My Research

I am a Graduate Student in Cognitive Neuroscience at Dartmouth College in the department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. I conduct research under the watchful eye of my advisor Peter Tse. My research centers around how our brain transforms the light entering our eyes into our visual experience of the world around us. A central theme running throughout my research is examining (and trying to understand) how the shape of an object influences the way it is perceived to move. In my research I combine classical psychophysical techniques with modern neuroimaging (fMRI, DTI, EEG/ERP) technology in an attempt to find convergent sources of information about how the brain enables us to "see".

Click Here to see my current CV.

Click Here to see the Bar Cross Ellipse Illusion

Click Here to see the Spinning Ellipse Speed Illusion

Click Here to see a demonstration of grouping via temporal synchrony.

Click Here to see a demonstration of Tilt-Induced-Motion

Click Here to see a demonstration of local-motion interacting with non-local spatial form

My Mentors

In addition to my current PhD Advisor: Dr. Peter Ulric Tse, I have been fortunate enough to receive training from the following brilliant people:

Professor Howard C. Hughes: Dartmouth College

Dr. Robert Fendrich: Dartmouth College

Dr. Andrej Ljolja: AT&T Bell Laboratories

Dr. Alan Weiss: Lucent Technologies

Professor Yu Chen: Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences

Dr. Don Jewett: Abratech Corporation

Dr. Bill Baird: Abratech Corporation

Dr. Linda Larson-Prior: Abratech Corporation

Current Projects

Neural Correlates of Rigid and Non-Rigid Motion: A combined psychophysics and fMRI project investigating the neural processes underlying how form and motion information is used to generate percepts of rigid-rotational and non-rigid motion. < Thesis Project >

Tilt-Induced-Motion: A new and exciting illusion illustrating the interactions between low level sources of form and motion information. <Debuted at V.S.S 2007 as Aperture-Induced Motion, manuscript under review >

Detection and Identification of sudden transient changes in the visual image. How much information about a change is encoded in the change itself? This is a collaboration with Drs. Howard C. Hughes and Robert Fendrich and is in the early stages of data collection.

Diffusion Tensor Imaging: Anatomical Correlates of Psychological Traits. Identifying those regions of the brain in which white matter organization correlates with psychological traits such as Creativity. <In Preparation>

The temporal dynamics of change detection using subdural electrode ERP. The recording of evoked potentials prior to, after and at the moment of change detection from electrodes placed on and within the human cortex.This is a collaboration with Drs. Marian E. Berryhill and Terrance Darcey. < IN DATA COLLECTION>

My most recent publications:

G. P. Caplovitz, R. Fendrich, H. C. Hughes. Failures to see: Attentive blank stares revealed by change blindness. Conscious Cogn. 2007 Oct 9; [Epub ahead of print]

G. P. Caplovitz, D.J. Barroso, P-J. Hsieh, P.U.Tse. fMRI RevealsThat Non-Local Processing in Ventral Retinotopic Cortex Underlies Perceptual Grouping by Temporal Synchrony. Human Brain Mapping. [Epub ahead of print]

G.P. Caplovitz and P.U. Tse.  Rotating dotted ellipses: Motion perception driven by grouped figural rather than local dot motion signals. Vision Research. Jun 2007;47(15):1979-1991 

G.P. Caplovitz, P. U. Tse. V3A processes contour curvature as a trackable feature for the perception of rotational motion. Cerebral Cortex. 2007 May;17(5):1179-89

P.U.Tse, G.P. Caplovitz.  Chapter 15 Contour discontinuities subserve two types of form analysis that underlie motion processing. Prog Brain Res. 2006;154:271-92

My Collaborators

I have had and continue to have the opportunity to collaborate with several other researchers who have taught me more than I could have ever hoped. These collaborations have helped me grow as a graduate student, researcher and human being by exposing me to the ideas, talents and personalities of people who are truely special.

At Dartmouth College:

Po-Jang Hsieh

Dr. Marian E. Berryhill

Dr. Terrance Darcey

Dr. Howard H. Hughes

Dr. Robert Fendrich

Away from Dartmouth College:

Dr. Xoana Troncoso:Barrow Neurological Institute

Dr. Susana Martinez Condes: Barrow Neurological Institute

Dr. Stephen Macknik: Barrow Neurological Institute

Dr. Anthony Norcia: Smith Kettlewell Eye Institute

Teaching

I strongly believe in value of education and put a great deal of energy into becoming the best educator that I can be. Here at Dartmouth, I have had the opportunity to serve as a teaching assistant in the following classes.

Psych 11: Experimental Methods in Psychological Research

Psych 64: Sensory Psychology

Psych 21: Perception

This past spring, I was given the distinct honor of receiving the 2006 Marie Center Award for excellence in graduate student teaching. I had previously been nominated for the 2005 award.

In addition to serving as a Teaching Assistant, I have been given the opportunity to mentor several undergraduate research assistants who have worked in our lab. These students have been some of the brightest and most outstanding undergraduates I have had the fortune to come across.

Current Students:

Peter KÖhler

Omar Pardesi

Jordan Garrow

R. Randall McKnight Jr.

Rebecca Loucks

Past Students:

Marc Samco

Kendra Vierbickas

Heather Kiefer

Emilie Mackie

Jeremy H. Warburg

This past term I had the distinct pleasure of helping Erika Ruberry with her undergraduate Honors Thesis investigating the recognition of facial expressions of emotion. Congrulations to Erika on a job well done.