Prof. Dr. Alumit Ishai

 

Main Goals, Keywords

I have been using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to characterize the brain structures involved in visual perception, imagery, and memory. Functional MRI is a technique that permits the localization of regions in the human brain that are activated during cognition and skill learning, with fine spatial and temporal resolutions (millimeters and seconds, respectively). Due to its non-invasive nature, fMRI is particularly useful for studying the neural basis of higher cognitive phenomena, like visual imagery, which are not easily simulated in animal models.

Group Members

1 professor, 1 postdoctoral fellow, 2 PhD students

Previous and Current Research

I have shown that visual representations in ventral temporal cortex (the so-called “memory storehouse”) are widely distributed and modulated by a cortical network of parietal and frontal regions (see publications below). Having localized the category-related patterns of activation, I plan to study the dynamics and changes in those cortical regions as a function of learning and memory.

Future Projects

We use face stimuli and art compositions to investigate how visual information is processed, stored and retrieved from memory. Specifically, we are going to investigate the neural correlates of facial attractiveness, and aesthetic affect of abstract and representational art paintings.

Techniques and Equipment

1.5 & 3 Tesla MRI scanners, Eye tracking and Galvanic skin response system

Selected Publications

a) Articles

• Kaul C, Rees G, Ishai A. The Gender of Face Stimuli is Represented in Multiple Regions in the Human Brain. Front Hum Neurosci. 2011 Jan 21;4:238.
• Wiesmann M, Ishai A. Expertise reduces neural cost but does not modulate repetition suppression. Cogn Neurosci. 2011 Mar;2(1):57-65. Epub 2010 Oct 19.

b) Reviews and Book Chapters

• Ishai, A. (2011) A cortical network for face perception. In: New Frontiers in Social Cognitive Neuroscience. Editors: R. Kawashima, M. Sugiura, T. Tsukiura. 73-81. Tohoku University Press, Sendai.
  

• Ishai, A. (2011) Art Compositions Elicit Distributed Activation in the Human Brain. In: Aesthetic Science: Connecting Minds, Brains, and Experience, A. P. Shimamura and S. E. Palmer (Eds.), Oxford University Press: New York. 337-355. (2)

Selected Lectures, Seminars, Colloquia

• Wiesmann M, Ishai A. Expertise reduces neural cost but does not modulate repetition suppression. Cogn Neurosci. 2011 Mar;2(1):57-65. Epub 2010 Oct 19.
• Kaul C, Rees G, Ishai A. The Gender of Face Stimuli is Represented in Multiple Regions in the Human Brain. Front Hum Neurosci. 2011 Jan 21;4:238. 
• Ishai, A.  A cortical network for face perception. In: New Frontiers in Social Cognitive Neuroscience, 2011. Editors: R. Kawashima, M. Sugiura, T. Tsukiura. 73-81. Tohoku University Press, Sendai.

URL

www.ini.uzh.ch/~alumit