A new study out of 91亚色 and Dartmouth College provides new insight into this process known as "visual stabilization." The results are published in the听.

"Our results show that a framing strategy is at work behind the scenes all the time, which helps stabilize our visual experience," says senior author Patrick Cavanagh, a senior research fellow in psychology at both Glendon Campus and the Centre for Vision Research at 91亚色 and a research professor in psychological and brain sciences at Dartmouth College. "The brain has its own type of steadycam, which uses all sorts of cues to stabilize what we see relative to available frames, so that we don't see a shaky image like we do in handheld movies taken with a smartphone. The visual world around us is the ultimate stable frame but our research shows that even small frames work: the locations of a test within the frame will be perceived relative to the frame as if it were stationary. The frame acts to stabilize your perception."

One such example is when someone waves goodbye to you from the window of a moving bus. Their hand will appear as if it's moving up and down relative to the window rather following the snake-like path that it actually traces out from the moving bus. The bus window acts like a frame through which the motion of the hand waving good-bye is seen relative to that frame.

The study consisted of two experiments that tested how a small square frame moving on a computer monitor affected participants' judgments of location. The experiments were conducted in-person with eight individuals including two of the authors; and also online due to the COVID-19 pandemic with 274 participants recruited from 91亚色 of which 141 had complete data. The data were very similar for both types of participants.

In Experiment 1, a white, square frame moves left and right, back and forth, across a grey screen and the left and right edges of the square flash when the square reaches the end of its path: the right edge flashes blue at one end of the travel and the left edge flashes red at the other (see听), as shown in the figure below. Participants were asked to adjust a pair of markers at the top of the screen to indicate the distance they saw between the flashed edges.

Experiment 1 had two conditions: The first condition evaluated how far apart the outer left and right edges of the square frame appeared; the second condition assessed the travel of the frame's physical edge.

The data from both conditions of Experiment 1 demonstrated that participants perceived the flashed edges of the frame as if it were stable even though it was clearly moving, illustrating what the researchers call the "paradoxical stabilization" produced by a moving frame.

Experiment 2 again demonstrated the stabilizing power of a moving frame by flashing a red disc and a blue disc at the same location within a moving frame (see ). The square frame moves back and forth from left to right while the disc flashes red and blue in alternation. As in Experiment 1, participants were asked to indicate the perceived separation between the red and blue discs. Even though there is no physical separation between the discs, the moving frame creates the appearance that the two discs are located to the left and right of their true locations, relative to the frame where they flashed. In other words, participants perceived the location of the discs relative to the frame, as if it were stationary and this was true across a wide range of frame speeds, sizes, and path lengths.

"By using flashes inside a moving frame, our experiments triggered a paradoxical form of visual stabilization, which made the flashes appear in positions where they were never presented," says Cavanagh. "Our results demonstrate a 100 per cent stabilization effect triggered by the moving frames - the motion of the frame has been fully discounted.鈥�

These data, he says, are the first to show a frame effect that matches our everyday experience where, each time our eyes move, the motion of the scene across our retinas has been fully discounted making the world appear stable.

"In the real-world, the scene in front of us acts as the anchor to stabilize our surroundings," Cavanagh says. Discounting the motion of the world as our eye move makes a lot of sense, as most scenes (i.e. house, workplace, school, outdoor environment) are not moving, unless an earthquake is occurring.

"Every time our eyes move, there's a process that blanks out the massive blur caused by the eye movement. Our brain stitches this gap together so that we don't notice the blank, but it also uses the motion to stabilize the scene. The motion is both suppressed and discounted so that we can keep track of the location of objects in the world," says Cavanagh.

Based on the study's results, the research team plans to explore visual stabilization further using brain imaging at 91亚色 Dartmouth.

Mert 脰zkan, a graduate student in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth; Stuart Anstis, professor emeritus in psychology at the University of California San Diego; Bernard M. 鈥檛 Hart, a postdoc at the Centre for Vision Research at 91亚色; and Mark Wexler, Charg茅 de Recherche at the Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center at the Universit茅 de Paris, also served as co-authors of the study.

