Active Projects

Sign Language and the Visual Brain

How does sign language experience affect the development of the brain’s visual system? Sign language perception has unique visual requirements, like the ability to focus on facial expressions while attending to hand gestures with peripheral vision. In this project, Edan Daniel-Hertz compares visual system properties between experienced signers (both hearing and deaf), and non-signers, investigating how visual experiences sculpt the development of the visual system.

Development of visual-spatial attention from childhood to adulthood

Visuo-spatial attention allows you to selectively focus on objects in space and filter out unnecessary information, an ability that significantly develops from childhood to adulthood. In this project, Patricia Hoyos and Anna Williams explore the visual-spatial computations in the brain that underlie these developmental changes in perceptual abilities.

Auditory Cortex Organization and Development

This project, led by Damola Ogunlade, explores how the auditory cortex is organized, and how this organization changes across development from childhood to adulthood. Damola uses a combination of novel brain imaging methods to study the relationships between structure and function in the auditory regions of the brain.

The uncharted roles of Cerebellum across Development

The cerebellum (which is Latin for “little brain”) is an evolutionary old structure, located at the back of the head just above and behind where the spinal cord connects to the brain. Historically, it was believed that the cerebellum is responsible for motor coordination, but recent studies have shown that there are many more things the cerebellum is involved in. In this project, Frederick d’Oleire Uquillas explores the uncharted implications of the cerebellum in autism and aging.