"We try to touch on everyone's area of study in vision research, from brain and visual-motor plasticity to computer models and robotics," says 91亚色 psychology Professor Jennifer Steeves (right).

The conference will take place June 15 to 18 in the Computer Science & Engineering Building (CSEB), Keele campus. Registration will take place in the CSEB lobby and speaker presentations will be held in CSEB Lecture Hall C. It is hosted by 91亚色's in the .

One of the speakers, professor of biological sciences and neuroscience of Mt. Holyoke College, will discuss her own experiences and research with the extent of the brain's plasticity. At one time it was believed that the brain was only malleable during a "critical period" in early childhood, but then, at the age of 48, Barry overcame the stereoblindness she'd had since infancy through optometric vision therapy. She realized at that point there was no absolute "critical period" and that the brain could change and adapt well into adulthood.

Left: Susan Barry

Barry will review the natural history of infantile esotropia聽鈥� where one or both eyes turn in 鈥� demonstrate several rehabilitation procedures that promote stereovision and describe possible mechanisms for wiring changes in the brain. She is the author of Fixing My Gaze: A Scientist's Journey into Seeing in Three Dimensions (2009).

Professor of the University of California, San Francisco, will discuss brain plasticity across the human lifespan and how all plasticity mechanisms are, by their fundamental nature, reversible. A large body of behavioural, electrophysiological and neuroimaging studies have documented the progressive neurological changes that arise as a function of normal aging and as expressions of chronic neurological and psychiatric diseases.

"I shall argue that a number of these illnesses represent failure modes of our self-organizing neurological machinery," says Merzenich. These studies of the neurological distortions recorded in patient populations provide "roadmaps" for potentially addressing plasticity-induced changes therapeutically. "I shall illustrate this therapeutic potential by discussing our early progress in developing treatments designed to prevent and/or ameliorate the expressions of chronic neurological and psychiatric illness."

Professor (right) of Georgetown University will present his talk on "Functional Specialization in the Visual Cortex of the Blind", which looks at how the modules in the brain responsible for sight retain their functional specialization in people blind from birth. The difference is that these modules are "hijacked" by input from a non-visual modality, such as audition or touch.

Professor of the University of Montreal will discuss "Cross-Modal Plasticity in Blind and Deaf Subjects: Results on Cortical Reorganization and Performance Do Not Seem to Always Point in the Same Direction".

Left: Franco Lepore

"Numerous results obtained in our laboratory on blind individuals consistently indicate that when tested on behavioural tasks, such as tone discrimination, sound localization in far and near space, navigation on a tactile labyrinth or in angle discrimination, they generally outperform the sighted," says Lepore. "At the cortical level, it appears that this supra-performance rests on the recruitment of visual areas." However, the same does not seem to hold true for deaf individuals, who show somewhat poorer visual abilities for even low-level functions.

Registration information, including a compete and abstracts, is available online. For more information or to download the conference program, visit the website or contact Teresa Manini, Centre for Vision Research administrative assistant, at manini@cvr.yorku.ca.

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

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And as the film world continues its rapid transition from traditional 2 D celluloid film to 3 D digital, a weekend conference at the TIFF Bell Lightbox is aimed at boosting the Toronto film community鈥檚 chances of capitalizing on the next wave in film 鈥� 3-D, wrote the :

The [] conference is co-sponsored by 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Fine Arts and the 3-D Film Innovation Consortium (3D FLIC), a group of GTA-based film companies.

Ali Kazimi, professor in the University鈥檚 film department, said the three-day event will bring together an 鈥渆clectic mix鈥� of filmmakers, artists, academics and theorists. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a truly interdisciplinary event. We believe it鈥檚 not just a first in Canada, we believe it鈥檚 the first time anywhere in the world that these...fairly disparate groups of people have been brought together to discuss the future of 3-D cinema,鈥� Kazimi said.

鈥淚 think this is going to be a very special event for the city. Our project has really put Toronto on the map because with this incredible sharing of knowledge,鈥� he added.

Until the debut of Avatar in December, 2009, there was little interest in 3-D as a new frontier in film, Kazimi said. 鈥淣ow everybody is jumping on the bandwagon. As a filmmaker, I feel it鈥檚 a very exciting time because when used properly, 3-D offers a whole new language for filmmakers,鈥� Kazimi said.

