Grant: Operating Grant

What we see in the world around us depends on our ability to regulate the incessant, voluntary movements of our eyes that direct our gaze to salient visual details. Grasping the full content of a visual situation, however, requires not only the perception of visual information but also the efficient deployment of visual attention and working memory capacity. These cognitive processes are indispensable to direct our gaze to details that are both novel and relevant to the task at hand. How we judiciously control our gaze to take snapshots of the visual world is Dr. Paré's primary research focus. In this project, his team will study brain regions that process visual information and provide guidance signals for the programming of eye movements. The goal is to develop accurate descriptions of the brain mechanisms that not only make us perceive the world the way we do but also select any of our actions. The results will help answer key questions, such as how does our visual system represent simultaneously the many visual details available during each gaze fixation and decide which one to look at next? How do we retaining the information about which details in a visual scene we have already been examined so that we do not look at them repeatedly? How do we gather visual information seamlessly, even from complex visual situations? Answers to these questions are essential to build a comprehensive understanding of the important cognitive processes taking place in our brains. The results of this research are also expected to advance our understanding of neurological diseases, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Diseases, as well as psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Cognitive processing is impaired in these conditions, and they also deteriorate with age. This basic research thus promises potential benefits in health care by providing important insights that could lead to better drugs and therapies for many Canadians.