Dr. Micheal Dent

Dr. Michael Dent

Associate Professor
Ph.D., University of Maryland
Office: B76 Park Hall
Phone: (716) 645-0266
E-mail: mdent@buffalo.edu
Url: Personally maintained website

 

Summary of Research Interests:

My laboratory investigates the perception of complex acoustic stimuli in birds and small mammals using both behavioral and physiological techniques. These stimuli include speech sounds, binaural stimuli, and stimuli that produce auditory illusions. Demonstrations of auditory illusions in animals are extremely important for understanding auditory functioning in realistic environments in both normal and hearing-impaired populations. I am interested in determining whether birds exhibit certain illusions and what the underlying neural correlates are to these illusions – that is, where the disconnect occurs between the presented stimulus and the perceived stimulus.

Representative Publications:

  • Radziwon, K.E., Welch, T.E., Cone, J.P., and Dent, M.L. (2011). Identification of auditory distance cues by zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) and budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus). J. Acoust. Soc. Am 129, 3384-3392.
  • Welch, T.E., and Dent, M.L. (2011). Lateralization of acoustic signals by dichotically listening budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus). J. Acoust. Soc. Am.130, 2293-2301.

  • Dent, M.L., McClaine, E.M., Best, V., Ozmeral, E., Gallun, F.J., Narayan, R., Sen, K., and Shinn-Cunningham, B.G. (2009). Spatial unmasking of birdsong by zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) and budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus). Journal of Comparative Psychology 123, 357-367.

  • Dent, M.L., Tollin, D.J., and Yin, T.C.T. (2009). Influence of sound source location on the behavior and physiology of the precedence effect in cats. Journal of Neurophysiology 102, 724-734.

  • Radziwon, K.E., June, K.M., Stolzberg, D.J., Xu-Friedman, M.A., Salvi, R.J., and Dent, M.L. (2009). Behaviorally measured audiograms and gap detection thresholds in CBA/CaJ mice. Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology 195, 961-969.

  • Welch, T.E., Sawusch, J., and Dent, M.L., (2009). Effects of syllable-final duration on the identification of synthetic speech continua by birds and humans. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 126, 2779-2787.

  • Dent, M.L., Welch, T.E., McClaine, E., and Shinn-Cunningham, B.G. (2008). Species differences in the identification of acoustic stimuli by birds. Behavioural Processes 77, 184-190.

  • Dent, M.L., McClaine, E.M., and Welch, T.E. (2007). The Franssen Effect illusion in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) and zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 112, 3609-3614.

  • Narayan, R., Best, V., Ozmeral, E., McClaine, E., Dent, M.L., Shinn-Cunningham, B., and Sen, K. (2007). Cortical interference effects in the cocktail party problem. Nature Neuroscience 10, 1601-1607.

  • Dooling, R.J., Ryals, B.M., Dent, M.L., and Reid, T.L. (2006). Perception of complex sounds in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) with temporary hearing loss. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 119, 2524-2532.

  • Dent, M.L., and Dooling, R.J. (2004). The precedence effect in three species of birds. Journal of Comparative Psychology 118, 325-331.