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Lizabeth Romanski, Ph.D.

Lizabeth Romanski, Ph.D.

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Office (585) 273-1469

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About Me

Faculty Appointments

Professor - Department of Neuroscience (SMD)

Professor - Department of Biomedical Engineering (SMD) - Joint

Professor - Center for Visual Science A&S (RC) - Joint

Credentials

Post-doctoral Training & Residency

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

Education

PhD | Cornell Univ Medical College. Neurobiology. 1992

BA | Rutgers State University. Psychology. 1984

Awards

Excellence in Medical Research Incentive Award. 2006

Whitehall Foundation Research Award.. 2000

Cure Autism Now Young Investigator Award.. 1998 - 2000

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

Donald B. Lindsley Prize in Behavioral Neuroscience,. 1992

Vincent DiVigneau Prize. 1991

Vincent DiVigneau Prize. 1990

Henry Rutgers Academic Excellence Undergraduate Research Award. 1984

Henry Rutgers Academic Scholarship. 1980 - 1984

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 prefronta...
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.

Publications

Journal Articles

Gateway to the study of the amygdala and emotion.

Romanski LM

Cerebral cortex.. 2025 January 835 (1):3-4. Epub 1900 01 01.

Neuronal Population Encoding of Identity in Primate Prefrontal Cortex.

Sharma KK, Diltz MA, Lincoln T, Albuquerque ER, Romanski LM

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 2024 February 744 (6)Epub 02/07/2024.

Multisensory interactions of face and vocal information during perception and memory in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex.

Romanski LM, Sharma KK

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences.. 2023 September 25378 (1886):20220343. Epub 08/07/2023.

Representation of Expression and Identity by Ventral Prefrontal Neurons.

Diehl MM, Plakke B, Albuquerque E, Romanski LM

Neuroscience.. 2022 August 1496 :243-260. Epub 05/30/2022.

Audiovisual integration in macaque face patch neurons.

Khandhadia AP, Murphy AP, Romanski LM, Bizley JK, Leopold DA

Current biology : CB.. 2021 May 1031 (9):1826-1835.e3. Epub 02/25/2021.

Infrared neural stimulation with 7T fMRI: A rapid in vivo method for mapping cortical connections of primate amygdala.

Shi S, Xu AG, Rui YY, Zhang X, Romanski LM, Gothard KM, Roe AW

NeuroImage.. 2021 May 1231 :117818. Epub 02/04/2021.

A View from the Top: Prefrontal Control of Object Recognition.

Romanski LM, Chafee MV

Neuron.. 2021 January 6109 (1):6-8. Epub 1900 01 01.

Neural circuits in auditory and audiovisual memory.

Plakke B, Romanski LM

Brain research.. 2016 June 11640 (Pt B):278-88. Epub 12/02/2015.

Inactivation of Primate Prefrontal Cortex Impairs Auditory and Audiovisual Working Memory.

Plakke B, Hwang J, Romanski LM

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 2015 July 135 (26):9666-75. Epub 1900 01 01.

Prefrontal neuronal responses during audiovisual mnemonic processing.

Hwang J, Romanski LM

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 2015 January 2135 (3):960-71. Epub 1900 01 01.

Responses of prefrontal multisensory neurons to mismatching faces and vocalizations.

Diehl MM, Romanski LM

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 2014 August 2034 (34):11233-43. Epub 1900 01 01.

Auditory connections and functions of prefrontal cortex.

Plakke B, Romanski LM

Frontiers in neuroscience.. 2014 8 :199. Epub 07/23/2014.

Coding of vocalizations by single neurons in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex.

Plakke B, Diltz MD, Romanski LM

Hearing research.. 2013 November 305 :135-43. Epub 07/26/2013.

Faces in motion: selectivity of macaque and human face processing areas for dynamic stimuli.

Polosecki P, Moeller S, Schweers N, Romanski LM, Tsao DY, Freiwald WA

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 2013 July 1733 (29):11768-73. Epub 1900 01 01.