The conference and 3D FLIC also involve psychology and computer science researchers within the . The centre's conference on runs June 15-18, allowing researchers to attend both events.

For more background on the Toronto International Stereoscopic 3D Conference, see its or this .

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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If you鈥檙e working in 3D film or aerospace engineering, what impact do the latest developments in brain and vision research have on your industry鈥檚 practices? What if you鈥檙e drafting government policy on air quality control and need expertise in how the latest atmospheric chemistry and physics findings translate into plans and policy?

Graduate students and post-doctoral fellows at 91亚色 have new options to pursue the research and applied dimensions of these and other questions, thanks to $3.3 million in funding from the (NSERC).

httpv://youtu.be/OtRWua59EPU

The funding, provided through NSERC鈥檚 $29.6聽million investment over six years in the Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) Grants program, will support two new training programs in the Faculty of Science & Engineering, each valued at $1.65 million over the period.

Students and fellows enrolled in each program will gain experience in basic and applied research, along with the practical and professional skills needed to successfully transition to research careers in the academic, industry or government sectors.

Professor Hugh Wilson in the Faculty of Science & Engineering鈥檚 Department of Biology will lead the Vision Science and Applications program. Based in the internationally-recognized (CVR), the program focuses on vision-based information technologies that require optimal information displays to ensure accurate human interpretation of data are playing an increasingly important role in many economic sectors.

Key applications include:

• 3D digital media (e.g., 3D film, geographical databases, autocad systems)
• Aerospace (e.g., cockpit technologies, search-and-rescue)
• Face and scene analysis technologies (e.g., facial biometrics)
• Visual health and assessment technologies (e.g., functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), perimetry)

The Vision Science and Applications team includes 25 researchers at seven international universities and 10 partner organizations, including , the and . At 91亚色, a total of 10 professors affiliated with CVR will lend their expertise to the project. The program will enrol four students in its first year and 16 students in each successive year.

Professors and in the Faculty of Science & Engineering鈥檚 Department of Chemistry will lead the Training Program for Integrating Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics from Earth to Space (IACPES) program. Jointly based in 91亚色鈥檚 (CAC) and the Centre for Research in Earth & Space Science (CRESS), the program鈥檚 interdisciplinary focus will give students an integrated understanding of atmospheric chemistry and physics from earth into space.

Key applications include:

• measuring and modelling atmospheric change
• examining air quality and health issues
• monitoring changes in the arctic atmosphere
• detecting sources of greenhouse gases
• measuring Earth鈥檚 changing atmosphere from space
• exploring and understanding other planets鈥� atmospheres
• developing the policy implications of atmospheric science

The IACPES team includes 11 applicants at six universities and 23 collaborators at 10 partner organizations, including , the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, the (NOAA) in Boulder, Colo., several industries and two premier research institutes in Germany.聽The program will create 21 places for undergraduate students, master鈥檚 students, PhD students and postdoctoral fellows in its first year, with over 200 places created over the successive five years.

httpv://youtu.be/6YlFv0Xd9no

鈥淏y securing two of only 18 projects awarded to universities across Canada, 91亚色 builds on its strong track record in leading large-scale, interdisciplinary collaborative research projects,鈥� said Stan Shapson, vice-president research & innovation. 鈥�The programs will provide our innovative research centres 鈥� CVR, CRESS and CAC聽鈥� with a competitive advantage in attracting excellent graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who wish to pursue careers in the applications of vision science or atmospheric chemistry and physics. NSERC鈥檚 CREATE program strengthens the role of universities in training the highly-qualified people needed in today鈥檚 scientific knowledge economy.鈥�

鈥淣SERC鈥檚 CREATE Program helps graduating students become highly sought-after professional researchers in the natural sciences and engineering, both in Canada and abroad,鈥� said Suzanne聽Fortier, president of NSERC. 鈥淭he program not only helps improve the skill set of Canada鈥檚 next-generation of research talent, but it also helps to support their retention in the workforce.鈥�

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer

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The world premiere of the 52-minute documentary KOOP: The Art of Wanda Koop will open the聽8th annual on tomorrow at The Royal Conservatory, TELUS Centre for Performance & Learning, Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W., in Toronto. A Q&A with Knight, the film鈥檚 director and co-producer, along with Koop and critic and urban planner Jane Perdue will follow the screening. The pre-screening reception will start at 6:30pm, the screening at 7pm and a celebration at 8:30pm. KOOP will screen again in Calgary on March 24.

