Tony Morland
Professor

Profile

Biography

• Imperial College London
  BSc in Physics
  PhD in Physics

Graduated from Imperial College London in Physics and stayed in the Physics Department to study for a doctorate on colour vision. Held post-doctoral positions at Imperial College, Institute of Neurology, London. In 1997 gained a Wellcome Trust Research Career Development Fellowship that allowed him to pursue neuroimaging research at Stanford University. Following six years on the Psychology faculty at Royal Holloway University of London, came to York in 2006. Current research interests in functional imaging of the visual areas of the human brain to reach a greater understanding of fundamental visual mechanisms in health and disease.

Research

Overview

My research has two strands. First, I am interested in how the brain organizes visual information in the light of visual deficits that arise as a result of disease or damage to the visual system. I wish to understand the nature and extent of how visual cortex reorganizes following partial or total loss of visual function. My work also serves to shed light on the effects of visual diseases and disorders on visual function. Through the characterization of the visual disorders, better diagnosis and treatment of patients might be achieved. Second, I am interested in fundamental aspects of vision and undertake investigations to understand the causal roles that different cortical areas play in our visual perception.  

Research group(s)

• Perception and Action

Grants

• Wellcome Trust
• Medical Research Council

Collaborators

• Professor Alex Wade, Department of Psychology, York
• Dr Heidi Baseler, Hull-York Medical School, York
• Professor Frans Cornelissen, Groningen, Netherlands
• Professor Mark Greenlee, Regensburg, Germany
• Professor Michael Hoffmann, Magdeburg, Germany
• Professor Gary Rubin, Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London

Available PhD research projects

Functional organization of visual cortex in health and disease using FMRI, TMS, ERP & MEG.

Supervision

• Lauren Welbourne (with Prof Alex Wade)
• Sam Lawrence

Publications

Selected publications

• Silson EH, McKeefry DJ, Rodgers J, Gouws AD, Hymers M, Morland AB (2013) Specialized and independent processing of orientation and shape in visual field maps LO1 and LO2. Nature Neurosci. 16:267-9.
• Bridge H, von dem Hagen EA, Davies G, Chambers C, Gouws A, Hoffmann MB, Morland AB. Changes in brain morphology in albinism reflect reduced visual acuity. Cortex. 2012 Sep 10. doi:pii: S0010-9452(12)00250-X. 10.1016/j.cortex.2012.08.010. [Epub ahead of print]
• Baseler HA, Gouws A, Haak KV, Racey C, Crossland MD, Tufail A, Rubin GS, Cornelissen FW, Morland AB. (2011) Large-scale remapping of visual cortex is absent in adult humans with macular degeneration. Nature Neurosci. 2011 14:649-55.
• McKeefry, D.J., Burton, M.P., Vakrou, C., Barrett, B.T., Morland, A,B. (2008) Induced deficits in speed perception by transcranial magnetic stimulation of human cortical areas V5/MT+ and V3A. J Neurosci. 28(27):6848-57.

Full publications list

See the York Research Database or Google Scholar.

Teaching

Undergraduate

Year 1

• Brain and Behavouir

Advanced Modules (3rd Year)

• Nature & Nurture of Vision

• Damage to the Visual Brain

Postgraduate

Masters

• Topics in cognitive neuroscience

External activities

Memberships

• Society for Neuroscience - Member
• Founding member and organiser of the Yorkshire Vision Network