Courtesy of YFile.

The post How do we know where things are? New study examines visual stabilization appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Joseph DeSouza

An NSERC-funded project, where patients with Parkinson鈥檚 participated in three-month dance classes, has led to the patients鈥� improvements in balance and gait speed.

Highly collaborative research led by 91亚色鈥檚 Centre for Vision Research, alongside the National Ballet of Canada and Ryerson University, offers new hope to those with Parkinson鈥檚 disease (PD). The project, funded by the National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Parkinson鈥檚 Society Canada and donation from the Irpinia Club of Toronto, looked at the benefits of a 12-week dance intervention for patients with Parkinson鈥檚.

This ground-breaking research, led by Professor Joseph DeSouza (with PhD student Karolina Bearss and honours student Katherine McDonald) wove together the insights of many departments, including Biology, Psychology, the Neuroscience Graduate Diploma Program and Interdisciplinary Studies, as the 91亚色 team worked with Rachel Bar of Canada鈥檚 National Ballet School and Ryerson University.

鈥淭his research shows, for the very first time, long-term changes related to participation in a 12-week dance program,鈥� DeSouza explains. 鈥淭he results indicate motor improvements for both balance and gait in short-term 鈥� one day 鈥� and long-term 鈥� 12 weeks,鈥� he adds.

Roughly 70,000 Canadians living with Parkinson鈥檚

The second-most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer鈥檚, Parkinson鈥檚 is a progressive degenerative disease that affects mainly those over 60 years of age (Statistics Canada). Diagnosed by symptoms alone, common signs are tremor, slowness of movement and stiffness, impaired balance and coordination, and rigidity of the muscles (Parkinson Canada).

Just under 70,000 Canadians are living with Parkinson鈥檚 today (55,000 adults in addition to 12,500 residents of long-term care facilities), according to Statistics Canada.

The rate of progression of this disease varies greatly among patients. As there is no cure, several therapies have proven beneficial to help manage the symptoms. Interestingly, research in this field has shifted its attention away from drug therapies 鈥� in part, due to negative side effects 鈥� to forms of interventions, such as dance, intended to improve daily functioning and quality of life, DeSouza notes.

Successful forms of interventions or therapies include:

• Physical therapy for aiding mobility, flexibility and balance;
• Occupational therapy with daily activities;
• Speech therapy to assist with voice control; and
• Exercises that help joints and muscles, and improve the overall health and well-being of patients (Parkinson Canada).

Existing research already proved that exercising and dancing benefits those with Parkinson鈥檚 鈥� hence, the suggested therapies, noted above 鈥� but DeSouza鈥檚 team wanted to delve deeper into the longer-term benefits of dance.

Research in this field has shifted its attention away from drug therapies to forms of interventions, such as dance, intended to improve daily functioning and quality of life.

Researchers wanted to know minimal amount of time needed to see improvements

The team decided upon a pilot study, a small-scale preliminary study executed to figure out the feasibility, time, costs etc. of doing a larger and more comprehensive study. A pilot study is intended to improve upon the design of the study before actually undertaking a full-scale research project.

Earlier research had shown motor and quality of life improvements after dance therapy at eight- and 17-months. DeSouza鈥檚 team aimed to replicate previous findings, but in a shorter time frame; his study looked at the effects of a dance program that was on average 34 per cent shorter in dance intervention duration than previous studies.

Simply put: The 91亚色 researchers wanted to determine the minimal amount of time/intervention, the shortest dance session, needed to see improvements. 鈥淭his research adds an extension to the existing literature on the required length of time necessary to see these beneficial impacts,鈥� DeSouza explains.

DeSouza鈥檚 team wanted to determine the minimal amount of time/intervention, the shortest dance session, needed to see improvements in patients with Parkinson鈥檚.

Nine participants from new 鈥淒ancing with Parkinson鈥檚鈥� Program at National Ballet

Over 12 weeks, the researchers studied nine participants with Parkinson鈥檚 who volunteered from a new Dancing with Parkinson鈥檚 Program at Canada鈥檚 National Ballet School. The participants used the 鈥淒ance for PD鈥� model, which targets Parkinson鈥檚 -specific symptoms related to balance, cognition, motor skill, depression and physical confidence. (See table with select sample exercises.)

