Introduction: This thesis contains two main projects that I worked on during my graduate studies at MIT. Both address the subject matter of how neurons communicate, process, and pass information within the context of larger ...

Unlike the human brain, which produces few neurons in adulthood, the brains of songbirds continue to produce new neurons throughout life. The function of these new neurons is not know, although it has been suggested that ...

Parvalbumin-containing (PV+) neurons and somatostatin-containing (SOM+) neurons are two key cortical inhibitory cell classes that are poised to play distinct computational roles in cortical circuits: PV+ neurons form ...

The origins and adaptive significance of music, long an elusive target, are now active topics of empirical study. I argue that empirical results can constrain discussions of the adaptive significance of music by testing ...