Micheal Dent
PhD
Professor
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Cognitive Area Head
Research Interests
Behavioral and physiological measures of the perception of complex auditory stimuli in birds and mammals
Education
- PhD, University of Maryland
Current Research
My Comparative Bioacoustics Laboratory investigates acoustic communication in animals. We take a comparative approach, measuring hearing and vocalizations in a number of different animals, including birds and mice. We conduct psychoacoustic studies of hearing using operant conditioning techniques, we perform preference tests in naïve animals, and we record sonic and ultrasonic vocalizations from our subjects in various contexts. Current lines of investigation in the mouse lab include simple measures of auditory processing such as time and intensity perception, the perception of ultrasonic vocalizations, the role of noise in masking of simple and complex signals, and the preference for certain vocalizations over others. We also measure hearing across the lifespan in different strains of mice, including genetic knockouts for diseases such as Alzheimer’s. As a whole, these studies are designed to describe a more complete and accurate picture of acoustic communication in animals across the lifespan, and also serve as valuable tools to validate the mouse as a model for studies on aging and hearing loss.
Selected Publications
- Burke, K., Screven, L.A., Kobrina, A., Charlton, P.E., Schrode, K., Villavisanis, D.F., Dent, M.L. and Lauer, A.M. (2022). Effects of noise exposure and aging on behavioral tone detection in quiet and noise by mice. eNeuro.
- Burke, K., Manohar, S., and Dent, M.L. (2021). Long term changes to auditory sensitivity following blast trauma in mice. Hearing Research 403, 108201.
- Screven, L.A., and Dent, M.L. (2021). The perception of acoustic signals and hormonal control over acoustic communication in rodents, Neuroendocrine Regulation of Animal Vocalization, C.S. Rosenfeld and F. Hoffman (Eds.), Academic Press, pp. 217-231.
- Cai, H., and Dent, M.L. (2020). Attention capture in birds performing an auditory streaming task. PLoS One 15, e0235420.
- Kobrina, A., Schrode, K.M., Screven, L.A., Javaid, H., Weinberg, M.M., Brown, G., Board, R., Villavisanis, D.F., Dent, M.L. and Lauer, A.M. (2020). Linking anatomical and physiological markers of auditory system degeneration with behavioral hearing assessments in a mouse (Mus musculus) model of age-related hearing loss. Neurobiology of Aging 96, 87-103.
- Kobrina, A., and Dent, M.L. (2019). The effects of age and sex on the detection of pure tones by adult CBA/CaJ mice (Mus musculus). Journal of Neuroscience Research. Special Issue on Age-Related Hearing Loss 98, 1731-1744.
- Lauer, A.M., Dent, M.L., Sun, W., and Xu-Friedman, M.A. (2019). Effects of non-traumatic noise and conductive hearing loss on auditory system function. Neuroscience. Special Issue on Hyperacusis, Tinnitus, Central Gain, and Hidden Hearing Loss 407, 182-191.
- Screven, L.A., and Dent, M.L. (2019). Perception of ultrasonic vocalizations by socially housed and isolated mice. eNeuro, 6.
- Burke, K., Screven, L.A., and Dent, M.L. (2018). CBA/CaJ mouse ultrasonic vocalizations depend on prior social experience. PLoS One 13, e0197774.
- Cai, H., Screven, L.A., and Dent, M.L. (2018). Behavioral measurements of auditory streaming and build-up by budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus). The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 144, 1508-1516.
- Dent, M.L. and Bee, M.A. (2018). The principles of auditory object formation by nonhuman animals, Effects of Anthropogenic Noise on Animals, H. Slabbekorn, R.J. Dooling, A.N. Popper, and R.R. Fay (Eds.), Springer, NY, pp. 47-82.
- Dent, M.L., Popper, A.N., and Fay, R.R. (2018). Rodent Bioacoustics (Springer Handbook of Auditory Research), Eds., Springer, NY.
- Dent, M.L., Screven, L.A., and Kobrina, A. (2018). Hearing in rodents, Rodent Bioacoustics, M.L. Dent, A.N. Popper, and R.R. Fay (Eds.), Springer, NY, pp. 71-105.
- Screven, L.A., and Dent, M.L. (2018). Preference in female laboratory mice is influenced by social experience. Behavioural Processes 157, 171-179.
- Kobrina, A., and Dent, M.L. (2016). The effects of aging and sex on detection of ultrasonic vocalizations by adult CBA/CaJ mice (Mus musculus). Hearing Research 341, 119-129.