While a 16th century proverb purports that eyes are the windows to the soul, in neuroscience research, the eyes are viewed as windows to the brain. NDSU researchers are conducting groundbreaking research examining the mechanisms that control eye movement. Researchers are studying how the eyes and brain work together and how such factors as attention, individual differences and emotion affect visual abilities.
The National Institutes of Health awarded NDSU researchers a five-year $8.9 million grant in 2004 to establish a Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) for visual neuroscience at the university. The proposal of NDSU researchers competed against 40 to 50 other proposals from 20 states. The COBRE grant allows the construction of two state-of-the-art EEG laboratories to conduct electrical brain-imaging experiments. In addition, an advanced driving simulator laboratory will be created. The center’s director, Mark McCourt, is a professor of psychology. Senior advisers on the project include Mark Nawrot and Barbara Blakeslee. Individual research projects are directed by Linda Langley, Robert Gordon, Chris Friesen, Mark Brady, Stéphane Rainville and Wolfgang Teder-Sälejärvi. Through the competitive grant, NDSU researchers will examine various aspects of the neural mechanisms and functional significance of visual perception, visual attention, visual cognition and action. "This achievement could only happen because of the excellence in the faculty we’ve assembled in the department," said McCourt. "We have an opportunity to do very significant work." Three internationally renowned vision scientists comprise the center’s external advisory committee. Members include Randolph Blake, Vanderbilt University; Gordon Legge, University of Minnesota; and Christopher Tyler, Smith Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, San Francisco.
Want to know more? Full PDF from NDSU Report on Research 2005!
