The NACS Program includes a large Neuroethology Group, with over twenty faculty from the Departments of Biology, Psychology, Animal and Avian Sciences, and Electrical and Computer Engineering. The Neuroethology Group offers a Training Program, financially supported by NIMH, which provides pre- and post-doctoral fellowships to individuals working in Neuroethology research laboratories at the University of Maryland.

The Neuroethology Program emphasizes research in neural systems and behavior, evolution of the nervous system, and comparative neuroanatomy. Laboratories undertake research on sound localization in owls, song development and vocal learning in birds, ultrasonic hearing in fish, motor systems in lamprey, evolution of development in blind cave fish, neural plasticity in mammals, behavioral genetics and sexual selection in insects, and echolocation in bats. Students are strongly encouraged to conduct research that cross laboratories and phyla. To our knowledge, the University of Maryland is unique in offering such a wide range of animal models and approaches for investigations in the field of Neuroethology. Please visit our website for more details on research and training: www.bsos.umd.edu/psyc/neuroethology.

Students in our training program take courses in neurobiology and behavior, comparative neuroanatomy and evolution. Laboratory and lecture courses, as well as specialized advanced seminars, are offered in neurophysiology, animal communication and human neuroanatomy. A weekly seminar brings together the students and faculty interested in neuroethology. In this weekly seminar, students, faculty and guest speakers make informal presentations on their research. . We also host an annual neuroethology symposium, with local and outside speakers. While our program emphasizes neuroethology, our trainees receive an excellent grounding in basic neuroscience. The NACS graduate program offers a series of courses that cover cellular, molecular, systems, cognitive and computational neuroscience. Neuroethology students are therefore exposed to a wide range of questions and experimental approaches in neurobiology, evolution and behavior.


Neuroethology Program

Faculty Members

Borgia, Gerald, Biology

Dr. Borgia is interested in the evolution of complex adaptations. The focus of most of his research has been the study of mate choice, sexual competition, and the evolution of display.

Brauth, Steven E., Psychology

My research interests include neuroethology and brain evolution focusing on the auditory and motor systems.

Carr, Catherine, Biology

Current research is focused both on models of delay line-coincidence detector circuit, and on the assembly of the map of sound location during development of the barn owl. All projects develop from initial behavioral observations into systems, cellular and molecular levels of analysis.

Dooling, Robert, Psychology

My areas of research include hearing and vocal communication in birds, and comparative aspects of hearing and animal behavior.

Hall, William, Psychology

Professor Hall's research is focused on the use of animal models of communication to understand the neural basis of human language learning.

Herberholz, Jens, Psychology

Research in my lab investigates the neural basis of animal behavior. We are interested in identifying and examining neural circuitry that controls aggression, social status, escape, learning & memory.

Horiuchi, Timothy,

Dr. Horiuchi's research program is centered on the development of neural models of sensorimotor behavior and their implementation in VLSI for use in robotic demonstration systems. The laboratory is currently focused on bat echolocation and other auditory and visual projects.

MacLeod, Katrina, Biology

All information about an auditory scene is encoded in the auditory nerve, which projects to the cochlear nuclei in the brainstem. Cellular and synaptic specializations in the cochlear nucleus transforms and decodes the auditory signal and extracts different types of information. We use in vitro slice physiology and quantitative modeling of synaptic plasticity and biophysical membrane properties to elucidate how these neural circuits encode sound.

Marvit, Peter , Research Assistant Professor, Psychology

I am interested in auditory perception and encoding from a number of perspectives. I have worked with human using traditional psychophysics as well as EEG to look at issues of time perception,temporal processing, and loudness. Animal-based behavioral testing has allowed testing both models of human processing (e.g., tinnitus with rats, auditory-vocal feedback with birds) and neuroethological investigations (e.g., hearing capabilities of the weakly electric fish, pollimyrus isidori, relating to their mating sounds). Finally, I've used neurophysiology (e.g., rats, ferrets, birds) to look at basic encoding and processing constraints of the auditory system.

Moss, Cynthia, Psychology

Our research program is directed at understanding auditory information processing and sensorimotor integration in vertebrates. In our lab, the echolocating bat serves as a model system for a neuroethologically-based study of hearing and perceptually-guided behavior.

Ottinger, Mary Ann, Animal and Avian Sciences

My lab focuses on the comparative biology of aging, with studies in short- and long-lived birds, transgenic mice, and non-human primates. We are particularly interested in neuroendocrine regulation of endocrine and behavioral aspects of reproduction and on the impact of the neuropathology of Alzheimer's Disease on cognitive function. Our research considers molecular mechanisms, cellular and system processes, and responses at the level of the whole organism. We also are very involved in assessing the consequences of exposure to environmental endocrine disruptors at all stages of the life cycle in birds.

Popper, Arthur N., Co-Director, Center for Comparative and Evolutionary Biology of Hearing, Biology

The work in this laboratory is directed at understanding basic structure and function of the auditory system in vertebrates, with particular interest in the ear of fishes and its sensory hair cells. These investigations frequently involve a wide number of teleost species and the use of the comparative approach in order to understand the function of the ear as well as its evolution.

Quinlan, Elizabeth, Biology

We are interested in understanding how the brain is modified by experience, particularly during the maturation of sensory systems and during learning. Experience-dependent regulation of brain function ultimately lies in changes in the composition and function of synapses, the points of contact between neurons. We use a multidisciplinary approach (biochemistry, molecular biology, physiology and behavior) to study the molecular mechanisms of experience-dependent synaptic plasticity in the mammalian cerebral cortex.

Simon, Jonathan Z., Elec. & Computer Eng

I am active in a number of research areas, all under the general headings of Auditory Neural Computations and Representations,Computational and Theoretical Neuroscience, and Signal Processing in Biological Systems. My specific research areas are: Magnetoencephalography (MEG): Experimental Research, Analysis, and Signal Processing of Large Scale Neural Data. Coincidence Detection and Neural Coding of Temporal Information in Auditory Brainstem: Modeling. Neural Processing of Spectrotemporal Auditory Information in Mammals: Physiology and Modeling. Signal Processing and Neural Data.

Stricklin, William R., Animal and Avian Sciences

Dr. Stricklin looks at the role of animal behavior in food animal production systems and animal welfare.

Yager, David D., Psychology

The overarching goal of our laboratory is to find out how insect auditory systems are able to acquire and process acoustic information to yield complex, adaptive behaviors. We are especially interested in the evolution of hearing in insects, and have chosen the very unusual praying mantis ear as a model system.