Visual Neuroscience Lab

PEOPLE

	Duane Albrecht Professor, Biological Psychology Director, Visual Neuroscience albrecht@psy.utexas.edu Duane Albrecht received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in Biological Psychology. His main teaching areas are in biological, perceptual and visual perception psychology. In his own words: The research in the Visual Neuroscience laboratory follows from the long-standing traditions of sensory physiology and psychophysics, with the ultimate goal of understanding sensation and perception. We are investigating the visual system in monkeys, cats, and humans. We want to understand the neurophysiology of the visual system and how it relates to visual perception. To that end we perform single neuron electrophysiological experiements: we measure the electrical activity of individual neurons located in the visual cortex of monkeys and cats while systematically varying visual stimuli. These measurements are then quantitatively evaluated within the context of specific theoretical and formal mathematical/computational models.

	Alison Crane Tannenbaum Research Biologist tannenbaum@psy.utexas.edu Alison Crane Tannenbaum joined the Visual Neuroscience Lab in 1996. She earned her Bachelorâs Degree in Biology from Earlham College in 1968, and has been working in the field of neuroscience research ever since. Prior to the University of Texas, she worked in a variety of research environments, from medical schools in New York City, to many years at the National Institutes of Health, and then to a small state university in Florida. The research projects in which she has been involved include many aspects of neuroscience: neuropharmacology; neuroanatomy; behavior; cerebral metabolism and blood flow; and electrophysiology. She is currently working with Duane Albrecht and Wilson Geisler, and enjoys the challenges of characterizing the electrophysiology of primary visual cortex neurons.

	Robert Frazor Postdoctoral Fellow rfrazor@mail.utexas.edu Robert Frazor obtained his Bachelorâs Degree in Psychology from The University of Texas in 1995. He pursued his interest in visual neurophysiology in the Visual Neuroscience Lab, under the direction of Duane Albrecht. He completed his Ph.D. Degree in Sensory Neuroscience in 2002. His primary research goal is to understand the responses of visual cortex neurons under transient stimulation, and how those responses can contribute to visual tasks such the discrimination and identification of visual stimuli. In collaboration with Wilson Geisler, he is also involved in investigating the statistics of the natural environment, such as the distributions of contrast and luminance, and how those statistics might be related to visual nonlinearities such as adaptation and gain control. In his current post-doctoral experience, Robert is completing an analysis of natural scene statistics, and is continuing to explore the responses of visual cortex neurons, with transient stimulation.

	Shao-Ying Cheng Graduate Student sycheng@mail.utexas.edu Shao-Ying (ãIanä) Cheng arrived at the Visual Neuroscience Laboratory in August, 2002, from Taiwan, where he had done an electrophysiology project as part of his undergraduate work. He is now in his second year in the Neuroscience Program, and is learning the complex skills involved in single-neuron electrophysiology, as well as the theoretical background for this work. He recently completed a rotation in Larry Cormack's laboratory, where he participated in a psychophysical project designed to explore contrast gain control. He is interested in how luminance affects the behavior of visual cortex neurons, and will be pursuing this interest for his graduate degree.

	Abram Bailey Undergraduate Student abram@austin.rr.com A recent addition to the lab, Abram is an undergraduate student in Psychology. He is currently our webmaster, but is also interested in Visual Neuroscience, and will be learning single-neuron electrophysiology to gain some research experience.

	Wilson Geisler The David Wechsler Regents Chair Professor, Professor of Psychology, Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Engineering geisler@psy.utexas.edu Geisler's research interests span a number of topics in vision and visual perception. In the lab, scientific questions are often attacked with multiple techniques: psychophysics (behavior), neurophysiology (in collaboration with Albrecht), and mathematical and computational modeling. For a description of the some recent projects, click the buttons on the left. Geisler is a professor in the Department of Psychology, director of the Center for Perceptual Systems, and holder of the David Wechsler Regents Chair in Psychology.

	Larry Stern Manager of Laboratories stern@psy.utexas.edu Larry has been an integral part of the lab for 18 years. and has a degree in Biology. With Carl Creeger, he has been instrumental in assembling specialized video and computer hardware and developing the sophisticated software used to present visual stimuli to the animals. This is an ongoing and exacting project, requiring a unique body of knowledge about both physiology and technology. Larry also maintains the lab computers, solves all of our computer-related problems, and takes care of many administrative functions for the lab.

	Carl Creeger Computer Systems Development Specialist creeger@psy.utexas.edu Carl has a degree in Engineering. Along with Larry Stern, he has developed complex hardware and software that makes it possible for us to use very precise and sophisticated visual stimuli. He is also well-versed in electronics: He re-designed and modernized an old, home-made, one-of-a-kind field effect transformer pre-amplifier that had been used successfully in the lab for over twenty years. This device is battery-powered, and thus minimizes noise and interference in the neuronal activity picked up by our electrodes. Carl's new design, using more modern components, has allowed us to build more of these very useful devices, and to share them with others doing similar work.