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Research Interests
Psychophysical investigations of global form perception: coding, selection, and dynamics.A major goal of my research has been to understand the cortical mechanisms that enable people to perceive coherent global forms from retinal illumination patterns that are often ambiguous as to what meaningful forms and configurations are present. Strategically, I have broken down the problem of global form perception into several (non-exhaustive) component processes: (1) encoding of global geometric features, (2) voluntary (attentive) and involuntary (driven by pattern salience modulated by context and experience) selections of global forms into awareness, and (3) maintenance of the multistability of visual awareness (effectively balancing exploration of multiple potential scene interpretations with persistence of a single interpretation). I have used psychophysical paradigms, recently combined with computational modeling, that allow for parametric comparisons of my behavioral results with known physiological properties of visual neurons. Specific experimental techniques used are, (a) brief shape-aftereffect paradigms (for probing population coding and attentional selection of global form features), (b) multistable binocular rivalry (for understanding how the course of spontaneous shifts in visual awareness across different global forms and scene interpretations are influenced by the organization of form coding, prior experience, and cognitive factors such as attention and intention), (c) rapid flicker paradigms (for understanding potential roles of temporal coding in segregating and preserving multistable representations), (d) stochastic resonance paradigms (for investigating the mechanisms that control the dynamics of spontaneous shifts in visual awareness), and (e) visual search paradigms including priming and adaptation manipulations (for understanding experiential factors that adaptively modulate pattern salience and influence automatic pattern selection). These lines of research will provide insights into the ultimate questions of (1) how neural activity throughout the ventral visual stream (the “what” pathway: V1, V2, V4, and IT) generates a seemingly coherent and unitary visual awareness while responding concurrently to different components and aspects of retinal stimulation, and (2) how visual awareness is maintained in a meta-stable state so that it shifts from one coherent scene interpretation to another (driven spontaneously or by attention) at a rate optimized for efficient analyses of the visual environment.
Selected Publications
Conference Abstracts
Iordanescu, L., Grabowecky, M., & Suzuki, S. Meaningful association of a sound with a target facilitates visual search. Abstract submitted for the annual meeting of the Vision Sciences Society. see PDF
Grabowecky, M., Iordanescu, L., & Suzuki, S. Attentive tracking involves a demand-based dynamic redistribution of attention. Abstract submitted for the annual meeting of the Vision Sciences Society. see PDF
Sweeny, T. D., Grabowecky, M., Paller, K. A., & Suzuki, S. Affective ratings of surprise faces are modulated by visual field and by adjacent facial expressions within the same visual field. Abastract submitted for the annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society. see PDF
Kim, Y. J., Grabowecky, M., Paller, K. A., & Suzuki, S. (2006). Harmonic components of SSVEPs simultaneously generate both broad bilateral and focal contralateral responses [Abstract]. Journal of Vision, 6(6), 535a. see PDF
Grabowecky, M., Iordanescu, L., Skogsberg, K., Novis, S., Rock, M., & Suzuki, S. (2006). An investigation of relationships among visual-attention processes [Abstract]. Journal of Vision, 6(6), 949a. see PDF
Grabowecky, M., & Suzuki, S. (2005). Sources of long-term speeding in binocular rivalry [Abstract]. Journal of Vision, 5(8), 1048a. see PDF
Smith, E. L., Grabowecky, M., & Suzuki, S. (2005). Pitch of concurrent pure tone influences visual gender perception [Abstract]. Journal of Vision, 5(8), 880a. see PDF
Journal Publications
Kim, Y.-J., Grabowecky, M., Paller, K., Krishnakumar, M., & Suzuki, S. (2007). Attention induces synchronization-based multiplicative response gain in steady-state visual evoked potentials. Nature Neuroscience, 10(1), 117-125 . see PDF
Behrmann, M., Peterson, M. A., Moscovitch, M, & Suzuki, S. (2006). Integrative agnosia: deficit in encoding relations between parts. Journal or Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 32(5), 1169-1184. see PDF
Kim, Y.-J., Grabowecky, M., & Suzuki, S. (2006). Stochastic resonance in binocular rivalry. Vision Research, 46(3), 392-406 . see PDF
Goolsby, B. A., Grabowecky, M., & Suzuki, S. (2005). Adaptive modulation of color salience contingent upon global form coding and task relevance, Vision Research, 45, 901–930. see PDF
Suzuki, S. (2005). High-level pattern coding revealed by brief shape aftereffects. In C. Clifford and G. Rhodes (Eds.), Fitting the mind to the world: adaptation and aftereffects in high-level vision (Advances in Visual Cognition Series, Vol. 2), Oxford University Press. see PDF
Suzuki, S. (2003b). The high and low of visual awareness. Neuron, 39(6), 883-884. see PDF
Suzuki, S. & Grabowecky, M. (2003b). Attention during adaptation weakens negative afterimages. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 29(4), 793-807. see PDF
Suzuki, S. & Grabowecky, M. (2003a). Response: Binocular rivalry and perceptual multi-stability. Trends in Neurosciences, 26(6), 287-289. see PDF
Suzuki, S. & Goolsby, B. A. (2003). Sequential priming is not constrained by the shape of long-term learning curves. Perception & Psychophysics, 65(4), 632-648. see PDF
Suzuki, S. (2003a). Attentional selection of overlapped shapes: a study using brief aftereffects. Vision Research, 43, 549-561. see PDF
Suzuki, S. & Grabowecky, M. (2002b). Overlapping features can be parsed on the basis of temporal cues that result in stable emergent percepts. Vision Research, 42, 2669-2692. see PDF
Suzuki, S. & Grabowecky, M. (2002a). Evidence for perceptual “trapping” and adaptation in multistable binocular rivalry. Neuron, 36, 143-157. see PDF
Suzuki, S. (2001). Attention-dependent brief adaptation to contour orientation: a high-level aftereffect for convexity? Vision Research, 41, 3883-3902. see PDF
Goolsby, B. A. & Suzuki, S. (2001). Understanding priming of color-singleton search: roles of attention at encoding and “retrieval.” Perception & Psychophysics, 63(6), 929-944. see PDF
Suzuki, S. & Peterson, M. A. (2000). Multiplicative effects of intention on the perception of bistable apparent motion, Psychological Science, 11(3), 202-209. see PDF
Suzuki, S. & Cavanagh, P. (1998). A shape-contrast effect for briefly presented stimuli. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 24(5), 1315-1341. see PDF
Suzuki, S. & Cavanagh, P. (1997). Focused attention distorts visual space: an attentional repulsion effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 23(2), 443-463. see PDF
Suzuki, S. & Cavanagh, P. (1995). Facial organization blocks access to low-level features: an object inferiority effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 21(4), 901-913. see PDF
Under review or revision
Kim, J.-S., Rivest, J., Suzuki, S., & Sharpe, J. A. Perception of shape after cerebral hemispheric lesions.
Smith, E., Grabowecky, M., & Suzuki, S. Visual-auditory cross-modal integration in perception of face gender.
Suzuki, S., & Grabowecky, M. Long-term speeding in perceptual switches mediated by attention-dependent plasticity in cortical visual processing.
Zinbarg, R. E., & Suzuki, S. Uses and abuses of analysis of covariance: a structural equation model perspective.
