Heidi Baseler
Lecturer

Profile

Biography

• Dartmouth College, USA

AB, Biology/Psychology (1986)

• University of California Berkeley, USA

PhD, Vision Science (1995)

Career

• Stanford University, Research fellow, Department of Psychology (1996-1999)
• Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, San Francisco, Research fellow/Consultant, (1999-2002)
• University of York, Research fellow, Department of Psychology (2008-2012)
• Hull York Medical School (HYMS), Lecturer in Imaging Sciences, Centre for Neuroscience (2012-present)

Departmental roles

• Deputy Chair Board of Studies (HYMS)
• INSPIRE Programme Lead (Undergraduate research) (HYMS)
• Block Lead:  The CNS and normal neuromuscular and musculoskeletal function (HYMS)
• Block Lead:  Neurological, neuromuscular and musculoskeletal disease (HYMS)
• Early Career Researchers Forum Committee (Psychology)
• York Neuroimaging Centre Research Governance Committee (Psychology)
• York Neuroimaging Centre Science Committee (Psychology)
• Member of the Experimental Medicine and Biomedicine research group.

Research

Overview

My current research focus is to understand the neural mechanisms specialised for processing central and peripheral vision, and how these mechanisms respond to sensory loss (visual or auditory).

Projects

Current research projects include:

• Determining the neural basis of superior visual performance in the deaf
• Monitoring recovery of cortical visual function in patients with visual deficits (e.g. age-related macular degeneration, genetic visual disorders, brain trauma)

Techniques

• Neuroimaging:  MRI, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), quantitative MRI, myelin mapping, hyperpolarisation
• Electrophysiology:  Multifocal electroencephalography (EEG), electroretinography (ERG)

Research group(s)

• Archana Airody (HYMS, MD student)
• Anthony Bateson (HYMS, PhD student)
• Holly Brown (Psychology, Research associate)
• Alexandra Levine (Psychology, PhD student)
• Barbara Molz (Psychology, Marie Curie ITN PhD student)
• Rachel Woodall (Psychology, Research associate)

Grants

• University of Lille:  ‘ACTIVIS: Active vision and functional reorganization in people with central or peripheral vision loss’, 2016, Co-I
• University of York Research Priming Fund:  ‘Mapping neural responses across the visual field using multifocal electrophysiology’, 2015, PI
• Wellcome Trust ISS/C2D2 Career Establishment Grant:  ‘Assessing visual cortex in candidates for retinal prosthetics’, 2015-17, PI
• European Commission – Innovative Training Networks (ITN):  ‘NextGenVis: Training the Next Generation of European Visual Neuroscientists for the benefit of innovation in health care and high-tech industry’, 2015-19, Co-I
• Fight for Sight:  ‘Assessing the status of visual cortex in patients with macular disease’, 2014-2017, Co-I

Collaborators

• Aziz Asghar (University of Hull)
• Muriel Boucart (University of Lille)
• David Buckley (University of Sheffield)
• Charlotte Codina (University of Sheffield)
• Frans Cornelissen (University of Groningen)
• Karla Evans (University of York)
• Richard Gale (York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)
• Mark Greenlee (University of Regensburg)
• Michael Hoffmann (University of Magdeburg)
• Tony Morland (University of York)
• Paulo Stanga (Manchester Royal Eye Hospital)
• Alex Wade (University of York)