Table: Sample exercises featured in the dance class at National Ballet School

The researchers gained information about the potential beneficial impacts of the dance therapy via questionnaires: Study participants completed two motor and quality of life questionnaires before and after the second and twelfth 鈥淒ance for PD鈥� class.

To measure motor performance, the research team used the Berg Balance Scale and the Timed Up and Go test. The former is comprised of 14 tasks, measuring different everyday functions of balance and posture. Each task is rated on a scale of 0 to 4, and evaluated in terms of how long it took to complete or the quality of execution.听 The latter is a timed measurement of movement sequencing, gait and balance control. Here, a participant rises from a seated position, walks three meters, turns around, returns to the seat and sits back down.

Two quality of life questionnaires were administered, also at weeks two and 12: the Quality of Life Scale from Oregon Health and Sciences University and a post-dance class questionnaire of wellbeing developed by European researchers in this field, Olie Westheimer and Lisa Heiberger.

Results showed motor improvements in balance and gait, set stage for future research

Although no improvements were seen in terms of the study participants鈥� quality of life, results indicated, for the first time, motor improvements for both balance and gait in short-term (1-day) and long-term (12-weeks).

This pilot study clearly sets the stage for future research. 鈥淲hat remains unknown in the literature on this topic, is the specific length of dance intervention that is needed, measured in weeks and hours, until initial improvements are seen in both motor and quality of life in Parkinson鈥檚,鈥� says DeSouza.

He also suggests that quality of life may have already increased after just two weeks of dance class. 鈥淲hat is more important for future studies is to uncover the mechanisms that underlie these behavioural changes,鈥� says DeSouza.

The article, ,鈥� was published in Advances in Integrative Medicine (February, 2017). 听To learn more about 91亚色鈥檚 , visit the website. To learn more about DeSouza鈥檚 research, visit his .

To learn more about Research & Innovation at 91亚色, watch the , see the or visit the .

By Megan Mueller, manager, research communications, Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, 91亚色, muellerm@yorku.ca

The post 12-week dance class helps those with Parkinson鈥檚 disease appeared first on Research & Innovation.

The post Researchers revisit attention and consciousness puzzle appeared first on Research & Innovation.

VISTA is a collaborative program funded by the CFREF as part of a $120 million multi-partner investment, which builds on 91亚色鈥檚 world-leading interdisciplinary expertise in biological and computer vision. Together with over 50 academic, public and for-profit partners from around the world, VISTA will propel Canada as a global leader in the vision sciences by integrating visual neuroscience with computer vision to drive innovation.

VISTA is hosting two major events in June 2017.

The impact of VISTA will be extraordinary. 鈥淰ISTA will lead to human-centred computer vision applications that seamlessly interact with the real world to improve health, safety, productivity and quality of life,鈥� says Vice-President Research & Innovation Robert Hach茅.

Robert Hach茅

91亚色 CVR-VISTA Vision Science Summer School bolstered by VISTA win

CVR, an international leader in the field, regularly offers a one-week, all-expenses-paid undergraduate summer school on vision science, organized by Professor Richard Murray. This year's summer school, from June 5 to 9, will be substantially expanded from previous years as a result of the VISTA initiative and the related increase in the number of faculty members and students engaging in vision research at 91亚色.

The summer school program is designed for undergraduate students who are interested in pursuing a career in scientific research.听 Although it is too late to apply for this summer, the program is intended for students who are planning to apply to graduate school in the fall of 2017, and who are interested in investigating vision science as a possible area of research.听 Citizens of all countries are eligible.

This June鈥檚 program includes talks by CVR faculty members on current research topics in vision science, as well as hands-on experience in CVR laboratories. The curriculum reflects the wide range of research areas at CVR, which includes research on human visual perception, computer vision, visual neuroscience, 3D film, immersive environments and visual disorders.

