YNiC Seminar: Internal project proposal presentations

1. Mladen Sormaz
   "Using MVPA to reveal patterns of neural response to facial expression and identity in the human brain"
   
   Models of face processing suggest that different face-selective regions are sensitive to either facial expression or identity (Haxby et al., 2000).  In a previous study, we have shown that that patterns of response to different facial expressions are related to the perceptual similarity of images (Sormaz et al., 2014).  We have also shown that patterns of response to different facial identities are related to the similarity of the images (Rice et al. 2014).  The aim of the current study is to directly compare the relative contributions of expression and identity information to the responses in different regions across the ventral visual pathway using a multiple regression method for analysing patterns   of fMRI data.
2. Mahiko Konishi
   "Changing the mind: exploring how the brain shifts from external to internal focus"
   
   In brief, the study will focus on fMRI scanning participants while  they perform a computer task that we developed. The task consists of two  conditions that are very similar to each other but differ critically in  the way they control the on-task focus level of participants: the hard  condition requires constant focus on the task to be performed  successfully, while the easy condition can be conquered by focusing on  the task only in rare, cued moments, leaving the participants with the  option of daydreaming for the majority of time. These two conditions  alternate continuously in the paradigm, and transitions from one  condition to the other are cued. Critically, the analysis will focus on  these cued transition moments to see how the brain re-sets, and thus  shifts, from external to internal focus, and viceversa.
   
3. Florence Ruby
   "Role of episodic and semantic processes in self-generated thought"

See here for further YNiC Seminar events or contact Dr. Rebecca Millman