Neural Mechanisms of Visual Cognition and Memory Functions. (360G-Wellcome-080851_Z_06_Z)

This proposal consists of four research projects. Two of these aim to investigate neural mechanisms of face perception. The goal of the first project is to find out how culture shapes neural substrates of self-face recognition and self construals. The second project investigates the role of the dorsal stream of the brain in face encoding and how this could lead to an advantage in face recognition memory. The third project looks into the issue of extinction and neglect typically manifested in pat ients suffering from parietal stroke. It will identify the sequence in which space, time, and quantity are processed in normal and patient populations. The final project examines the neural substrates of delusional beliefs and related confabulation in Alzheimer s patients. It will examine how personal memory failure and an impairment of the ability to monitor the truthfulness of ideas and recollections may lead to delusional beliefs. Right frontal brain function in patients with abnormal beliefs at rest, and during the performance of personal memory retrieval and provoked confabulations will be assessed. All projects in this proposal will employ multichannel ERP (event-related potential) recording to infer underlying brain mechanisms for specific perceptual and cognitive tasks.