Ellen Covey

About

Ellen Covey, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Washington. Her research program has historically focused on understanding how complex patterns of sound are processed and analyzed in the central nervous system, and how hearing leads to appropriate behavior. Her work includes studying echolocating bats, which depend heavily on hearing for navigation and prey capture, and exploring the auditory system's neural mechanisms through neuropharmacological experiments, electrophysiological recordings, and anatomical studies. Covey's research aims to elucidate principles of auditory processing that are applicable across species, including humans, particularly in areas such as speech processing and pattern recognition software. Recently, her research has shifted toward studying how digital automated systems, including those with AI, impact human mental health, with a focus on identifying design features that support well-being and mitigate negative effects such as anxiety and depression.

Research topics

• Neuroscience
• Biology
• Psychology
• Anatomy
• Physics

Selected publications

• Stimulus-Specific Adaptation in the Inferior Colliculus of the Anesthetized Rat

  Journal of Neuroscience · 2009-04-29 · 387 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  To identify sounds as novel, there must be some neural representation of commonly occurring sounds. Stimulus-specific adaptation (SSA) is a reduction in neural response to a repeated sound. Previous studies using an oddball stimulus paradigm have shown that SSA occurs at the cortex, but this study demonstrates that neurons in the inferior colliculus (IC) also show strong SSA using this paradigm. The majority (66%) of IC neurons showed some degree of SSA. Approximately 18% of neurons showed near-…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Stimulus-Specific Adaptation in the Auditory Thalamus of the Anesthetized Rat

  PLoS ONE · 2010-11-19 · 255 citations

  articleOpen access

  The specific adaptation of neuronal responses to a repeated stimulus (Stimulus-specific adaptation, SSA), which does not fully generalize to other stimuli, provides a mechanism for emphasizing rare and potentially interesting sensory events. Previous studies have demonstrated that neurons in the auditory cortex and inferior colliculus show SSA. However, the contribution of the medial geniculate body (MGB) and its main subdivisions to SSA and detection of rare sounds remains poorly characterized.…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Social Transmission of Fear in Rats: The Role of 22-kHz Ultrasonic Distress Vocalization

  PLoS ONE · 2010-12-01 · 212 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Social alarm calls alert animals to potential danger and thereby promote group survival. Adult laboratory rats in distress emit 22-kHz ultrasonic vocalization (USV) calls, but the question of whether these USV calls directly elicit defensive behavior in conspecifics is unresolved. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The present study investigated, in pair-housed male rats, whether and how the conditioned fear-induced 22-kHz USVs emitted by the 'sender' animal affect the behavior of its p…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Discontinuous Tonotopic Organization in the Inferior Colliculus of the Rat

  Journal of Neuroscience · 2008-04-30 · 164 citations

  articleOpen access

  Audible frequencies of sound are encoded in a continuous manner along the length of the cochlea, and frequency is transmitted to the brain as a representation of place on the basilar membrane. The resulting tonotopic map has been assumed to be a continuous smooth progression from low to high frequency throughout the central auditory system. Here, physiological and anatomical data show that best frequency is represented in a discontinuous manner in the inferior colliculus, the major auditory stru…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• GABAA-Mediated Inhibition Modulates Stimulus-Specific Adaptation in the Inferior Colliculus

  PLoS ONE · 2012-03-29 · 95 citations

  articleOpen access

  The ability to detect novel sounds in a complex acoustic context is crucial for survival. Neurons from midbrain through cortical levels adapt to repetitive stimuli, while maintaining responsiveness to rare stimuli, a phenomenon called stimulus-specific adaptation (SSA). The site of origin and mechanism of SSA are currently unknown. We used microiontophoretic application of gabazine to examine the role of GABA(A)-mediated inhibition in SSA in the inferior colliculus, the midbrain center for audit…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01DC000607

  NIH · $2.7M · 2006

• Stimulus-Specific Adaptation in the Auditory Midbrain

  NSF · $435k · 2007–2012

• Auditory Neuroscience Training Program

  NIH · $8.2M · 2002–2027

Frequent coauthors

• John H. Casseday

  186 shared

• Daphna Ehrlich

  30 shared

• Russell F. Huffman

  Duke Medical Center

  27 shared

• Benedikt Grothe

  Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology

  22 shared

• Pablo C. Argeles

  Lehigh Valley Hospital-Pocono

  18 shared

• Marianne Vater

  University of Potsdam

  17 shared

• Rochelle D. Schwartz‐Bloom

  Duke University Hospital

  13 shared

• Boma Fubara

  13 shared

Education

• Ph.D.

  Duke University

Similar researchers at University of Washington

• Geoffrey Boyntonh-54
• Jonathon Brownh-52
• Shannon Dorseyh-47