Vision and the Real World Conference offers compelling line-up

CVR and VISTA also are hosting an international conference, Vision and the Real World, from June 13 to 16, organized by Professor Laurence Harris. This four-day event, for which registration is still open, offers a stellar lineup of invited international speakers as well as an open poster session.

Conference themes include:

• Neural processing under natural conditions;
• Vision and limb control: mechanisms and applications;
• Visual knowledge: priors and learning;
• Seeing in 3D; and
• Vision: Science to Applications Symposium.

VISTA team invites 91亚色 community to keynote session

鈥淭he VISTA/CVR team would like to extend an invitation to the 91亚色 community to attend the keynote session, 鈥榁ision: Science to Applications Symposium,鈥� on Tuesday the 13th, from 2:30 to 6:00 pm,鈥� Professor Doug Crawford, scientific director, VISTA emphasizes.

Doug Crawford

The speakers for this session include Piotr Jasiobedzki, Product Development Manager and Staff Scientist at MDA (Macdonald Dettwiler & Associates); Marlene Behrmann, Professor, Carnegie Mellon University; Perry Johnson-Green, Senior Program Scientist, Canadian Space Agency; and Mary Pat McAndrews, Neuropsychologist and Senior Scientist, University Health Network.

To learn more about the summer school, visit the website or write to Richard Murray (rfm@yorku.ca). To read more about the international conference, and register, visit the . To learn more about the VISTA program, visit the . To learn more about CFREF, visit the .

The post VISTA ramps up for enriched summer school, major international conference appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Researchers at 91亚色鈥檚 (CVR) have discovered that astronauts who experience extended periods of microgravity experience long-term disturbances in their perception of upright.

The study 鈥溾�� appears this month in the . The project investigates how astronauts understand which way is up while in microgravity, and how this changes when they return to Earth.

Astronauts on the International Space Station take part in the experiments designed by the BISE Project researchers

The results represent a major finding that will have an impact on how future extended space flights are planned and implemented.

Laurence Harris

Led by Faculty of Health Professor Laurence Harris, with co-investigator Professor of the Lassonde School of Engineering, the study of astronauts鈥� perception of upright is the culmination of the , a multi-year project that was conducted in collaboration with the International Space Station (ISS) and sponsored by the (CSA).

鈥淥n Earth, we use visual, body and gravity information to determine our sense of orientation, which is critical to many perceptual tasks including reading, recognizing faces, and, particularly important in a space environment, navigating around and interacting with the environment,鈥� says Harris.

On the ISS, gravity is not available and astronauts must adjust how they determine which way is up. Harris and his team measured how seven astronauts, who spent 168 days on average on the ISS, perceived their orientation before, during and after flight, and compared these results to those from a control group on earth. Remarkably, no changes were observed in the astronaut鈥檚 perception of the direction of up during their missions.

Experiencing long periods of microgravity can have a lasting impact on an astronaut鈥檚 perception of what is up

鈥淭his indicates an impressive adaptability to a microgravity environment in which the dependence on visual cues to orientation is rapidly reduced to maintain its original, on-Earth relationship to the body,鈥� adds Harris.

The researchers discovered that a reduced emphasis on vision persisted for up to four months after the astronauts returned to Earth indicating that readjusting to gravity听may take longer than previously thought.

鈥淭he implications of this disturbance to the perception of upright could have ramifications for future missions such as those planned for Mars,鈥� says Jenkin. The effects of long-term exposure to zero gravity could have an adverse effect the perception required to safely land on a planet.

鈥淭he disturbance in perception could impact how quickly the crew is able to function in the new gravity environment, which is critical,鈥� says Jenkin, 鈥済iven that no ground team will be available to help the astronauts readjust.鈥�

The CVR Mission badge

Knowing 鈥渨hich way is up鈥� is fundamental to our survival. On Earth, it is crucial to know where to put your feet to support your body and how to adjust to threats to this stability. In space, knowing which way is up is not needed for balance in the same way but is crucial for tasks such as knowing whether a toggle switch is in the on or off position and which way to go to get to the emergency hatch.

The findings could help with the development of countermeasures to avoid perceptual mistakes during space travel, and contribute to facilitating safer, long-duration journeys without gravity.

