Brief Biography
My research aims to understand the neural basis of human cognition, in particular vision and attention. We use a variety of techniques in both normal and brain-damaged human observers, including psychophysics, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and surface reconstruction of the cortical mantle to generate flat maps of the brain. In detail, we are studying the contribution of frontal and parietal areas to attentional control, and the relationship between neural activity and visual performance. A second more clinical line of research focuses on how people recover after brain injury, and what neuronal events underlie such recovery. Patients with stroke and language (aphasia) or attentional deficits (spatial neglect) are followed throughout their recovery with clinical, behavioral, anatomical and functional neuroimaging measures to track changes in performance and in neural activity. In detail, we are studying the role of the right frontal cortex in the recovery of speech after a left frontal stroke and the reorganization of attentional systems in patients with spatial neglect and various cortical and sub cortical lesions. These studies hopefully will elucidate mechanisms of neuronal recovery at the systems level. This knowledge is critical for developing future rehabilitation strategies that are guided by sound neurobiological principles.