronal activity of specific cell types in behaving rodents, together with theoretical and computational approaches, to uncover the mechanisms that underlie flexible behaviors.
We are committed to providing an inclusive environment and to celebrate the diversity of our researchers. We welcome the unique contributions every member of the lab can bring because of their education, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, religion, or disability.
We acknowledge that our lab is located on Kalapuya Ilihi -- the traditional indigenous homeland of the Kalapuya people, who were dispossessed of their homeland by the U.S. Government over several years. Today, descendants are citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and Siletz Indians of Oregon.

Members


Santiago Jaramillo member
Principal Investigator
Dept. of Biology
member
Wendy Gillespie
Research assistant & Lab manager
member
Matt Nardoci
Graduate student
co-advised (Murray)
member
Aabishkar Timalsina
Graduate student
member
JoAnna O'Neill
Graduate student

member
Ehsan Iranmanesh
Research assistant
member
Lizeth Giraldo
Research assistant
member
Kaydyn Guelsdorf
Undergrad researcher
member
Rain Roark
Undergrad researcher

...and here is a list of past members.

Selected publications