Browsing by Author "Smotherman, Michael"
Now showing items 1-20 of 27
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Bakshi, Kushal Bhavik (2022-12-10)The vertebrate auditory system evolved to detect and encode a broad range of natural sounds. In mammals, the primary auditory cortex (A1) is the terminal stage of the ascending central auditory system and is comprised of ...
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Tressler, Jedediah Tim (2012-02-14)The neural mechanisms underlying vocal motor control are poorly understood in mammalian systems. Particularly lacking are details pertaining to the mechanisms and neuroanatomical basis of sensory-motor integration and vocal ...
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Deshpande, Mugdha Ravindra (2013-05-02)Similar to the development of speech in human infants, song learning in juvenile songbirds starts with memorization of adult vocalizations. Young birds develop their own song as a replica of a memorized adult song model ...
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Gilad, Oranit (2009-05-15)Conservation biologists have used reintroduction as a method to reestablish extirpated species in their native habitat. Three important aspects of a successful reintroduction effort include: (1) a habitat suitability study ...
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Smarsh, Grace Christina (2017-06-29)Although singing has been recently recognized in some bat species, the prevalence and ecological significance of this behavior in bats is still mysterious. Cardioderma cor, the heart-nosed bat, was one of the first bats ...
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Liu, Yishi (2012-07-16)The nervous system coordinates a sequence of muscle movements to give rise to animal behaviors. In complex invertebrates or lab-studied vertebrates, due to the large number of cells in their nervous systems and the ...
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Pal, Ratnadeep (2023-08-03)A fundamental goal of neuroscience is to understand how the brain responds to sensory stimuli. We can employ various computational approaches to solve research problems pertaining to this goal. This thesis, specifically, ...
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Trent, Samantha Shea (2017-07-12)There is behavioral evidence that echolocating bats can manipulate the acoustic projection pattern of their sonar pulse emissions, but the mechanism(s) for this are unknown. I hypothesized that the Mexican free-tailed bat ...
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Wang, Qian (2017-06-21)Exposure therapy is an effective treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, many patients experienced relapse of fear after treatment. Pavlovian fear conditioning and extinction are effective models to ...
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Goodman, Jarid (2016-08-05)A defining symptom of numerous human psychopathologies is the inability to control maladaptive behaviors—or “habits.” Extensive research using animal learning paradigms has led to exciting developments regarding the ...
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Sarmiento, Traci Ann (2017-07-26)This dissertation research shows a small unmanned rotorcraft system with onboard processing and a vision sensor can produce autonomous, collision-free flight in a restricted maneuverability environment with no a priori ...
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Earl, Alexis Diana (2019-06-07)The study of male ornamentation has been fundamental to advancing the understanding of sexual selection, yet we are only now beginning to examine elaborate ornamentation of females. Although female ornamentation was once ...
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Jarvis, Jenna; Jackson, William; Smotherman, Michael (Frontiers in Physiology, 2013)
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Cui, Rongfeng (2014-04-14)Learned mate choice has a fundamental role in population dynamics and speciation. Social learning plays a ubiquitous role in shaping how individuals make decisions. Learning does not act on a blank slate, however, and ...
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Whitaker, Dustin Thad (2018-03-13)Rod and cone photoreceptors are light-receptive cells in the visual system that convert photons into an electrochemical signal to be processed through the retina and transmitted into the brain. From the first visual synapse, ...
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Schwartz, Christine Patrice (2012-02-14)Vocal plasticity is presumed to be a key element underlying the evolution of human speech and language, but the mechanisms and neuroanatomical basis for this plasticity remain largely unknown. The Mexican free-tailed ...
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Giustino, Thomas Francis (2019-06-04)Early intervention strategies (e.g., psychological debriefing and exposure therapy) are thought to rely on extinction-like mechanisms to reduce pathological fear. These therapies attempt to reduce or prevent the development ...
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Brokaw, Alyson Frances (2021-01-22)Animals rely upon chemical cues to find critical resources for their survival and fitness, including food, shelter, and mates. Behavioral strategies for tracking odor cues are heavily dependent on differences in locomotor ...
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Holland, Christopher (2018-08-26)Pheromones play an important role in conspecific mate preference across taxa. While the mechanisms underlying the pheromonal basis of reproductive isolation are well characterized in insects, we know far less about the ...
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Bates, Melvin Lee Shawn (2017-07-07)Drug abuse is strongly influenced by socio-environmental factors. Also, social environment is one of the most important predictors for adolescent drug use. In this dissertation, I examined how social housing conditions ...