Timing of audiovisual inputs to the prefrontal cortex and multisensory integration.

Romanski LM, Hwang J

Neuroscience.. 2012 July 12214 :36-48. Epub 04/16/2012.

Integration of faces and vocalizations in ventral prefrontal cortex: implications for the evolution of audiovisual speech.

Romanski LM

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.. 2012 June 26109 Suppl 1 (Suppl 1):10717-24. Epub 06/20/2012.

Neurons responsive to face-view in the primate ventrolateral prefrontal cortex.

Romanski LM, Diehl MM

Neuroscience.. 2011 August 25189 :223-35. Epub 05/13/2011.

Society for Neuroscience.

M. M. Diehl, M. D. Diltz, L. M. Romanski.

Effects of congruent and incongruent face and vocalization pairs on neurons in ventral prefrontal cortex. 2011; .

Temporal integration of faces and vocalizations in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex of non-human primates.

Hwang, J. and Romanski, L.M.

Society for Neuroscience. 2011; .

The primate cortical auditory system and neural representation of conspecific vocalizations.

Romanski LM, Averbeck BB

Annual review of neuroscience.. 2009 32 :315-46. Epub 1900 01 01.

Representation and integration of auditory and visual stimuli in the primate ventral lateral prefrontal cortex.

Romanski LM

Cerebral cortex.. 2007 September 17 Suppl 1 (Suppl 1):i61-9. Epub 07/18/2007.

Probabilistic encoding of vocalizations in macaque ventral lateral prefrontal cortex.

Averbeck BB, Romanski LM

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 2006 October 2526 (43):11023-33. Epub 1900 01 01.

Integration of auditory and visual communication information in the primate ventrolateral prefrontal cortex.

Sugihara T, Diltz MD, Averbeck BB, Romanski LM

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 2006 October 2526 (43):11138-47. Epub 1900 01 01.

Neural representation of vocalizations in the primate ventrolateral prefrontal cortex.

Romanski LM, Averbeck BB, Diltz M

Journal of neurophysiology.. 2005 February 93 (2):734-47. Epub 09/15/2004.

Domain specificity in the primate prefrontal cortex.

Romanski LM

Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience.. 2004 December 4 (4):421-9. Epub 1900 01 01.

Principal and independent components of macaque vocalizations: constructing stimuli to probe high-level sensory processing.

Averbeck BB, Romanski LM

Journal of neurophysiology.. 2004 June 91 (6):2897-909. Epub 1900 01 01.

Domain Specificity in the Primate Prefrontal Cortex

Romanski, L. M.

Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience. 2004; : 421-429.

An auditory domain in primate prefrontal cortex.

Romanski LM, Goldman-Rakic PS

Nature neuroscience.. 2002 January 5 (1):15-6. Epub 1900 01 01.

Reply to "What', 'where' and 'how' in auditory cortex'.

Romanski LM, Tian B, Fritz JB, Mishkin M, Goldman-Rakic PS, Rauschecker JP

Nature neuroscience.. 2000 October 3 (10):966. Epub 1900 01 01.

Dual streams of auditory afferents target multiple domains in the primate prefrontal cortex.

Romanski LM, Tian B, Fritz J, Mishkin M, Goldman-Rakic PS, Rauschecker JP

Nature neuroscience.. 1999 December 2 (12):1131-6. Epub 1900 01 01.

Auditory belt and parabelt projections to the prefrontal cortex in the rhesus monkey.

Romanski LM, Bates JF, Goldman-Rakic PS

The Journal of comparative neurology.. 1999 January 11403 (2):141-57. Epub 1900 01 01.

Topographic organization of medial pulvinar connections with the prefrontal cortex in the rhesus monkey.

Romanski LM, Giguere M, Bates JF, Goldman-Rakic PS

The Journal of comparative neurology.. 1997 March 17379 (3):313-32. Epub 1900 01 01.

Stimulus generalization of fear responses: effects of auditory cortex lesions in a computational model and in rats.

