Avinash D. Singh Bala
138 Esslinger Hall, Institute of Neuroscience
University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403
avinash( at )uoregon(d o t)edu
My research focuses on our ability to detect relevant information, which is usually buried in all sorts of signals from our complex environment. As a result, we depend on neural mechanisms that allow us to focus on the important stuff - or at least, the stuff that was important to our species during its evolution. For example, unexpected events are particularly salient, and attract our attention even when we are focused on something else. So, both content and context of a signal determine what our brain considers worthy of attention. This ability to shift our focus to new events is called orienting, and is enabled by our ability to ignore, or habituate to, events we have already experienced. For example, when we move to a new room, we wonder if we can ever sleep, but a week later, the strange noises and creaks are forgotten. Biology is never that simple of course - as one example, stimuli that evoke strong emotions usually don't habituate, regardless of how often they repeat.
Overt orienting is the term used to describe the visible changes in orientation of the body that result from us hearing a sudden sound - for example, moving our head and eyes toward the source. Pavlov discovered covert orienting: a set of phsyiological responses that occur along with overt orienting, such as changes in heart rate, skin conductance, EEG activity, and pupil size. We first discovered the novelty-induced pupil dilation response (PDR) in the barn owl, and have used it to track orienting and habituation in owls and in human subjects. The PDR allows us to probe our ability to detect and discriminate between stimuli, allowing use to study the barn owl's spatial hearing, and the human ability to detect quiet sounds.
I am the Faculty Fellow for Carson Hall, University of Oregon. Residents can meet me during office hours - Wednesdays 3:30 to 4:30 pm in the Carson Lounge. Or email me: I'm always happy to meet Carson people!
In winter term 2025, I will be teaching BI399L Animal Behavior and BI461/561 Systems Neuroscience . My teaching office hours are Wednesdays, 2 pm to 3:30 pm.
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