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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><h2><span style='font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>PhD Dissertation Announcement<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Non-Retinotopic Reference Frames in Human Vision: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>A Dynamic Journey from Visual Chaos to Clarity <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Babak Noory<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Date: Tuesday, April 22<sup>nd</sup> </span></b><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Place: N355 Engineering Building 1<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Time: 14:00 – 16:00<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Committee Chair: </span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Dr. Haluk Ogmen, University of Houston, Electrical and Computer Engineering<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Committee Members:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Dr. Bruno G. Breitmeyer, University of Houston, Psychology<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Dr. Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal, University of Houston, Electrical and Computer Engineering<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Dr. Michael H. Herzog, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Dr. Bhavin Sheth, University of Houston, Electrical and Computer Engineering<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Preservation of neighborhood relations, as images of distal stimuli are projected from retina to the early areas of the visual cortex, is known as retinotopic organization. Purely retinotopic theories of vision, however, cannot explain how clarity of dynamic form is achieved under natural ecological conditions (i.e. in the presence of object/observer motion). Recent studies have indicated that many visual attributes of a stimulus are computed according to non-retinotopic reference frames. The goal of this research was to understand the nature and spatio-temporal properties of reference frames involved in non-retinotopic computations. We utilized a Ternus-Pikler apparent motion experimental paradigm to achieve this goal.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Our results indicate that the effect of a dynamic non-retinotopic reference frame extends over space, creating a <i>field</i> within which target stimuli are localized and perceived relative to the reference. The fields of neighboring dynamic reference frames interact; static stimuli do not affect the fields of dynamic references; the non-retinotopic field effect is maximized when the target and the reference stimuli appear in phase; and the strength of the field decreases with target-reference phase shift. Our results further show that, even though visual masking mechanisms operate in retinotopic domain, masking effect attenuates significantly in the presence of predictable non-retinotopic reference frames. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In conclusion, this work reveals that the dynamic nature of our visual experience should be viewed as part of the solution, rather than a problem in ecological vision. </span><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>