Dissertation Research

When you view a scene, the light-sensitive elements in your eye instantly fragment it into millions of pieces. Just as each pixel of a computer screen is responsible for a minute portion of the entire display, each element "sees" only a tiny portion of the scene in front of us. In order to cope with our surroundings, the brain must rapidly and efficiently reconstruct the external environment. Critical to this reconstruction is "visual segmentation", the determination of which "pixels" belong to surfaces and objects in the foreground, and which belong to the background. My dissertation research combined functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, a powerful technique that allows non-invasive study of activity in the human brain, and psychophysical methods to investigate the neural bases of visual segmentation. I obtained proof that a region in the brain, the Lateral Occipital Complex, detects "salient regions" in the visual scene. This novel idea identifies a computationally feasible method for the brain to accomplish rapid visual segmentation. I also established a functional partitioning of this brain region that has long been a matter of controversy but never before clearly demonstrated.

Postdoctoral Research

Currently in Liz's lab, I'm investigating the effects of emotion on early visual processing and subsequent memory. The enhancement of episodic memory with emotion is one method the brain uses to ensure that events particularly relevant to survival are stored for later use. Understanding the nature of emotions effect on memory formation is critical to understanding how episodic memory may be affected by a number of psychological disorders, e.g. anxiety disorders. One critical aspect of emotions' influence on episodic memory is the effect of emotion on the initial stage of memory formation, encoding. Emotion is thought to influence encoding via modulation of attention and perception, enhancing processing (and thus encoding) of the emotional aspects of an event and impairing processing of peripheral details (Easterbrook, 1959). The goal of this research is to further characterize the influence of emotion on encoding by investigating the behavioral and neural mechanisms of emotions' influence on visual attention.

In addition to this work, I am looking for ways to integrate my interests in intergroup interactions, conflict mediation and attitudes of nationalism and patriotism into my study of the brain. This is a longer-term goal of transitioning into the field of social cognitive neuroscience.

Publications

Stanley, D., Phelps, E.A., Banaji, M. (2008). The Neural Basis of Implicit Attitudes. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 17(2):164-170. [PDF]

Heller, D., Stanley, D., Yekutieli, D., Rubin, N., Benjamini, Y. (2006). Cluster-based analysis of FMRI data. NeuroImage. 33: 599-608. [PDF]

Stanley, D.A., Rubin, N. (2005). Rapid detection of salient regions: evidence from apparent motion. Journal of Vision. 5(9):690-701. [PDF]

Stanley D.A., Rubin, N. (2003). fMRI activation in response to illusory contours and salient regions in the human lateral occipital complex. Neuron. 37(2):323-31. [PDF]

Posters

Stanley, D., Sokol-Hessner, P., Perino, M., Banaji, M., Phelps, E.A. September 2008. Implicit Race Bias Influences Estimations of Trustworthiness. Society for Neuroeconomics Conference. Park City, Utah.