Neural Circuits For Active Vision In The Primate Cerebral Cortex
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$632,938.00
Summary
This project will try to understand how we use visual information to identify objects by their shape and motion, in natural situations in which the eyes are moving all the time. This will be accomplished by recording the electrical activity of brain cells while a trained animal is performing different types of tasks, such as tracking a moving object or exploring a scene with its eyes.
Characterising The Physiological Roles Of The Asparaginyl Hydroxylase FIH-1 In Development And Disease.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$274,743.00
Summary
FIH-1 is an oxygen-sensing protein expressed in every cell. The ability for cells to detect and respond to oxygen deficiency is necessary for survival in heart disease and stroke, and is also a feature of cancer. This research aims to characterise the role FIH-1 plays in normal development and disease using mouse and tumour model systems. This research could ultimately indicate whether FIH-1 is a feasible drug target.
Novel Approaches To Understanding Peripheral Vision In Patients With Central Vision Loss
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$367,101.00
Summary
The aim of my research is to develop novel interventions that enhance the peripheral vision of patients with central vision loss, and to investigate the neural correlates of visual perception in peripheral vision in typical adults. My research will inform rehabilitation strategies that optimise the visual function of patients with partial blindness, and provide a more thorough understanding of the underlying neural mechanisms that reduce the quality of peripheral vision.
Orientation-specific Contextual Modulation In Human Visual Cortex
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$290,413.00
Summary
Context has a strong infuence on our visual perception. We will study patterns of activity in the normal human brain to identify the cortical signature of contextual modulation in vision. The correspondences between patterns of brain activity and visual perception in the normal human brain will provide data against which brain activity in disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder can be assessed.
The Role Of The Prefrontal Cortex In Working Memory For Visual Motion
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$359,796.00
Summary
As objects of interest may not always be in one's view, it is important to store information about their spatial locations for future reference. For example, you could reach for a beverage without taking your eyes from this application. While this may be effortless, such tasks are fundamentally complex, requiring spatial information to be coded, stored in memory and retrieved at appropriate times. This proposal examines how interactions between different brain areas allow this to happen.
Functional Interactions Between Primate Cortical Areas In Tasks Involving Attention And Short-term Memory
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$267,280.00
Summary
To navigate and operate in the cluttered and dynamic sensory world around us, our brains need to be able to attend to specific objects or features in the environment, identify them and also know where they exist at any one instant of time, prior to performing the appropriate action. The attention, memory, decision and motor components involved in this process possibly involve a variety of cortical areas and neuronal operations. The special primate preparation we have developed permits us to eluc ....To navigate and operate in the cluttered and dynamic sensory world around us, our brains need to be able to attend to specific objects or features in the environment, identify them and also know where they exist at any one instant of time, prior to performing the appropriate action. The attention, memory, decision and motor components involved in this process possibly involve a variety of cortical areas and neuronal operations. The special primate preparation we have developed permits us to elucidate at a neuronal level many of these brain mechanisms. By recording neuronal activities in two different cortical areas simultaneously as the monkey performs a memory task that he has been trained on, we will test the following ideas: (1) A cortical region in the dorsal, parietal stream directs spatial attention by gating other visual areas to process only a selected region of the visual world (2) A region in the ventral, temporal stream directs attention to specific features in the visual world by gating earlier cortical areas (3) The parietal cortical areas that mediate intention for action hold the relevant information in working memory till it is forwarded to the more anterior premotor areas. These experiments have the potential to reveal the basic neuronal scheme that underpins functions such as attention, visual recognition and memory, which are impaired in many neurological disorders.Read moreRead less