In addition to Harris and Jenkin, co-investigators on the study included CVR researchers Heather Jenkin, James E. Zacher and the late Richard Dyde.

Article courtesy of YFile.

<!--

-->

The post Long-term exposure to microgravity impacts astronauts鈥� perception of upright appeared first on Research & Innovation.

A landmark investment in research was announced on September 8, 2016, at 91亚色. On this day, the government of Canada acknowledged 91亚色鈥檚 expertise in vision research with Canada鈥檚 most prestigious research grant. A $33.3 million (CFREF) grant will support the (VISTA) program. The investment supports research across a wide range of applications of vision science, from basic visual function, to computer vision and object recognition, and more.

Judy Sgro, Member of Parliament (MP) for听Humber River-Black Creek was joined by 91亚色鈥檚 Vice-President of Research and Innovation, Robert Hach茅, and 91亚色鈥檚 VISTA program scientific director, Doug Crawford, to announce the $33.3 million boost.

Left to right: Pat Clifford, Director of Research & Innovation, Southlake Regional Health Centre; Spiros Pagiatakis, Associate Dean, Research & Graduate Studies, Lassonde School of Engineering; Piotr Jasiobedzki, MDA Corporation; VISTA鈥檚 Lead PI: Doug Crawford, Faculty of Health and the Centre for Vision Research; Judy Sgro, MP, Humber River-Black Creek; Robert Hach茅, Vice-President Research & Innovation, 91亚色; Gary Brewer, Vice-President of Finance and Administration, 91亚色; and Paul W. McDonald, 91亚色鈥檚 Dean of Health. Photo credit: Jenny Pitt-Clark, YFile editor.

鈥淭he Liberal government is committed to science based policy because we know that good science informs good policy and good policy delivers positive results for all Canadians,鈥� said MP Sgro. 鈥淭oday is a real world example of what that commitment means right here at home. This funding will advance Canada's global leadership in vision research and in doing so promises long-term economic benefits for all of us.鈥�

Judy Sgro, MP, Humber River-Black Creek. Photo credit: Lia Cavaliere, Research Events Coordinator, Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation.

鈥淲e are delighted that the federal government has selected 91亚色鈥檚 VISTA project for support through the CFREF,鈥� said Mamdouh Shoukri, President and Vice-Chancellor of 91亚色. 鈥淥ur Centre for Vision Research is an international leader in the field, and an excellent example of the kind of innovation that can be achieved through high-level collaboration across many disciplines. This investment will allow our globally renowned researchers to continue their important work in advancing discovery in vision technologies and biological and computational vision.鈥�

91亚色鈥檚 VISTA program will contribute to the next generation of industry-ready highly qualified personnel for Canada, supporting 226 additional graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.

"Today鈥檚 investment builds on 91亚色's existing global leadership in vision research, and will help take us to the next frontier in vision science at the interface between humans and technology,鈥� said Hach茅. 鈥淭his research builds on two of 91亚色's major intersecting pillars of research excellence - biological and computational vision - and will lead to human-centred computer vision applications that seamlessly interact with the real world to improve health, safety, productivity and quality of life."

Judy Sgro, MP, Humber River-Black Creek, and Robert Hach茅, Vice-President Research & Innovation, 91亚色. Photo credit: Lia Cavaliere, Research Events Coordinator, Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation.

鈥淚 am thrilled by the Canadian government鈥檚 announcement of funding for 91亚色鈥檚 VISTA program,鈥� said Crawford. 鈥淲e have grown to rank in the top 5 in the world, and offer uniquely integrated strengths in both biological and computational vision. I look forward with great enthusiasm to reaching new heights of discovery and application for Canadian vision research.鈥�

When fully ramped up, VISTA will include more than 50 partner organizations, 30 Canada Research Chairs and equivalents, eleven additional core faculty members, and 48 associated faculty members.听 The investments for VISTA, including 91亚色 and partner funding will total more than $120 million.

听is known for championing new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Through cross-discipline programming, innovative course design, diverse experiential learning and a supportive community environment, our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Located in Toronto, 91亚色 is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 295,000 alumni.

