Research Themes

Learning & Plasticity

Our perception of particular visual stimuli can change dramatically after relatively minimal viewing.

​I study how such perceptual learning occurs, with an emphasis on the neural mechanisms that contribute to rapid perceptual learning of complex visual stimuli.

Example Publications:
Reavis EA*, Frank SM*, Greenlee MW, & Tse PU (2016). Neural correlates of context-dependent feature-conjunction learning in visual search tasks. Human Brain Mapping

Frank SM*, Reavis EA*, Tse PU, & Greenlee MW (2014). Neural mechanisms of feature conjunction learning: Enduring changes in occipital cortex after a week of training. Human Brain Mapping.
​    *Equal Contributions

Individual Differences

Every person's brain is different. So is every person's perception.

My work investigates how individual differences in the structure and function of the brain relate to individual differences in perception.

Example Publications:
Reavis EA, Frank SM, & Tse PU (2015). Caudate nucleus reactivity predicts perceptual learning rate for visual feature conjunctions. NeuroImage
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Reavis EA, Lee J, Wynn JK, Narr KL, Njau SN, Engel SA, & Green MF (2017). Linking optic radiation volume to visual perception in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia Research​

Perception in Mental Illness

​Little is understood about the neurobiological causes of the specific, measurable perceptual abnormalities that exist in various mental illnesses.

​My research uses the tools of vision science to investigate the neural correlates of aberrant perception in mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Example Publications:
Reavis EA, Lee J, Wynn JK, Engel SA, Jimenez A, & Green MF (2017). Cortical thickness of functionally-defined visual areas in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Cerebral Cortex.

Reavis EA, Lee J, Wynn JK, Engel SA, Cohen MS, Nuechterlein KH, Glahn DC, Altshuler LL, Green MF (2017). Assessing neural tuning for object perception in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder with multivariate pattern analysis of fMRI data. NeuroImage: Clinical.

For the full text of these papers and others, visit my publications page.