How do we extract meaningful sensory information from a busy world?

Sensory Filtering

Our world is filled with distractions and never-ending sensory stimuli, underscoring the importance of attentional control mechanisms within the brain.  Recent work has suggested that subcortical circuits may have important and unexpected roles in selecting relevant sensory streams. Our lab is interested in understanding how salient outcomes are capable of “selecting” sensory information for action. We have initially focused on the role of the basal ganglia, specifically the striatum, in mediating aspects of "sensory selection." The striatum receives primary sensory inputs from the sensorimotor, visual, olfactory and auditory pathways, although the precise roles for these afferents within basal ganglia circuits remains unclear.  We are currently examining how auditory information is processed by striatal cell types to help focus or repress motor output, as well as how prefrontal-basal ganglia circuits interact with primary sensory pathways to mediate "attention-like" processes.

(A) Schematic of Go-NoGo task to test motor responsiveness to auditory cues. (B) Lick rasters for Go (top) and NoGo (bottom) trials. (C) Four days of training following the introduction of NoGo sounds show steady suppression of false alarm responding. (D) Optogenetic inhibition of striatal tail iSPNs during sound presentation leads to increases in false alarm responding.

Relevant Papers: Ferrigno et al, bioRxiv 2025