Watch the documentary's trailer on .

Knight鈥檚 film looks at Koop as she prepares massive new works depicting archetypal cities and familiar yet disquieting landscapes for two 25-year retrospectives, one at the Winnipeg Art Gallery and another 鈥� Wanda Koop: On the Edge of Experience 鈥� at the National Art Gallery in Ottawa until May 15. She is an artist who questions how and what people see or notice, and in turn, shows through her art what people missed with their first glance, as well as what remains out of sight.

Right: Katherine Knight

A documentary, filming for Koop began in June as Knight, an award-winning photographer known for evocative landscapes with a strong narrative atmosphere, cinematographer and 91亚色 alumna Marcia Connolly (MFA 鈥�10) and embarked upon a week-long trip on a freighter along the St. Lawrence River from Quebec City to Port Cartier. Travel has often provided inspiration for Koop. This voyage along one of Canada鈥檚 most significant and fabled waterways not only provided a shared experience for the artist and the filmmakers, it also allowed the audience to share in some of the raw visual materials Koop uses to create her art.

"I was making a documentary about an artist who didn't want to be filmed painting," says Knight. So instead, she filmed Koop as she gathered inspiration. "It was about putting the audience into the framework that the artist works in. So the audience can actually travel along with the artist."

The examination of the visual continues as the film looks at聽the science of vision, colour and perception. It places the audience in the , where Koop has her vision tested by聽91亚色 senior research scientist聽Olivera Karanovic and Laurie Wilcox, graduate program director in the Department of Psychology,聽in the 3D Vision Research lab to聽take a look at聽how聽she sees 鈥� she apparently has great 3D vision.

Left: Artist Wanda Koop has her vision checked in the 91亚色 Vision Research lab聽in the opening scene of聽the film Koop

The artist鈥檚 studio as a factory of the imagination also plays a role in the work created, and the film explores this, taking the audience into Koop鈥檚 newly renovated factory, where she makes, archives and markets her artwork. There, hundreds of paintings, thousands of sketches and tables full of the painter鈥檚 tools contribute to the visual and physical space.

"I'm really interested in making documentaries about artists that get inside the creative process," says Knight, a longtime friend of Koop and fan of her art. Koop has won several national and international awards for her artistic achievements and was made a member of the Order of Canada in 2006. In 1998, she founded Art City as a storefront art centre in Winnipeg. The goal is to bring together contemporary visual artists and inner-city youth to explore the creative process.

Right: Wanda Koop's studio

Several alumni worked on the documentary, including project editor Jared Raab (BFA Spec. Hon. 鈥�07), who聽was declared one of the by the Toronto Star. Raab will begin shooting a feature in March with alumnus Matt Johnson (BFA). The score for Koop is by Montreal-based composer Sam Shalabi, who worked on Knight鈥檚 2009 documentary Pretend Not to See Me: The Art of Colette Urban, which was awarded special mention at the Ecofilm Festival in Rhodos, Greece, in June 2010. Pretend Not to See Me will screen at 2011, Thursday, March 17, at 5pm at the Rainbow Cinemas, Market Square, 80 Front St. E. (at Jarvis) in Toronto.

Left: Wanda Koop on the freight boat

Knight co-founded Site(Media)inc. with David Craig in 2006 with a passion to make documentaries and short films. Its first film, Annie Pootoogook, was commissioned by Bravo Canada and Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. A professor in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Fine Arts, Knight has exhibited her photographs extensively in solo and group shows across Canada and in the United States. Her works are in many public and corporate collections, including the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Banff Centre and The Canada Council Art Bank. She was awarded the Canada Council's Duke and Duchess of 91亚色 Prize in Photography in 2000 in recognition of the excellence of her work.

Tickets to the opening night of KOOP are $175 per person and can be purchased by visiting the website or calling 416-368-8854 ext. 101.

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

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In order to see 3D images properly, our left and right eyes have to view separate images. Because 3D display technology isn鈥檛 perfect, there are times when images intended for one eye become contaminated by images meant for the other. Researchers have uncovered a link between this phenomenon, dubbed 鈥渃rosstalk鈥�, and the amount of depth in the images we see onscreen.

