Federico de Martino

Federico de Martino is a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics specializing in ultra-high field MRI techniques for mapping the human auditory pathway. His work combines computational modeling with advanced imaging to investigate sound processing from the cochlea to auditory cortical subfields at unprecedented spatial resolution.

His research interests include:

• Auditory Neuroscience
• Ultra-High Field MRI (7T and 9.4T)
• Computational Modeling of Sound Processing
• Cortical Layer-Specific Processing
• Functional Brain Mapping of Auditory Pathways

Dr. de Martino's research program investigates sound processing throughout cortical and sub-cortical areas of the human brain. He has reliably measured fMRI responses to natural sounds from multiple sub-cortical auditory nuclei including the cochlear nucleus, superior olive, inferior colliculus and medial geniculate body. Using computational models, he maps functional characteristics like tonotopic organization and spectrotemporal modulation preferences throughout these nuclei.

Through high spatial resolution diffusion weighted MRI, he characterizes anatomical connections between auditory nuclei and examines their relationship to resting state functional connectivity. His work combines functional and anatomical information to parcellate the cortex into auditory fields and explore layer-specific processing in the auditory cortex. His findings demonstrate relatively stable 'columnar' tuning for frequency and temporal modulations in primary auditory cortex, with frequency tuning in superficial layers sharpening depending on task demands.

His ongoing research extends these investigations beyond primary auditory cortex, with preliminary data showing that while acoustic content in natural stimuli may be processed similarly in middle and deep cortical layers, semantic information emerges in superficial cortical layers of higher order auditory regions.