Title: Perceptual Learning: How Experience Shapes Visual Perception

Speaker: Prof. Zhong-Lin LU

Time: 13:00-14:30, September 3, 2019

Location: Third Floor Lobby, Lui Che Woo Building, Peking University

Abstract:

Perceptual learning through practice or training can significantly improve performance on visual tasks. Research on perceptual learning has revealed substantial plasticity in the adult perceptual system and generated strong interest in its application to development of perceptual expertise in the normal population and noninvasive amelioration of deficits in challenged populations. Originally seen as a manifestation of plasticity in the primary visual cortex, perceptual learning is more readily understood as improvements in the function of brain networks that integrate processes including sensory representations, decision, attention, and reward, and balance of plasticity with system stability.  Performance improvements resulting from reweighting or readout of sensory inputs to decision provide a strong theoretical framework for interpreting perceptual learning and transfer that may prove useful in optimizing learning in real world applications. This talk considers the primary phenomena of perceptual learning, theories of perceptual learning, and its applications.

Brief biography:

Zhong-Lin Lu is the Chief Scientist, Associate Provost for Sciences, and co-Director of the NYU-ECNU Institute of Brain and Cognitive Science at NYU Shanghai, and Professor of Neural Science and Psychology at NYU. 

A physicist by training, Lu obtained B.S. in theoretical physics from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1989, and through the CUSPEA program, took his Ph.D. in physics at New York University in 1992 with Samuel J. Williamson. After a four-year postdoctoral fellowship in Cognitive Science at the University of California, Irvine with George Sperling, he joined the Department of Psychology at University of Southern California as an Assistant Professor in 1996, rising to Professor of Psychology and Biomedical Engineering in 2005 and William M. Keck Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience in 2006. He was co-Director of the Dana and David Dornsife Cognitive Neuroscience Imaging Center at USC before joining the Ohio State University in 2011. While at OSU, Lu was the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Professor of Psychology, Optometry, and Translational Data Analytics, and Director of the Center for Cognitive and Brain Sciences and the Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Brain Imaging. 

Lu’s research has been driven by a desire to develop computational brain models for perception and cognition– models that are sufficiently computational such that they can be represented in a computer program or in mathematical theory. He deploys a rich set of experimental and theoretical approaches: psychophysical experimentation, physiological investigation, clinical testing, and computational modeling. His research spans a wide range of topics covering (1) visual and auditory perception, attention, and perceptual learning, (2) sensory and attentional processes, second language learning, memory, and human decision making, (3) visual deficits in myopia, dyslexia, amblyopia & Alzheimer's disease, and (4) brain imaging technologies, data analytics and cognitive neuroscience.  

Throughout his distinguished career, Lu has been known as an extremely versatile scientist, from making ground-breaking scientific discoveries, to developing technological and analytical tools to solve real world problems.   He has published more than 300 scientific papers (including landmark papers in Science, Nature, Nature Neuroscience, PNAS) and has been cited more than 13,000 times.  He has co-authored two books, edited 12 book volumes and received 12 patents (two in visual disease treatment, five in visual and cognitive assessment, five in MRI technologies). As an entrepreneur, he is a co-founder of Adaptive Sensory Technology, Inc., a company that is devoted to transform eye care with precision measurement through development of the next generation Bayesian adaptive vision tests for ophthalmology and optometry. 

Lu’s work has been recognized by numerous awards and honors.  He is a fellow of the Society of Experimental Psychologists and the Association for Psychological Science. When he was appointed fellow in 2003, he was the youngest member ever in the society’s 110 year history.  He also served on multiple editorial boards, including as Associate Editor of Psychological Review. 

As the new Chief Scientist and Associate Provost for Sciences, Lu’s broad charge is to develop a strategic vision for NYUSH to become a new world-class research university. He will help identify the core areas of scientific research, foster multi-disciplinary research programs, build strong partnerships between NYU Shanghai and other elements of the NYU global network, seek collaborative opportunities with academic, industry and other partners, and nurture a collaborative scientific research environment. 

 

Host: Prof. Fang Fang