Publications

Selected publications

• Andrews TJ, Baseler HA, Jenkins R, Burton AM, Young AW. (2016). Contributions of feature shapes and surface cues to the recognition and neural representation of facial identity. Cortex 83: 280-91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2016.08.008
• Brown H.D.H., Woodall R.L., Kitching RE, Baseler HA, Morland AB (2016). Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Assess Visual Deficits: A review. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics. 36: 240–265. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/opo.12293
• Prins D,  Plank T, Baseler HA, Gouws AD, Beer A, Morland AB, Greenlee MW, Cornelissen FW. (2016). Surface-based analyses of anatomical properties of the visual cortex in macular degeneration. PLoS One 11:ee0146684. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0146684.
• Hernowo AT, Prins D, Baseler HA, Plank T, Gouw, A, Hooymans JMM, Morland AB, Greenlee MW, Cornelissen FW.  (2014). Morphometric analyses of the visual pathways in macular degeneration. Cortex 56:99-110. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2013.01.003
• Baseler HA, Harris RJ, Young AW, Andrews TJ. (2014). Neural responses to expression and gaze in the posterior superior temporal sulcus interact with facial identity. Cerebral Cortex 24:737-44.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhs360
• Baseler HA, Gouws A, Crossland MD, Leung C, Tufail A, Rubin GS, Morland AB. (2011). Objective visual assessment of antiangiogenic treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration.  Optometry and Vision Science, 88:1255-61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/OPX.0b013e3182282f13
• 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 Neuroscience. 14:649-55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nn.2793
• Henderson LM, Baseler HA, Clarke PJ, Watson S, Snowling MJ. (2011). The N400 effect in children:  Relationships with comprehension, vocabulary and decoding.  Brain and Language, 117:88-99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2010.12.003
• Baseler HA, Gouws A, Morland AB (2009). The organization of the visual cortex in patients with scotomata resulting from lesions of the central retina.  Neuro-Ophthalmology, 33: 149-157.
• Baker SL, Baseler H, Carney T, Klein SA (2006). Localizing sites of activation in primary visual cortex using visual evoked potentials and functional magnetic resonance imaging. Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology, 23: 404-415. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.wnp.0000214596.69436.e0
• Tyler CW, Baseler HA, Kontsevich LL, Likova LT, Wade AR, Wandell BA (2005). Predominantly extra-retinotopic cortical response to pattern symmetry. NeuroImage, 24: 306-314. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.09.018
• Chen CC, Tyler CW, Baseler HA (2003).  Statistical properties of BOLD magnetic resonance activity in the human brain.  NeuroImage, 20:  1096-1109. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1053-8119(03)00358-6
• Baseler HA, Brewer AA, Sharpe LT, Morland AB, Jägle H, Wandell BA (2002).  Reorganization of human cortical maps caused by inherited photoreceptor abnormalities. Nature Neuroscience 5: 364-370. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nn817
• Morland AB, Baseler HA, Hoffmann MB, Sharpe LT, Wandell BA (2001). Abnormal retinotopic representations in human visual cortex revealed by fMRI. Acta Psychologica, 107:  229-247.
• Wandell BA, Poirson AB, Newsome WT, Baseler HA, Boynton GM, Huk A, Gandhi S, Sharpe LT (1999). Color signals in human motion selective cortex. Neuron 24: 901-909.
• Wandell BA, Baseler HA, Poirson AB, Boynton GM, Engel SA (1999). Computational Neuroimaging:  Color tuning in two human cortical areas measured using fMRI.  In Color Vision:  From Genes to Perception.  Eds.: KR Gegenfurtner, LT Sharpe and BB Boycott, Cambridge University Press.
• Baseler HA, Morland AB, Wandell BA (1999). Topographic organization of human visual areas in the absence of input from primary cortex.  Journal of Neuroscience 19: 2619-2627.
• Baseler HA, Sutter EE (1997). M and P components of the VEP and their visual field distribution. Vision Research, 37: 675-690.
• Baseler, HA, Sutter, EE, Klein, SA, Carney, T (1994). The topography of visual evoked response properties across the visual field. Electroenceph. clin. Neurophysiol. 90: 65-81. 

Teaching

Undergraduate

• HYMS, Year 1 Blocks 1, 5, 6
• HYMS, Year 2 Block 12
• HYMS, Phase I Scholarship and Special Interest Programme

Postgraduate

• Psychology, MSc Cognitive Neuroscience, Project supervision

External activities

Memberships

• Yorkshire Vision Network
• Applied Vision Association

Editorial duties

• Ad hoc reviewer for various publications in neuroscience and vision