[CTN] CTN seminar: Dr. Melvyn Goodale, 3:30 Feb 24, PAS 2464

[Bryan Tripp]

Hi everyone,

Dr. Melvyn Goodale will give the next seminar, next Tuesday February
24. This should be a good one. The title and abstract follow below.

The time and place are as usual, 3:30 in PAS 2464.

Please let me know if you would like to meet with Professor Goodale
individually and/or join us for dinner after the talk.

Hope to see you there,

Bryan


Melvyn A. Goodale
Distinguished University Professor
Canada Research Chair in Visual Neuroscience
Director of The Brain and Mind Institute
University of Western Ontario

How We See and Hear Stuff: Visual and Auditory Routes to Understanding
the Material Properties of Objects

Almost all studies of object recognition, particularly in brain
imaging, have focused on the geometric structure of objects (i.e.
‘things’).  Until recently, little attention has been paid to the
recognition of the materials from which objects are made (i.e.
‘stuff’), information that is often signalled by surface-based visual
cues (the sheen of polished metal) as well as auditory cues (the sound
of water being poured into a glass).  But knowledge about stuff (the
material properties of objects) has profound implications, not only
for understanding what an object is, but also for the planning of
actions, such as the setting of initial grip and load forces during
grasping.  In recent years, our lab has made some headway in
delineating the neural systems that mediate the recognition of stuff
(as opposed to things), not only in sighted people but also in blind
individuals who use echoes from tongue clicks to recognize the
material properties of objects they encounter.  I will discuss
evidence from both neuropsychological and fMRI studies demonstrating
that lateral occipital regions in the ventral stream play a critical
role in processing the 3-D structure and geometry of objects, whereas
more anteromedial regions (particularly areas in the parahippocampal
gyrus and collateral sulcus) are engaged in processing visual and
auditory cues that signal the material properties of objects.