Cognitive Neuroscience

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITIONS:
• Professor of Brain and Behavior: Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, NY
• Director, Mahoney Center, Columbia University, NY
• Member, The Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University, NY

EDUCATION:
• Harvard Medical School MD, 1964-1968
• Harvard University AB mcl, Biochemical Sciences, 1959-1963

SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP:
Past President, Society for Neuroscience

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
We study the psychophysics and physiology of cognitive processes in the monkey, using single unit recording, iontophoresis, and careful behavioral measurements. Current projects include elucidation of the cortical representation of oculomotor proprioception, using saccadic adaptation to understand the coordinate system of neurons in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP), the role of prestriate cortex in visual search, and the role of inhibition in the response of parietal neurons. Recent discoveries in the laboratory include the demonstration of a predictive relationship of parietal activity to both saccadic reaction time and visual attention; the demonstration that the lateral parietal area acts as a linear summing junction for at least three independent signals: a saccadic signal, and undifferentiated visual signal, and a cognitive signal, and the proprioceptive representation of eye position in monkey area 3a of primary somatosensory cortex.