The post 91亚色鈥檚 World Leading Vision Research Program Receives Canada鈥檚 Premiere Grant appeared first on Research & Innovation.

91亚色 U researchers in the studying questions of how gravity perception works have found new evidence to suggest that this basic sensory process may be more complex than previously thought.

Though we constantly experience the force of gravity, we are seldom conscious of it, say doctoral candidate Lindsay Fraser and undergraduate honours student Bobbak Makooie, who are researching the subject under the supervision of Professor Laurence Harris.

However, say the researchers, the direction of gravity is critical to many aspects of perception and action 鈥� from keeping upright while standing, to throwing a ball and riding a bike or knowing the orientation of your own body.

Perception of gravity is often attributed exclusively to the vestibular system 鈥� a set of organs in the inner ear. This system has evolved to tell us about self-motion and head tilt relative to gravity. However, mounting evidence has suggested that the orientation of the rest of the body may be an important cue for gravity perception as well.

Fraser and Makooie recently published a set of five experiments in PLoS ONE (open source听) that capitalized on principles of sensory integration to show that gravity perception is linked not only to the sensed position of the head, but to the position of the trunk as well.

鈥淲hat information your brain prioritizes depends on the question you ask,鈥� says Fraser, the first author of this study. 鈥淧articipants asked to judge gravity vertical with their hands rely more on cues from the body, while a visual task relies more on head position information.鈥�

Normally, she says, information from both the head and body are used to get an overall sense of upright.

In the final experiment of the study, the researchers found a way to separate the two 鈥済ravity senses鈥� by applying vibration to the muscles of the neck. They found that when the head鈥檚 position relative to the body is no longer certain, humans can no longer compare the two cues coming from body and head, and are forced to pick one or the other.

This research may help us understand how astronauts and people with balance disorders could learn to overcome vestibular challenges, by learning to rely more on gravity cues coming from the rest of the body.

The novel vibration method the researchers developed provides a potential tool for teaching people how to use all cues to gravity effectively.

The post 91亚色 study finds evidence for two systems of gravity perception appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Ali Kazimi,听professor in Department of Film in the Faculty of Fine Arts,听will receive $143,186 in funding for industry standard infrastructure of a Stereoscopic 3D Lab @ 91亚色. The funding will听allow Kazimi to augment and build upon the core of the stereoscopic research based production and post-production facility that has emerged out of the 3D FLIC (Film Innovation Consortium) project. S3DL @ 91亚色 will become the first dedicated facility of its type in Canada, enabling the study of stereoscopic 3D story-telling practices, their production and distribution, combined with insights and best practices gleaned from stringent psycho-physical tests and experimentation. S3DL will meld art and science in the best tradition of inter-disciplinary research, enabling one to push the boundaries of the knowledge generated by the other and vice versa in a deliberate, complementary and interactive way. Kazimi will work with researchers Laurie Wilcox and Rob Allison from 91亚色鈥檚 Centre for Vision Research on this project.

, professor in the听Department of Earth听& Space Science and Engineering, in the Faculty of听Science & Engineering,听will receive $135,671 in funding for the creation of a new laboratory to support the development of next-generation space technology. This new听technology听will be used to measure the composition of the atmosphere from space.听 The development of this advanced technology for atmospheric remote sounding will enhance Canada鈥檚 contribution to the global monitoring capacity for the climate and atmospheric communities. These contributions are necessary for Canada to maintain its access to global data sets and to provide input for the analysis and modeling of climate change and air quality 鈥� critical knowledge for a sustainable future.

, professor in the Department of Biology in the听Faculty of Science听& Engineering, will receive $158,237 in funding to establish a world-class laboratory to study local and large-scale brain circuits that underlie 鈥渁ttentional control鈥� of behavior 鈥� processes that determine what individuals attend to and how efficient individuals are in concentrating on the most relevant sensory information in our environment. Womelsdorf鈥檚 research examines how alterations in these brain circuits lead to dysfunctions of attentional control in major neuro-psychiatric disorders (including major depression, schizophrenia, and addiction). 听His research focuses on the key cognitive functions and on areas of the brain that underlie severe dysfunctions of attentional control in order to help improve diagnostic and therapeutic interventions.

