Dr. Virginia L. Flanagin

Primary research focus: Behavioral & Cognitive Neuroscience

Second research focus: Theoretical Neuroscience & Technical Applications

Keywords: Navigation, MRI, virtual reality, vestibular system, hippocampus

Research methods: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Vestibular Diagnostics, Virtual Reality, Psychophysics, Acoustics

Brief research description: I am a computational cognitive scientist, interested in how different computational processes lead to behaviour. My research focuses specifically on the interplay between perception and cognition in order to navigate in the world. Navigation in its simplest form entails using information about spatial relations in the environment to get from one’s current position to an alternate destination. As such it provides an ideal framework for studying the relationship between perception and cognition. Perception is our primary mode of contact with the world. It forms the foundation and causal relationships for the cognitive processing that drives behaviour. Some example questions that I am addressing are: How is sensory-motor information converted into a cognitive concept? Under what circumstances does spatial perceptual information lead to the formation of a “cognitive map” or internal representation of space or can other computational models accurately explain spatial behaviour? What is the role of the medial temporal lobe in internally representing space? How do the different sensory systems combine information to form a cognitive perception of space? And how is spatial behaviour influenced by sociodemographic and cultural factors? I believe that a rigorous computational approach is crucial to solving these questions.

Current or graduated GSN students: Phillip Graeff, Dr. Eva Fraedrich (co-mentored with PD Dr. Stefan Glasauer),Dr. Nadine Hummel, Dr. Magdalena Wutte, Dr. Josephine Henke, Dr. Theresa Raiser, Dr. Christopher Roppelt, Dr. Judita Huber, Uma Navare

Selected publications:

Ahmadi, S-A, Raiser T, Rühl RM, Flanagin VL, zu Eulenburg P. IE‐Map: a novel in‐vivo atlas and template of the human inner ear. Sci Rep 2021; 11:3293. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-82716-0.

Yiu Y-H, Aboulatta M, Raiser T, Ophey L, Flanagin VL, zu Eulenburg P, Ahmadi, S-A. DeepVOG: Open-source pupil segmentation and gaze estimation in neuroscience using deep learning. J Neurosci Meth. 2019; 324: 108307. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2019.05.016.

Flanagin VL, Schörnich S, Schranner M, Hummel N, Wallmeier L, Wahlberg M, Stephan T, Wiegrebe L. Human sonar exploration of enclosed spaces. J Neurosci. 2017; 37(6): 1614-1627. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1566-12.2016.

Brodt S, Pöhlchen D, Flanagin VL, Glasauer S, Gais S, Schönauer M. Rapid and independent memory formation in the parietal cortex. PNAS. 2016; 113(46): 13251-13256. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1605719113.

Borst A, Flanagin VL, Sompolinsky H. Adaptation without parameter change: Dynamic gain control in motion detection. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005; 102(17): 6172-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0500491102.