Multisensory Integration

Lab Description

Hearing More Than Sound: Multisensory Processing in the Auditory System

Have you ever heard a familiar ring tone and wondered whether your cell phone is ringing or if that is from someone else in the room? Imagine now that you also feel vibrations in your pocket, indicating that you are indeed getting a call. This is a demonstration of multisensory integration: different sensory modalities (hearing, touch, vision, etc.) work together to help you navigate the world. Integrating information from a different sensory modality can often enhance the perception of a stimulus. Our laboratory studies how the auditory system integrates sound and information from other sensory modality.

Auditory-Somatosensory Integration in the Inferior Colliculus

The inferior colliculus (IC) is a key subcortical integration center in the auditory system. It combines ascending auditory information from many lower, specialized nuclei before passing it on to the auditory cortex via the thalamus. Neurons in the IC encode many important acoustic features, including sound location, duration, and vocalizations.

While traditionally viewed as an auditory structure, increasing evidence indicates that the inferior colliculus also receives substantial non-auditory input. In particular, the shell regions of the IC receive highly organized somatosensory projections, suggesting a prominent role in multisensory processing.

We use large-scale in vivo extracellular recordings, in vivo imaging and in vivo whole-cell recordings to provide complementary information about how vibrotactile responses are organized and integrated with auditory information within the inferior colliculus. Our work has identified neuronal populations that may serve as candidate auditory-somatosensory integrators, providing insight into how tactile information can shape auditory representations at early stages of processing.

Neural Circuit Mapping and Functional Connectivity

Understanding multisensory integration requires identifying the circuits through which sensory information reaches and influences the auditory system. We use state-of-the-art viral tracing approaches to map long-range inputs and local connectivity within auditory brain regions. These anatomical studies are combined with in vivo and in vitro physiology, and circuit manipulation techniques (e.g. optogenetics) to determine how identified pathways contribute to sensory processing.

By linking connectivity with physiological function, we aim to uncover the circuit mechanisms that allow information from different sensory modalities to converge and influence auditory computations.

Molecularly Defined Cell Types in the Auditory Midbrain

The inferior colliculus contains a remarkable diversity of neurons, yet the molecular identities and functional roles of many of these populations remain poorly understood. A major goal of our laboratory is to establish a cellular framework for understanding IC circuitry.

Using transcriptomic approaches, including single-cell and spatial gene expression profiling, we seek to identify and classify molecularly distinct cell types within the auditory midbrain. These studies allow us to determine how genetically defined neuronal populations are organized, connected, and recruited during sensory processing. By combining molecular, anatomical, and physiological datasets, we aim to link cell type identity to circuit function and ultimately to behavior.

From Circuits to Behavior

Neural circuits ultimately exist to guide behavior. To understand the functional significance of auditory and multisensory pathways, we use behavioral paradigms that measure how animals detect, discriminate, and interpret sensory stimuli.

Our laboratory is developing operant conditioning approaches that allow animals to actively engage in sensory decision-making tasks. These behavioral experiments provide a powerful framework for studying perception because they enable direct measurement of sensory performance while neural activity is recorded or manipulated. By combining behavioral analysis with circuit-level investigations, we aim to determine how specific neuronal populations contribute to learning, perception, and sensory-guided decisions.

Longterm goal: Integrating Genes, Circuits, and Behavior

Our long-term goal is to understand sensory processing across multiple levels of biological organization. By combining transcriptomics, circuit mapping, physiology, imaging, and behavior, we seek to build a comprehensive understanding of how the auditory system incorporates information from other senses to generate accurate and adaptive representations of the environment. This integrative approach allows us to connect genes and cell types to neural circuits, and neural circuits to perception and behavior.

Collaborations are very welcome. We are also open for research-based internships at the bachelor and master’s level, as well as biotechnician interns. For enquiry, please contact Dr. Aaron Wong at a.wong@erasmusmc.nl

Selected Publications