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Lizabeth Romanski, Ph.D.

Contact Information

Research Labs

Faculty Appointments

Biography

Research

While auditory and visual information are combined in many sites of the human brain, the combining of face and vocal information for effective communication has been shown to occur in specialized regions of the temporal and frontal lobes. Work in my laboratory is focused on how the ventral prefrontal cortex represents high level auditory information and the neuronal mechanisms which underlie integration of complex auditory and visual information, primarily face and vocal information during communication. Studies in our laboratory have shown that neurons within specific regions of the ventral prefrontal cortex are robustly responsive to complex sounds including species-specific vocalizations, while previous studies have shown that adjacent ventral prefrontal regions are selectively responsive to faces. We have shown that neurons within ventral prefrontal cortex are multisensory and respond to both faces and to the corresponding vocalizations. We are also interested in the factors that affect the integration of dynamic faces and vocalizations in the frontal lobe including temporal coincidence, stimulus congruence, as well as the emotional expression conveyed in the face-vocalization and the identity of the speaker. Collaborations with University of Rochester faculty are aimed at characterizing sensory integration deficits in children with autism and the role the frontal lobe may play in autism spectrum disorders. Further analysis of the neural mechanisms which support face and voice integration in non-human primates may help us to understand the mechanisms underlying social communication and social cognition.

Credentials

Education

1984
BA | Rutgers State University
Psychology

1992
PhD | Cornell Univ Medical College
Neurobiology

Post-doctoral Training & Residency

1992 - 1999
Post-doctoral Fellow (Mentor: Dr. Patricia Goldman-Rakic), Yale University, New Haven, CT.

Awards

2006
Excellence in Medical Research Incentive Award
Sponsor: University of Rochester

2000
Whitehall Foundation Research Award.

1998 - 2000
Cure Autism Now Young Investigator Award.

1993 - 1996
McDonnell-Pew Postdoctoral Training Grant in Cognitive Neuroscience.

1992
Donald B. Lindsley Prize in Behavioral Neuroscience,
Sponsor: (The Grass Foundation/Society for Neuroscience).

1991
Vincent DiVigneau Prize
Sponsor: Cornell University Medical College, New York.

1990
Vincent DiVigneau Prize
Sponsor: Cornell University Medical College, New York.

1984
Henry Rutgers Academic Excellence Undergraduate Research Award

1980 - 1984
Henry Rutgers Academic Scholarship

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Publications

Journal Articles

9/25/2023
Romanski LM, Sharma KK. "Multisensory interactions of face and vocal information during perception and memory in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex." Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences.. 2023 Sep 25; 378(1886):20220343. Epub 2023 Aug 07.

5/30/2022
Diehl MM, Plakke B, Albuquerque E, Romanski LM. "Representation of expression and identity by ventral prefrontal neurons." Neuroscience.. 2022 May 30; Epub 2022 May 30.

2/18/2021
Khandhadia AP, Murphy AP, Romanski LM, Bizley JK, Leopold DA. "Audiovisual integration in macaque face patch neurons." Current biology : CB.. 2021 Feb 18; Epub 2021 Feb 18.

Books & Chapters

2004
Chapter Title: Domain Specificity in Cognitive Systems
Book Title: The Cognitive Neurosciences
Author List: Davachi, L.; L. M. Romanski; M.V. Chafee; P. S. Goldman-Rakic
Edited By: M. Gazzaniga
Published By: MIT Press 2004

2002
Chapter Title: Anatomy and Physiology of Auditory-Prefrontal Interactions in Non-human
Book Title: Primate Audition: Behavior & Neurobiology
Author List: Romanski, L.M.
Edited By: Asif A. Ghazanfar
Published By: CRC 2002

2000
Chapter Title: Neurofunctional Models of Autistic Disorder and Asperger Syndrome
Book Title: Asperger Syndrome
Author List: Schultz, R.T.; L.M. Romanski; K.D. Tsatsanis
Edited By: A. Klin; F.R. Volkmar; S.S. Sparrow,
Published By: Guilford Press 2000 in New York

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