Multimodal integration in single neurons in the midbrain of chicken ( Gallus gallus domesticus )

Domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) are diurnal birds with a well-developed visual and auditory system. During sensory signal processing both systems pass the optic tectum, a part of the midbrain. In my dissertation, I investigated the signal propagation of visual and auditory sensory input in a specific tectal cell, the Shepherd´s crook neuron, using neuroanatomical, modelling and electrophysiological methods. I showed that these neurons have all the attributes to integrate different sensory information within a optimal time window even at high frequencies.