鈥淥ur study found that the more interference from crosstalk, the less depth you鈥檒l see. This reduction in depth can make 3D images appear less realistic,鈥� says Inna Tsirlin, a PhD student in psychology working in 91亚色鈥檚 , part of the .

Right: An image that is undistorted by crosstalk

To minimize such visual distortions, crosstalk should be kept at levels of four per cent or lower, the study recommends. 鈥淔or viewers to see as much depth as intended, 3D displays should ensure that less than four per cent of the left image leaks into the right eye, and vice versa,鈥� Tsirlin says.

Tsirlin and her collaborators conducted experiments using a custom-built display. They introduced precise amounts of crosstalk to a pair of lines presented separately to participants鈥� left and right eyes. The brain combines these 2D images to perceive them as one image in 3D.

Participants were asked to indicate the amount of depth they perceived using a virtual ruler. The study showed that crosstalk was detrimental at even the smallest depths tested, and became more disruptive as depth increased.

鈥淔or example, instead of seeing two objects at ten centimetres apart in depth, you would see them at five centimetres apart if the crosstalk is high enough. We also found that the detrimental effect of crosstalk on the perceived amount of depth is stronger when there is a larger depth range in a 3D image. So, there will be聽more disruption for objects at one millimetre apart than for objects at ten centimetres apart in depth,鈥� says Tsirlin.

Left: The same image showing the distortion caused by crosstalk

Previous research has established that crosstalk causes viewing discomfort, which can include eye strain, headaches and dizziness. Tsirlin says optimizing hardware for a crosstalk level below four per cent may resolve these issues as well.

Tsirlin is supervised by 91亚色 Professors and , who co-authored the study. Their initial findings were recently presented at the international Stereoscopic Displays and Applications 2011 conference in San Francisco.

The research was conducted as part of the (3D FLIC), an interdisciplinary collaboration of scientists, filmmakers and industry partners such as Cinespace Studios, IMAX, Christie Digital and Starz Animation. 3D FLIC is funded by the聽Ontario Media Development Corporation聽(OMDC) and the聽Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE).

Tsirlin鈥檚 research is supported by a (NSERC) graduate scholarship. She was among the first cohort of students to complete 91亚色鈥檚 Neuroscience Graduate聽Diploma Program.

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She accepted the Institute of Aging at the annual conference of the Canadian Association on Gerontology in Montreal. The prize, which augments major scholarship聽funding she has already received,聽included the money, an invitation to the conference and, best of all, a chance to adjudicate research posters.

鈥淚t鈥檚 perfect timing for me,鈥� says the first-year doctoral student in the Faculty of Health's School of Kinesiology & Health Science. 鈥淚鈥檒l be able to see what鈥檚 going on in my field. Winning this award has been very motivating."

Hawkins started work this fall developing and evaluating a clinical assessment tool to measure visuomotor integration (hand-eye coordination) that could lead to early detection of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. For this, CIHR is funding her research to the tune of $35,000 a year 鈥� $30,000 in salary plus $5,000 research allowance 鈥� for each of the next three years. It鈥檚 the biggest scholarship Hawkins has ever received.

Left: Kara Hawkins

Sit down with Hawkins at her corner desk in the office she shares with other graduate students and you鈥檒l notice only one image taped to the wall next to her computer. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 my brain,鈥� says the 27-year-old of the vertical MRI scan taken this fall in 91亚色鈥檚 new Neuroimaging Laboratory, located in the Sherman Health Science Research Centre.

The brain. Hawkins became fascinated with it early in her undergraduate years.聽"You can't understand behaviour without understanding the brain. That's what interested me most."聽She started studying psychology then branched into kinesiology. It was a natural detour. 鈥淚鈥檓 an athlete,鈥� says the former varsity goalie who now plays forward for the Aurora Panthers and for the Ice-O-Topes, an intramural team at 91亚色. 鈥淚 wanted to learn how the brain controls movement.鈥�

After graduating in 2006, she jumped at an offer to work as a neuropsychology assistant at Baycrest, a centre specializing in geriatric research and care. 鈥淚鈥檝e always been interested in clinical applications,鈥� says Hawkins. Baycrest sparked an interest in aging and two years later she returned to 91亚色 to pursue聽a master鈥檚 degree and neuroscience graduate diploma, delving deeper into the neurophysiology of complex motor control. She won three scholarships to do it and graduated last spring.

