US-German Research Proposal: Collaborative Research: Field Potentials in the Auditory System

Extracellular field potentials are typically generated by various neuronal sources, making their interpretation difficult. They are, however, clinically important, with applications ranging from diagnostics to brain-computer interfaces. In the auditory system, for example, the auditory evoked potential, also called the auditory brainstem response (ABR), is widely used for newborn hearing screening but little is known how specific nuclei contribute to its structure. Given the clinical relevance and theoretical importance of understanding extracellular field potentials, we proposed a combined computational and neurophysiological investigation of the extracellular field potential in a bird model system. The structure is homogeneous and well organized, and allows direct access to a system with a large extracellular field potential. Our models and experiments will delineate the potential contributions of the three possible sources of the extracellular field potentials. The approach tightly integrates theory and experiments, to provide a fundamental understanding of the connection between the extracellular field potentials and their neuronal generators. In particular, results will provide a basis for the interpretation of the clinically relevant ABR.