The Alkek Lecture
Presented by the Center for Neuroscience, Rice University

Melvyn A. Goodale
Professor of Psychology and Physiology
University of Western Ontario

 "Sight Unseen: Action without Perception
in Human Vision"

Dr. Goodale is best known for his work on the functional organization of the visual pathways in the cerebral cortex, and was a pioneer in the study of visuomotor control in neurological patients. His recent research uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to look at the activity in the normal human brain as it performs different kinds of visual tasks. He has also developed virtual-object technology to study the visual information used to program and control grasping movements. Dr. Goodale holds major research grants from both the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.  He is currently Director of the CIHR Group on Action and Perception.

His recent book with David Milner, 'The Visual Brain in Action' (Oxford University Press), has been quite influential. In it, he and Milner provide compelling arguments that the brain mechanisms underlying our conscious visual experience of the world are quite separate from those involved in the visual control of skilled actions. These ideas not only have implications for our understanding visual deficits in neurological patients, but also offer some new directions for the design of robots and artificial visual systems.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2000
3:30 P.M.
KYLE MORROW ROOM
FONDREN LIBRARY
RICE UNIVERSITY 

Reception to follow.  This lecture is free and open to the public. Reservations are not needed.

Rice University thanks the Albert and Margaret Alkek Foundation for its generosity in establishing the
Alkek Fund in Neuroscience.