Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The University of Pennsylvania received a $641,180 project grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) under the Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders program (CFDA 93.173), effective July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2031. This five-year research project investigates population coding of multisensory activity in the primate auditory cortex, addressing fundamental gaps in understanding how multisensory perception emerges from neural activity in the brain. The research employs multi-contact electrode recordings from neural populations in the auditory cortex of rhesus monkeys engaged in multisensory tasks to establish relationships between multisensory stimuli, spiking activity patterns, functional cortical organization, and behavioral outcomes.

The project delivers two primary research products through its investigations. Aim 1 establishes the connection between multisensory stimulus features, neural activity in the auditory cortex, functional organization of cortical regions, and corresponding behavioral responses—closing the loop between stimulus modulation of neural activity, activity modulation by behavior, and stimulus feature modulation of behavior. Aim 2 identifies the contribution of interconnected auditory cortex neuron populations to multisensory behavior by testing how task parameters are embodied in population-level neural coding. These research outputs advance fundamental understanding of multisensory processing mechanisms in primate models, contributing to the NIDCD mission of investigating solutions to problems affecting individuals with deafness and communication disorders.