Alyssa.Brewer
Assistant Professor
University of California, Irvine
Cognitive Sciences
Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience
PublicationsCV
Education:
M.D., Stanford University School of Medicine
Ph.D., Neuroscience, Stanford University
Research interests:
Neuroimaging of visual perception, visual deficits, and neurological disorders
Alyssa's lab uses functional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging to study perceptual representations in human visual cortex. Her lab is currently focusing on the organization of visual field maps, stimulus selectivity and inter-map connectivity in human ventral cortex. Measurements in patients with retinal dystrophies or cortical lesions complement these fundamental measurements to explore how the organization and stimulus selectively of this region are altered in pathological conditions.
A second goal of Alyssa's lab is to bring our expertise in 'in vivo'measurements of perceptual representations in human visual cortex to the study of the visual deficits in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Her lab's measurements investigate whether there is a systematic change in visual cortex as part of the pathophysiology of these diseases. Their hope is that such data will contribute to earlier and more definitive detection of these forms of dementia and a better understanding of the differences between AD and PCA.
