Special Seminar: Professor Dan Sanes

Title:  "Influence of early experience on sensory and non-sensory processing"

• Professor Dan Sanes, New York University

Abstract:  A general theory of development holds that sensory experience can influence CNS function during distinct critical periods, thereby shaping perceptual skills. I will present evidence that auditory perception, cortical encoding, and synapse function share the same developmental critical period during which each is vulnerable to a transient period of mild hearing loss. Although perceptual performance typically improves with practice, developmental hearing loss increases the risk that perceptual deficits will persist, even in trained animals. This trait is correlated with long-lasting synaptic impairments in auditory cortex target regions that are associated with cognitive skills, including learning. Together, these results suggest that both sensory and cognitive mechanisms are disrupted by a brief period of deprivation, increasing the likelihood of long-term perceptual deficits.

Thursday 7th July, 3-4pm in the Ear Institute Main Seminar Room (G33)

UCL Ear Institute, 332 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8EE

Please contact j.linden@ucl.ac.uk if you would like to meet with Professor Sanes during his visit, or join the sandwich lunch 1-2pm in the small seminar rooms G31 and G32.