The physics network (PN) is a set of brain regions engaged when people make physical rather than descriptive judgments on visual stimuli. All studies of this region have measured PN response to visual input, while one can make physical judgments based on auditory cues (the ‘ting’ of a wine glass or the ‘splash’ of water). The goal of my project will be to investigate the role of the auditory modality in the PN to determine whether the network is a vision-driven system for scene-understanding or if it integrates across modalities to generate a physics model. I will use several task-based fMRI studies to measure neural responses during physical and non-physical audio tasks, applying both univariate and multivariate analysis methods to determine relative PN activity for each condition.

In this SuperUROP, I hope to continue developing my research and experimental design skills so that I can pursue a future career in science. I have been working on related studies with the Kanwisher Lab since my Freshman IAP term, and have found the experience to be extremely educational and rewarding. I look forward to continuing to see this project through to completion and receiving more formal research instruction with this program.