Amir Shmuel, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor - Visual Systems Neuroscience and Brain Imaging Signals Lab

Dr. Shmuel’s research is focused on two goals. The first is to understand the neuronal mechanisms that underlie functional brain imaging signals, and to evaluate the degree to which these signals reflect the locally measured neuronal activity. The second is to elucidate the principles and processes used by the cerebral cortex to analyze visual information and to create coherent visual perception. Dr. Shmuel’s laboratory employs an integrative approach, using a combination of imaging and electrical recording techniques. These include functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), optical imaging using intrinsic signals and voltage sensitive dyes, multi-channel neurophysiological recordings, and neurophysiology simultaneously with fMRI. Brain activity signals obtained by large scale non-invasive imaging methods are compared to activity of ensembles of neurons imaged optically, and to electrically-recorded activity obtained from groups of neurons and single neurons.