Greg DeAngelis
 |
PhD, University of California Berkeley/San Francisco,
1992 |
Contact Information
- Meliora 362 (Chair's Office)
- Meliora 315
- Brain & Cognitive Sciences
- University of Rochester
- Rochester, NY 14627-0268
- (585) 275-8677 (office)
Office Hours
By appointment.
Research Overview
My laboratory studies cortical circuits that mediate visual perception and visually guided behavior. This work involves a creative fusion of the disciplines of neurophysiology, psychology, and computation. Monkeys are trained to perform demanding discrimination tasks, and we record from single or multiple neurons in visual cortex during performance of these tasks. This allows us to directly compare the ability of neurons to discriminate between different sensory stimuli with the ability of the behaving animal to make the same discrimination. This approach also allows us to examine the relationship between neuronal activity and perceptual decisions (independent of the physical stimulus). In addition, the techniques of electrical microstimulation and/or reversible inactivation are used to establish causal links between physiology and behavior. Computational modeling plays an important role in interpreting results and guiding future experimentation.
Our research currently has two main foci:
- Neural mechanisms of depth perception. The image formed on each retina is a two-dimensional projection of the three-dimensional (3D) world. Objects at different depths project onto slightly disparate points on the two retinas, and the brain is able to extract these binocular disparities from the retinal images and construct a vivid sensation of depth. My lab studies the mechanisms by which binocular disparity information is encoded, processed, and read out by the brain in order to perceive depth and compute 3D surface structure. We are beginning to elucidate the brain areas that contribute to stereoscopic depth perception under specific task conditions, although much remains to be learned about this interesting cognitive process. We have also recently discovered a population of neurons that combines visual motion with eye movement signals to code depth from motion parallax, and future work will focus on how depth cues from disparity and motion parallax are integrated by neurons.
- Sensory integration for self-motion perception. To accurately perceive our own motion through space, we integrate information from the visual and vestibular systems. Integrating information across different sensory systems is a fundamental issue in systems neuroscience. Because visual and vestibular signals originate in different spatial frames of reference and with different temporal dynamics, an interesting set of computations must occur in order for these cues to be combined perceptually. Using a 3D virtual reality system to provide monkeys with naturalistic combinations of visual stimuli and inertial motion, we are studying how cortical neurons integrate visual and vestibular signals to compute one's direction of heading through 3D space. We are testing whether the activity of multi-modal neurons in the cortex can account for the changes in perceptual performance that occur when visual and vestibular signals are combined synergistically or placed in conflict. The ultimate goal is to develop a detailed neurobiological account of Bayesian optimal cue integration.
Selected Publications
For a complete list of publications (via PubMed), click here
- Chen A, DeAngelis GC, Angelaki DE (2011): Representation of vestibular and visual cues to self-motion in ventral intraparietal (VIP) cortex. Journal of Neuroscience, 31: 12036-12052.
- Gu Y, Liu S, Fetsch CR, Yang Y, Fok S, Sunkara A, DeAngelis GC, Angelaki DE (2011): Perceptual learning reduces interneuronal correlations in macaque visual cortex. Neuron, 71: 750-761.
- Anzai A, Chowdhury SA, DeAngelis GC (2011): Coding of stereoscopic depth information in visual areas V3 and V3A. Journal of Neuroscience, 31: 10270-10282.
- Chen A, DeAngelis GC, Angelaki DE (2011): Convergence of vestibular and visual self-motion signals in an area of the posterior sylvian fissure. Journal of Neuroscience, 31: 11617-11627.
- Ohshiro T, Angelaki DE, DeAngelis GC (2011): A normalization model of multisensory integration. Nature Neuroscience, 14: 775-782.
- Chen A, DeAngelis GC, Angelaki DE (2011): A comparison of vestibular spatiotemporal tuning in macaque cortical areas PIVC, VIP and MSTd. Journal of Neuroscience, 31: 3082-3094.
- MacNeilage PR, Banks MS, DeAngelis GC, Angelaki DE (2010): Vestibular heading discrimination and sensitivity to linear acceleration in head and world coordinates. Journal of Neuroscience, 30: 9084-9094.
- Gu Y, Fetsch CR, Adeyemo B, DeAngelis GC, Angelaki DE (2010): Decoding of MSTd population activity accounts for variations in the precision of heading perception. Neuron, 66: 596-609.