Muhammed Yousaf, professor in the Department of Chemistry in the Faculty of Science and Engineering, will receive $155,537 in funding to develop infrastructure and state-of-the-art methodologies to cultivate new surface chemistries, tailor materials for fundamental studies of cell behaviour and develop next-generation biomolecular microarrays.听The funds will establish a new advanced biomolecular materials laboratory at 91亚色 to study how man-made materials interact with biological systems. The generation of these smart and responsive materials will provide a platform for new diagnostic screening assays of human disease and for studies of stem cell differentiation towards regenerative medical applications.

鈥淚 am delighted that the Canada Foundation for Innovation has recognized four of 91亚色鈥檚 leading researchers through these awards,鈥� said Robert Hach茅, 91亚色鈥檚 vice-president research & innovation.听 鈥淐FI鈥檚 investment in state-of-the-art infrastructure further enhances 91亚色鈥檚 vibrant research culture and enables our researchers to continue to build on and expand their innovative research programs.鈥�

91亚色鈥檚 projects were part of a in CFI鈥檚 Leaders Opportunity Fund, which provides Canadian researchers with the necessary tools to carry out a range of frontier research. The funding supports 210 research projects across the country.

Minister of State Gary Goodyear announced the funding on Tuesday.

鈥淥ur government recognizes that investing in science and technology leads to a stronger, more innovative economy,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e understand that Canada鈥檚 research enterprise is critical to economic growth and job creation.鈥�

鈥淕iven the right infrastructure, this talented group of innovators will create solutions that benefit Canadians and Canadians communities,鈥� said Gilles Patry, president and CEO of the CFI.

A complete list of recipients is available on the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

The post CFI awards 91亚色 researchers more than $592,000 in research infrastructure appeared first on Research & Innovation.

91亚色 Professors Natasha Myers and Thilo Womelsdorf have been awarded $100,000 each in funding under the Ontario government鈥檚 Early Researcher Awards program. 听

Ontario鈥檚 Ministry of Economic Development听& Innovation announced the awards Monday. 听91亚色鈥檚 research investment of $50,000 will match the funds for the award.

The program helps promising, recently appointed Ontario researchers build research teams of undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research associates and technicians. The goal of the program is to improve Ontario鈥檚 ability to attract and retain the best and brightest research talent. Ontario鈥檚 Early Researcher Awards investment of $8.68 million will support 62 emerging researchers and their teams at 19 institutions across the province.

Professor , of the Department of Biology in the Faculty of Science听& Engineering and member of 91亚色鈥檚 Centre for Vision Research, is studying how individuals focus their attention on one object, thought or event, while ignoring other external information. 听His research examines the three major regions of the brain that guide and determine selective attention, to find out how they work and interact.听听Womelsdorf鈥檚 research will identify how networks of brain cells coordinate separable attention information using state-of-the-art technologies and will critically advance hotly-debated, neuro-economic decision making theories.听The research will lead to a better understanding of various diseases that widely affect health, education and the economy of Ontario.

Professor Natasha Myers, of the Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, examines how plants are acquiring new status and visibility in our culture. Specifically, she explores the ways that artists and scientists are transforming our everyday assumptions through artworks and experiments that render plants as active, sensing organisms. This ethnographic research with practitioners both in Ontario and at international sites will shed light on the ethical and political significance of these shifts in perception about nonhuman life and the order of things.

鈥淚 am most pleased that the Ministry of Research and Economic Development has recognized the achievements of 91亚色 Professors Natasha Myers and Thilo Womelsdorf, who are actively engaged in conducting globally competitive research in the early stages of their careers,鈥� said Robert Hach茅, 91亚色鈥檚 vice-president research & innovation. 鈥淥ur early career researchers represent the future of research at 91亚色 and contribute to building Canada鈥檚 knowledge-based economy. 听The funding provided by the Ministry will provide these emerging researchers with resources to build their innovative research programs.鈥� 听

鈥淭his research work is important to helping us meet our health care challenges while fostering long-term job creation and economic growth,鈥� said Brad Duguid, minister of economic development and innovation.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

The post Two 91亚色 profs receive Ontario Early Researcher Awards appeared first on Research & Innovation.

