Xin Huang

Research Description

Human activity is greatly enriched by vision. Relying on our versatile visual system, we can cruise through morning traffic, judge the trajectory of a fast-approaching tennis ball and quickly return it. Vision also provides a major portion of our subjective sensory experience. We enjoy seeing the opulent sky color at dusk and admire the vibrant energy of van Gogh’s Starry Night. Because of the importance of vision, visual disorders have devastating consequences.

Our laboratory seeks to understand the neural mechanisms underlying visual perception and visually guided behavior.  Visual information is represented and processed by a large number of neurons distributed across dozens of brain areas, structured in a hierarchical and parallel manner. Each of these neurons is sensitive to certain features of the visual scene and has a spatially constrained “view” of the world through its receptive field. As information flows deeper into the brain, neural representations transform from pixel-based to object-based, and from sensory to more cognitive and premotor – reflecting the processes of attention, decision-making, and motor planning.

The research in our laboratory aims to address the following questions: 

• To understand the neural processes underlying perceptual organization. Specifically, a) How does the visual system integrate multiple stimulus features to generate the perceptual whole of an object? b) How does the visual system segregate multiple objects from each other and segregate a figural object from its background to achieve segmentation?  c) What is the role of selective attention in perceptual organization?
• How does the visual system transform information along the visual hierarchy to generate perception and guide behavior?
• What are the functional roles of massive and widespread feedback connections in the visual system?
• What are the neural mechanisms underlying selective attention?
• To understand the neural basis of visual awareness. What distinguishes the neural representations that do or do not give rise to visual awareness?
• To understand the principles and rationale of population neural coding.
• To understand the neural circuit mechanisms underlying canonical neural computations.

To investigate these questions, we use integrated approaches of modern electrophysiology, psychophysics, computational modeling, and behavioral tasks involving discrimination, attention, and decision-making. We are also developing and applying calcium imaging and optogenetic methods for circuit interrogation and manipulation.

Interested students can apply to the following Ph.D. programs:

Neuroscience Training Program
Biophysics Interdisciplinary Program

Opportunities for graduate study are available in the lab. Students who have a science and/or engineering background and strong motivation to uncover the mysteries of the brain are encouraged to apply. For inquiries, please email xin.huang@wisc.edu.

See complete list of publications here.