Now a doctoral student, she鈥檚 back in a clinical setting. At 91亚色 Central Hospital, she is collaborating with the geriatric physician to diagnose aging patients who show signs of mental deterioration. Currently, doctors use language, cognition, memory and attention tests to score patients鈥� mental status out of 30. It鈥檚 an imprecise science, and Hawkins has developed and is testing a new measurement tool that could be more precise.

The tool looks like a laptop. There are two touch-sensitive screens, one vertical and the other horizontal (where the keyboard would normally be). The patient is instructed to reach for a target that appears on the vertical screen, at first directly with her hand and then more indirectly using the horizontal touch screen to聽manipulate a cursor. The test is not educationally or language biased, and Hawkins can determine which part of the brain the patient is using and the level of dysfunction based by the accuracy and speed of the response.

The brain is a complex network of communicating parts. When someone has dementia, the lines of communication deteriorate and misfire. Hawkins鈥� test aims to detect the breakdown in the visual-motor and cognitive-motor communication lines. 鈥淭hese touch-screen tracking tests tap into that.鈥�

Hawkins is currently trying to recruit 60 to 90 patients diagnosed with Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and the same number who are aging normally. Over the next three years, she鈥檒l test her diagnostic tool. She is particularly interested in finding out if it can detect early and more subtle stages of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. Interested participants may contact her at karah@yorku.ca.

The earlier we can catch signs of mental deterioration, the more time there will be for intervention that could delay the onset, says Hawkins. Earlier and more precise diagnosis could lead to better education and better care for patients, she says.

Hawkins, now a member of the , is doing her research under the supervision of 聽Prof. Lauren Sergio, an expert in hand-eye coordination and director of 91亚色鈥檚 Sensorimotor Neuroscience Laboratory. When she鈥檚 finished her PhD, she hopes to continue exploring diseases associated with聽aging.

By Martha Tancock, YFile contributing writer

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鈥淔rom Cats Eyes to Headaches: Adventures in Neuroscience鈥� will take place Thursday, Nov. 11, from 2 to 3:30pm at 214 Calumet College, Keele campus. RSVP by Nov. 10 to smiceli@yorku.ca. Everyone is welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be served.

Left: Fran Wilkinson

In her research, Wilkinson, a member of the at 91亚色, has examined the mechanisms of face and object recognition in the visual brain and how vision changes during aging. She is among the researchers working in the Sherman Health Science Research Centre.

鈥淭hroughout my career I have been fascinated by how the visual pathways of the brain capture and interpret the visual world. In this talk, I will briefly describe the sometimes winding path my own research career has taken, examining this central question in neuroscience from a variety of angles, using new technologies as they have come into being,鈥� says Wilkinson.

鈥淚 will then discuss my current work on vision and migraine headache as an example both of the interface between basic and clinical neuroscience, and of the role of serendipity in research.鈥�

The Faculty Research Profile Series, presented by Calumet College, features eminent 91亚色 faculty speaking on their broad research interests rather than about a single narrow topic.聽Audiences will hear聽what professors have devoted their careers to studying, how they do what they do and why.

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The study, recently published in the journal Neuropsychologia looked at a rare disorder called prosopagnosia, in which the ability to visually identify faces is lost or severely impaired.

Researchers performed a series of experiments that gauged prosopagnosia sufferers' recognition of faces, objects and voices and other sounds, both separately and in varying combinations; the scientists compared these results to those of control subjects with normal brain functioning.

"We were interested in investigating the interactions between different types of sensory inputs," says lead researcher Jennifer Steeves (left), a professor of psychology in 91亚色鈥檚 . "For example, does seeing a person鈥檚 face and listening to them speaking at the same time offer more helpful information to identify that person, or is a single sensory input superior?"

Steeves鈥� experiments involved a patient who suffered brain damage from meningitis as a child. With extensive lesions on the right hemisphere and most of the ventral visual areas, he was unable to recognize familiar faces, facial expressions, objects, colours or words.

"Quite remarkably, even with these deficits, he was able to hold a job and maintain an independent lifestyle," Steeves says. "We wanted to find out what cognitive functions were compensating to help him achieve this."

In one experiment, participants were required to rapidly learn the identities of 10 individuals,聽using an聽image of a face paired with a voice.

