David Pitcher
Senior Lecturer

Profile

Biography

I graduated in Psychology from York in 1994 and after ten years working in the private sector, I returned to academia to complete a PhD at University College London in 2009. I did postdoctoral training in neuroimaging at MIT and then accepted a research fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health before returning to York in 2015.

Career

• Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Psychology, University of York, 2020 Onwards
• Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Psychology, University of York, 2015 to 2020
• Research Fellow, NIMH, 2011 to 2015      
• Postdoctoral Researcher, MIT, 2009 to 2011      
• Ph.D. Psychology, University College London, 2006 to 2009      
• M.Sc. University of York, 2005 to 2006      
• B.Sc. Psychology, University of York, 1991 to 1994

Departmental roles

• Deputy Chair of MSc Examiners
• Member of Exceptional Circumstance Committee

Research

Overview

I am a cognitive neuroscientist studying the cortical mechanisms of the human visual system. I use transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and neuropsychological patient data to test functional models of brain function with a particular focus on face perception.

Grants

• 2017 to 2021 - BBSRC New Investigator Grant (BB/P006981) - £457016              
  “Causal Connections of the cortical face network studied with TMS and FMRI”

• 2016 to 2017 - SFARI Explorer Award (#392150) - $58036
  “Measuring the size of face-selective regions using fMRI and TMS”

Publications

Selected publications

• Pitcher, D., & Ungerleider, L. G. (2021). Evidence for a third visual pathway specialized for social perception. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 25(2), 100-110.
• Pitcher, D., Parkin, B., & Walsh, V. (2021). Transcranial magnetic stimulation and the understanding of behaviour. Annual Review of Psychology, 72, 97-121.
• Sliwinska, M. W., Bearpark, C., Corkhill, J., McPhillips, A., & Pitcher, D. (2020). Dissociable pathways for moving and static face perception begin in early visual cortex: evidence from an acquired prosopagnosic. Cortex, 130, 327-339.
• Sliwinska, M. W., Elson, R., & Pitcher, D. (2020) TMS demonstrates causal functional connectivity between the left and right posterior temporal sulci during facial expression recognition. Brain Stimulation, 13(4), 1008-1013.
• Sliwinska, M. W., & Pitcher, D. (2018). TMS demonstrates that both right and left superior temporal sulci are important for facial expression recognition. NeuroImage, 183, 394-400.
• Pitcher, D., Japee, S., Rauth, L., & Ungerleider, L. G. (2017). The superior temporal sulcus is causally connected to the amygdala: A combined TBS-fMRI study. Journal of Neuroscience, 37(5), 1156-1161.
• Pitcher, D., Duchaine, B., & Walsh, V. (2014). Combined TMS and fMRI reveals dissociable cortical pathways for dynamic and static face perception. Current Biology, 24(17), 2066-2070. 

Full publications list

For full publication list see David Pitcher's Google Scholar profile.

Teaching

Undergraduate

• Brain and Behaviour: Clinical Neuroscience (Year 2)
• Advanced Module: The Neurobiology of Depression (Years 3 and 4)