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Research Interests
My long term research goals are to understand how complex sounds are processed by the auditory system and to determine how age-related hearing loss impacts this processing. To achieve these goals, I utilize a systems-level neuroethological approach that makes use of my broad academic training from behavior to neurophysiology and neuroanatomy. I use natural vocalizations to probe the neural mechanisms underlying encoding of species-specific vocalizations in the auditory brainstem, midbrain and cortex of awake animals. I employ both mustached bats and mice as model systems because of their rich repertoires of complex species-specific vocalizations and my ability to record from individual neurons under awake conditions in these animals. I enhance the strength of my research program through strong collaborations with computational neuroscientists and neuroanatomists. My research at WSU Vancouver has been generously funded by NIH and NSF.
Representative Publications
Roberts P, Portfors CV, Sawtell N and Felix II, R. (2006). Model of auditory prediction in the dorsal cochlear nucleus via spike-timing dependent plasticity. Neurocomputing, 69, 1191-1194. Marsh, R., Nataraj, K., Gans, D., Portfors, C. and Wenstrup J. (2006). Auditory responses in the cochlear nucleus of awake mustached bats: precursors to spectral integration in the auditory midbrain. Journal of Neurophysiology, 95, 88-105. Portfors, C.V. and Felix II, RA (2005). Spectral integration in the inferior colliculus of the CBA/CaJ mouse. Neuroscience, 136, 1159-1170. Portfors, C.V. and Sinex, D.S. (2005). Processing of communication sounds. The Inferior Colliculus. (eds. J. Winer and C. Schreiner), Springer-Verlag. pp. 411-425. Portfors, C.V. (2005). Complex frequency tuning of neurons in the mouse inferior colliculus. Plasticity and Signal Representation in the Auditory System. (Eds. M. Merzenich and J. Syka), Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. pp. 53-57. Portfors, C.V. (2004) Combination sensitivity and processing of communication calls in the inferior colliculus of the Moustached Bat Pteronotus parnellii. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciencias - Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, 76, 253-258. Portfors, C.V. and Wenstrup, J.J. (2004). Neural processing of target distance: transformation of combination-sensitive responses. Advances in the Study of Echolocation in Bats and Dolphins (eds. J. Thomas, C. Moss and M. Vater), University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. pp141-146.