- Chen A, DeAngelis GC, Angelaki DE (2010): Macaque parieto-insular vestibular cortex: responses to self-motion and optic flow. Journal of Neuroscience, 30: 3022-3042.
- Fetsch CR, Turner AH, DeAngelis GC, Angelaki DE (2009): Dynamic re-weighting of visual and vestibular cues during self-motion perception. Journal of Neuroscience, 29: 15601-15612.
- Chowdhury SA, Takahashi K, DeAngelis GC, Angelaki DE (2009): Does area MT carry vestibular signals related to self-motion? Journal of Neuroscience, 29: 12020-12030.
- Nadler JW, Nawrot M, Angelaki DE, DeAngelis GC (2009): MT neurons combine visual motion with a smooth eye movement signal to code depth sign from motion parallax. Neuron, 63: 523-532.
- Angelaki DE, Gu Y, DeAngelis GC (2009): Multisensory integration: psychophysics, neurophysiology, and computation. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 19: 452-458.
- Chowdhury SA, DeAngelis GC (2008): Fine discrimination training alters the causal contribution of macaque area MT to depth perception. Neuron, 60: 367-377.
- Gu Y, Angelaki DE, DeAngelis GC (2008): Neural correlates of multi-sensory cue integration in macaque area MSTd. Nature Neuroscience, 11: 1201-1210.
- Morgan ML, DeAngelis GC, Angelaki DE (2008): Multisensory integration in macaque visual cortex depends on cue reliability. Neuron, 59: 662-673.
- Nadler JW, Angelaki DE, DeAngelis GC (2008): A neural representation of depth from motion parallax in macaque visual cortex. Nature, 452: 642-645.
- Chowdhury SA, Christiansen DL, Morgan ML, DeAngelis GC (2008): The effect of vertical disparities on depth representation in macaque monkeys: MT physiology and behavior. Journal of Neurophysiology, 99: 876-887.
- Roe AW, Parker AJ, Born RT, DeAngelis GC (2007): Disparity channels in early vision. Journal of Neuroscience, 27: 11820-11831.
- Takahashi K, Gu Y, May PJ, Newlands S, DeAngelis GC, Angelaki DE (2007): Multi-modal coding of three-dimensional rotation and translation in area MSTd: Comparison of visual and vestibular selectivity. Journal of Neuroscience, 27: 9742-9756.
- Gu Y, DeAngelis GC, Angelaki DE (2007): A functional link between area MSTd and heading perception based on vestibular signals. Nature Neuroscience, 10:1038-47.
- Fetsch CR, Wang S, Gu Y, DeAngelis GC, Angelaki DE (2007): Spatial reference frames of visual, vestibular, and multimodal heading signals in the dorsal subdivision of the medial superior temporal area. Journal of Neuroscience, 27: 700-712.
- Uka T, DeAngelis GC (2006): Linking neural representation to function in stereoscopic depth perception: roles of the middle temporal area in coarse vs. fine disparity discrimination. Journal of Neuroscience, 26:6791-6802.
- Gu Y, Watkins PV, Angelaki DE, DeAngelis GC (2006): Visual and non-visual contributions to three-dimensional heading selectivity in medial superior temporal area. Journal of Neuroscience, 26:73-85.
- Uka T, DeAngelis GC (2004): Contribution of area MT to stereoscopic depth perception: choice-related response modulations reflect task strategy. Neuron, 42: 297-310.
- DeAngelis GC, Newsome, WT (2004): Perceptual read-out of conjoined direction and disparity maps in macaque area MT. PLoS Biology, 2(3): 394-404.
Research Collaborators
- Akiyuki Anzai, Research Associate, Brain & Cognitive Sciences
- Tomokazu Ohshiro, Postdoctoral Fellow, Brain & Cognitive Sciences
- Takahisa Sanada, Postdoctoral Fellow, Brain & Cognitive Sciences
- Ryo Sasaki, Postdoctoral Fellow, Brain & Cognitive Sciences
- HyungGoo Kim, Graduate Student, Brain & Cognitive Sciences
Research Support
The National Eye Institute provides support for this research.
Courses
Undergraduate
- BCS 245: Sensory and Motor Neuroscience