Armony JL, Servan-Schreiber D, Romanski LM, Cohen JD, LeDoux JE

Cerebral cortex.. 1997 March 7 (2):157-65. Epub 1900 01 01.

Extinction of emotional learning: contribution of medial prefrontal cortex.

Morgan MA, Romanski LM, LeDoux JE

Neuroscience letters.. 1993 November 26163 (1):109-13. Epub 1900 01 01.

Somatosensory and auditory convergence in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala.

Romanski LM, Clugnet MC, Bordi F, LeDoux JE

Behavioral neuroscience.. 1993 June 107 (3):444-50. Epub 1900 01 01.

Information cascade from primary auditory cortex to the amygdala: Cortico cortical and cortico amygdaloid projections of temporal cortex in the rat.

Romanski, LM; LeDoux, JE.

Cerebral Cortex. 1993; : 515 532.

Organization of rodent auditory cortex: anterograde transport of PHA-L from MGv to temporal neocortex.

Romanski LM, LeDoux JE

Cerebral cortex.. 1993 3 (6):499-514. Epub 1900 01 01.

Information cascade from primary auditory cortex to the amygdala: corticocortical and corticoamygdaloid projections of temporal cortex in the rat.

Romanski LM, LeDoux JE

Cerebral cortex.. 1993 3 (6):515-32. Epub 1900 01 01.

Equipotentiality of thalamo-amygdala and thalamo-cortico-amygdala circuits in auditory fear conditioning.

Romanski LM, LeDoux JE

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 1992 November 12 (11):4501-9. Epub 1900 01 01.

Bilateral destruction of neocortical and perirhinal projection targets of the acoustic thalamus does not disrupt auditory fear conditioning.

Romanski LM, LeDoux JE

Neuroscience letters.. 1992 August 17142 (2):228-32. Epub 1900 01 01.

Overlapping projections to the amygdala and striatum from auditory processing areas of the thalamus and cortex.

LeDoux JE, Farb CR, Romanski LM

Neuroscience letters.. 1991 December 16134 (1):139-44. Epub 1900 01 01.

The lateral amygdaloid nucleus: sensory interface of the amygdala in fear conditioning.

LeDoux JE, Cicchetti P, Xagoraris A, Romanski LM

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 1990 April 10 (4):1062-9. Epub 1900 01 01.

The indelibility of subcortical emotional memory

LeDoux, JE; Romanski, LM; Xagoraris, AE.

J. Cognitive Neuroscience. 1989; : 238-243.

Involvement of cortical and thalamic auditory regions in retention of differential bradycardiac conditioning to acoustic conditioned stimuli in rabbits.

Jarrell TW, Gentile CG, Romanski LM, McCabe PM, Schneiderman N

Brain research.. 1987 June 2412 (2):285-94. Epub 1900 01 01.

Ibotenic acid lesions in the medial geniculate region prevent the acquisition of differential Pavlovian conditioning of bradycardia to acoustic stimuli in rabbits.

Jarrell TW, Romanski LM, Gentile CG, McCabe PM, Schneiderman N

Brain research.. 1986 September 10382 (1):199-203. Epub 1900 01 01.

Distinct temporal lobe projections to visual and auditory domains in the ventral prefrontal cortex.

Romanski, L.M.; Diehl, M. M.; Bartlow-Kang, J.A.; Goldman-Rakic, P.S.; Sugihara, T.

Single Unit Activity in Ventral Prefrontal Cortex During Audiovisual Discrimination.

Hwang, J and Romanski, LM.

Timing of audiovisual responses in prefrontal neurons and effects of asynchronous face-vocalizations.

Romanski, LM and Hwang, J.

Books

The Cognitive Neurosciences (2004)

Chapter: Domain Specificity in Cognitive Systems

Primate Audition: Behavior & Neurobiology (2002)

Chapter: Anatomy and Physiology of Auditory-Prefrontal Interactions in Non-human

Asperger Syndrome (2000)

Chapter: Neurofunctional Models of Autistic Disorder and Asperger Syndrome