Prior to this exercise, subjects were presented with grey-scale images of 110 female faces that had been stripped of distinguishing features. They were also fed auditory stimuli 鈥� a 20-second neutral passage spoken in English by one of 110 female voices. Participants were then tested on what they had learned in visual and auditory-only modes, and in combination.

Steeves and her colleagues found that control subjects relied more heavily on visual cues, while the patient with prosopagnosia used auditory information more expertly to recognize people. However, auditory cues didn鈥檛 help in identifying objects, leading researchers to believe that our processing of people and things occur in two different neurological pathways.

Untangling this web of sensory cues is important on more than one level, Steeves notes. "Our hope is that it will help not only our understanding of those with brain disorders, but also to understand how healthy brains function," she says.

The study, "Superior voice recognition in a patient with acquired prosopagnosia and object agnosia," is co-authored by Adria Hoover, a 91亚色 psychology graduate student, and Jean-Fran莽ois D茅monet, director of France鈥檚 Institut National de la Sant茅 et de la Recherche M茅dicale (INSERM).

Steeves is one of the researchers based in 91亚色鈥檚 new state-of-the-art Sherman Health Science Research Centre, which officially opened on Sept. 14.聽She leads the Perceptual Neuroscience Laboratory, which is based on the building鈥檚 main level. Both Steeves and her lab are part of the .

The research was funded by the and France鈥檚 .

By Melissa Hughes, media relations officer. Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin

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Lead author and PhD candidate Joshua Granek and colleagues concluded that the reorganization of the brain鈥檚 cortical network, which聽they discovered in the young men with significant video game-playing experience, gave them an advantage not only in playing video games but also in performing other complex visuomotor tasks.

The authors wrote that other studies have suggested that individuals skilled in video game-playing have a more efficient brain network for controlling movement that includes the prefrontal, premotor, primary sensorimotor and parietal cortices.

Senior investigator Lauren Sergio, a professor in 91亚色鈥檚 School of Kinesiology and Health Science in the Faculty of Health, told the press that using high-resolution brain imaging, they were able to measure which brain areas were active at given times during the experiment. And, she said, rather than just looking at brain activity, they also 鈥渢ested how the skills learned from video game experience can transfer over to new tasks鈥�.

A key result was finding that during the increasingly difficult tasks, the less experienced video game players relied mostly on the parietal cortex (the brain area typically involved in hand-eye coordination), while the brain scans of the experienced gamers showed more activity in the prefrontal cortex at the front of the brain.

The study was also covered in on Sept. 27, on Sept. 26., Sept. 27 and on Sept. 26.

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Schneider's appointment was announced by Walter Tholen, interim dean of 91亚色's Faculty of Science & Engineering.

With a PhD in brain and cognitive science from the University of Rochester, Scheider brings to 91亚色 a solid background in science and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). He has previously been involved in development of MRI centres at Princeton University, the University of Rochester and the University of Missouri.聽Schneider has also designed and taught MRI courses that include a laboratory component where graduate students learn to operate a fMRI scanner as well as design experiments and analyze the resulting data. He expects to offer this course at 91亚色 shortly.

Right:聽Keith Schneider

A pioneer聽of聽fMRI studies of human brainstem visual structures, Schneider's聽 has been with the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and the superior colliculus, both which receive direct input from the retina via the optic nerve, has shown that both structures are involved in visual selective attention.

Schneider has also shown that the phenomenon of binocular rivalry occurs in human LGN, proving that previous theories of rivalry as a high-level cognitive phenomenon are incorrect. Rivalry occurs when each of the eyes views an entirely different stimulus (e.g. horizontal lines in the left eye & vertical lines in the right eye). The brain cannot combine these stimuli into a coherent picture of the world, so it defaults to an oscillation in which the subject perceives first one set of lines and then the other.

Schneider鈥檚 current聽work focuses on two major topics: tests of the M-cell theory of dyslexia, and development of enhanced fMRI data analysis algorithms. He is also working on new techniques to provide super-resolution during conventional fMRI scanning. During scanning, a subject鈥檚 head moves a small amount and this is unavoidable. This movement was previously regarded as an unfortunate source of noise. Schneider realized that these small movements can be used to provide subtly different perspective views of the brain and actually enhances resolution. Once development is completed, scientists will be among the first in the world to put super-resolution to work in studying major visual structures in the brain.

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