[CTN] CTN seminar: Michael Barnett-Cowan, 3:30 Feb 16, PAS 2464

[Bryan Tripp]

Hi everyone,

Just a reminder about the talk today. Hope to see you there.

Regards,
Bryan


On Thu, Feb 11, 2016 at 11:16 PM, Bryan Tripp <bptripp at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> Please join us for our next CTN seminar on Tuesday (Feb 16) at 3:30 in PAS
> 2464. The title, abstract, and bio follow. The speaker is Michael
> Barnett-Cowan (Dept. of Kinesiology, University of Waterloo).
>
> Let me know if you would like to meet individually with Prof.
> Barnett-Cowan.
>
> Regards,
> Bryan
>
> Title: Gravity's fundamental role for perception and action
>
> Abstract: Orientation is fundamental to perception and action. Knowing
> where you are in relation to the world and its contents is critical for
> adaptive behaviour. Orientation requires a reference, which the force of
> gravity is ideally suited for because it is constant on earth. The senses
> provide different types of information about the direction of gravity
> however. Thus a critical step that the brain must achieve to accurately
> represent the world and its contents is the integration of orientation cues
> from multiple sensory organs that individually do not provide an accurate
> representation of the physical world. Under normal circumstances when the
> head is upright with respect to the direction of gravity’s force and with
> respect to the orientation of a polarized visual environment, perceived
> self-orientation within an earth-centric field of reference is reinforced
> by such sensory cues. Perceptual stability is compromised, however, when
> orientation information from the senses is discordant. In this talk I will
> present a number of behavioural studies that demonstrate how fundamental
> gravity is to perception and action at the individual and group level. I
> will then briefly introduce a new research project designed to address
> these individual and group differences using genomics and will conclude by
> opening a discussion on how developing a working computational model of how
> the brain integrates multisensory information about orientation could be
> used to better predict, monitor and treat disorientation as well as sensory
> processing deficits that come with ageing and disease.
>
> Bio: Michael is an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience in the Department
> of Kinesiology at the University of Waterloo where he is the Director of
> the Multisensory Brain & Cognition laboratory. Michael received his PhD in
> Experimental Psychology in 2009 at York University with Laurence Harris at
> the Centre for Vision Research. He then took up a postdoctoral fellowship
> at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany
> with Heinrich Bülthoff where he led the Cybernetics Approach to Perception
> and Action (CAPA) research group and was project leader for the Simulation
> of Upset Recovery in Aviation (SUPRA) F7 EU Research Grant. In 2012 he
> returned to Canada to work with Jody Culham at Western University's Brain
> and Mind Institute where he held appointments as an adjunct research
> professor and a Banting fellow. Michael's research program uses
> psychophysical, modelling, as well as neural imaging and stimulation
> techniques to assess how the normal, damaged, diseased, and older human
> brain integrates multisensory information that is ultimately used to guide
> perception, cognition and action. More information about Michael's research
> can be found here:
> https://uwaterloo.ca/multisensory-brain-and-cognition-lab/
>
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