The saying, 鈥渓ooking at things with fresh eyes鈥�, may be more than just a metaphor, according to new studies led by Professor Kari Hoffman of 91亚色鈥檚 Centre for Vision Research, which have been published in scholarly journals.

Left: Kari Hoffman

While searching for experiments to use in a research methods course, Hoffman took a fresh look at an old visual perception test and realized it might hold a clue to understanding how we see things and when we remember them. Hoffman says the insight came when she was reviewing results of a flicker-change blindness test, a simple classroom experiment used to show how difficult it is for people to see the difference in two almost identical images or scenes. She realized that what was once a trick of the eye was no longer effective due to her memory of the images.

That led Hoffman and biology graduate student Vivian Chau (right) to develop an experiment that would monitor the eye movement of test subjects as they tried to solve the visual puzzle. What they found was striking: when the viewer remembered the image, the eye movement that indicated the time it took to search and locate the part of the scene that had changed was dramatically reduced compared to when they were viewing it for the first time. This suggested that it was possible to tell when a person was looking at an image for the first time and when they recognized it from memory.

鈥淣ot everyone shows the fast search times, though,鈥� says Hoffman. 鈥淎 participant with amnesia failed to remember the changing objects and his eyes told the story. This participant had suffered damage to his medial temporal lobe, a region which is especially affected in Alzheimer鈥檚 patients and has been associated with memory function in healthy aging,鈥� said Hoffman. 鈥淪o we now have a task to help us study how that brain region functions to support memory formation.鈥�

The study results were published in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience ().

After seeing that eye movements could reflect memory, the outcome of brain processing, Hoffman and her lab team wondered if eye movements might also take part in influencing the inputs 鈥� how our brain processes images. In a second study, she and psychology graduate student Adrian Bartlett (right) found that eye movement is also an indication of the brain gearing up to process an image 鈥� a kind of neural 鈥渟mart refresh鈥� that created optimal conditions for seeing.

Hoffman says there is a noticeable change in a subject鈥檚 brain wave patterns when images are viewed with moving eyes as opposed to the more standard experimental method of viewing images with a fixed eye. 鈥淭he neural populations become more synchronized,鈥� she explains, 鈥渢his can make processing an image easier and faster.鈥� 听They found that the brain has a kind of 鈥渟mart refresh鈥� period when it gets ready to process visual information. If the presentation isn鈥檛 synched to that cycle, the brain is not as good at processing the image.

Designers of learning materials can use this knowledge to create visual presentations that interact with a viewer鈥檚 movements, making the displays more easily processed and therefore more effective. The study was published in the Journal of Neuroscience ().

Illustration above shows the path the viewer鈥檚 eyes followed when scanning the photo for the first time and then again the next day

鈥淎lthough scientists often study movement as a separate process from perception and cognition,鈥� Hoffman says, 鈥渙ur results reveal examples of how eye movements are intertwined with perceptual and cognitive processes. In both studies, the eye movements give us a more complete picture of perceptual and memory processes,鈥� Hoffman explains.

Exercising the brain in this way, Hoffman says, may be optimal for neural rewiring or 鈥減lasticity鈥� that leads to better learning, more efficient performance and recovery after loss of function, such as following stroke. 鈥淭his provides support for a more integrative view of brain function 鈥� one in which actions help shape brain performance.鈥�

For more information on the Perception & Plasticity Lab, visit their website.

The studies, which were conducted in collaboration with researchers Jennifer Ryan, Shayna Rosenbaum and Nikos Logothetis, were funded through an NSERC Discovery Grant and an Ontario MRI Early Researcher Award. Hoffman is a professor in psychology & biology in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health and a member of the Neuroscience Graduate Diploma Program.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

The post Roving eyes help us see things better and faster appeared first on Research & Innovation.