The purpose of my Honors Research Project was to assist Dr. Megan
Klingenberg in completing part of the research in her final dissertation project. Dr.
Klingenberg’s project was based off of a study done by Allen and Ison in 2010.
This study tested the auditory spatial acuity of mice using pre-pulse inhibition of
the startle reflex as the response for detecting the sound stimulus. The goal of
Dr. Klingenberg’s AuD project was “to explore the methodological, functional, and
genetic influences on sound localization using pre-pulse inhibition of the acoustic
startle response in mice”. Dr. Klingenberg’s project was broken into three
sections: the effect of the test chamber on acoustic startle responses, the effect
that the EphA4 mutation would have on the mouse’s ability to localize sound, and
the ability to use the acoustic startle response (ASR) to study efferent
processing. My role in the research was to work on the first goal of the project in
finding a chamber that would accurately reproduce Allen and Ison’s findings. In
this reflection, I will describe the basic terms used in the experiment, the
importance and benefits of working with mice in a research setting, the general
procedure of the experiment, the results from the various chambers, and a brief
description of my experience in the lab
