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Successful interactions in our environment require accurate recognition of objects. How does the brain extract and represent information about objects?
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Research in my lab uses human and monkey functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to address this question. Specifically, we investigate shape processing in early and higher visual areas in the ventral (occipitotemporal) and the dorsal (occipitoparietal) visual pathways, known to mediate dissociable processes; namely, object perception and visual guidance of actions, respectively. The goal of the current studies is twofold: (a) to characterize shape processing across visual areas, and (b) to determine how shape representations may mediate different cognitive functions at different visual areas.
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Using binocular flash suppression with fMRI to study visual awareness of perception
Electrophysiological studies have shown that neuronal activities in earlier visual areas are less correlated with perception than some of the higher visual areas. The aim of the project is to use fMRI to globally map the change of brain activities due to switching of perceptual awareness with flash suppresion paradigm. |
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Imaging the Multiple Demand Network (MD) in the macaque brain
What we intend to do here is to investigate the Multiple Demand Network (MD) in the monkey brain. This network of prefrontal, parietal and subcortical areas has consistently been found to be active in human fMRI studies of higher cognitive functions such as conflict monitoring, working memory, novelty detection or the processing of perceptual difficulties, for instance recognition and analysis of degraded stimuli. It is hypothesized that its function is the representation of currently attended task-relevant information including stimuli, rules, working memory contents etc. A detailed investigation of the MD is of importance for our insight into the neural basis of many human brain disorders. |
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Perceptual organization of sound: neural correlates and mechanisms.
To understand how the auditory system forms perceptual groups of sounds (Auditory Scene Analysis) we will use fMRI and neurophysiology while manipulation perceptual experiences. |
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Categorization of complex dynamic patterns in the human brain
The goal of this project is to investigate the neural substrates of category-based discrimination of dynamic patterns in the human brain. Our visual stimuli are artificial skeleton models presented as point-light displays, which differ in their spatial arrangement and their kinematics. |
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Comparative fMRI studies of human and macaque auditory cortex
We aim to use similar noninvasive methods to image the human and non-human primate (macaque) auditory cortex. This comparative approach can reveal which auditory cortical fields are shared in primates and which may have evolved independently in each species. |
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