Likova Lab
Brain Plasticity, Learning & Neurorehabilitation
The research in my Lab is focused on the fields of neuroplasticity, brain mechanisms of art and learning, neurorehabilitation of blindness, memory and spatial cognition, navigation, vision deficits in TBI, and multimodal sensorimotor processing across levels of visual impairment. For this research we integrate multiple brain imaging techniques, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), tensor-based brain morphometry (TBM), and electroencephalography (EEG), as well as virtual reality, motion-capture, and specialized remote-research systems.
Tabs
Journal Articles
. (2022). Brain trauma impacts retinal processing: photoreceptor pathway interactions in traumatic light sensitivity. Documenta Ophthalmologica, 144, 1–12. http://doi.org/doi.org/10.1007/s10633-022-09871-1
. (2022). Editorial: Special Issue on Multisensory and Crossmodal Interactions. Journal Of Perceptual Imaging.
. (2022). Do we enjoy what we sense and perceive? A dissociation between aesthetic appreciation and basic perception of environmental objects or events. Cognitive, Affective, And Behavioral Neuroscience .
. (2022). Self-regulation of the seat of attention Into various attentional stances facilitates access to cognitive and emotional resources: An EEG study. Frontiers In Psychology, 13, 810780–810780. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.810780
. (2021). Mental visualization in the cerebellum: Rapid non-motor learning at sub-lobular and causal network levels. Frontiers In Systems Neuroscience. http://doi.org/doi.org/10.3389/fnsys.2021.655514
. (2021). Neuroplasticity and Crossmodal Connectivity in the Normal, Healthy Brain. Psychology & Neuroscience.
. (2021). Perception and Appreciation of Tactile Objects: The Role of Visual Experience and Texture Parameters. Special Issue On Multisensory And Crossmodal Interactions, Jpi. Editors: Likova, L.t., Jiang, F., Stilles, N., Tanguay, A.r.
. (2020). Differences in the major fiber-tracts of people with congenital and acquired blindness. Imaging Science & Technology / Human Vision And Electronic Imaging 2020. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2352/ISSN.2470-1173.2020.11.HVEI-366
. (2019). Learning face perception without vision: Rebound learning effect and hemispheric differences in congenital vs late-onset blindness. Imaging Science And Technology: Human Vision And Electronic Imaging. http://doi.org/10.2352/ISSN.2470-1173.2019.12.HVEI-237 Human Vision and Electronic Imaging 2019
. (2018). When light hurts: Comparative morphometry of human brainstem in traumatic photalgia. Nature Scientific Reports, 8(1):6256. http://doi.org/doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-24386-z
Conference Papers
. (2021). Multipurpose spatiomotor capture system for haptic and visual training and testing in the blind and the sighted. In IS&T Human Vision and Electronic Imaging Proceedings.
. (2020). Face perception as a multisensory process. In Multisensory and Crossmodal Interactions, at IS&T HVEI. Multisensory and Crossmodal Interactions, at IS&T HVEI: Burlingame, California. Retrieved from https://www.imaging.org/site/IST/Conferences/EI/EI_2020/Conference/C_HVEI.aspx
Presentations/Posters
. (2021). Rapid reorganization of the cerebellum in memory visualization. Vision Sciences Society.
. (2021). Cerebellum vs. cerebrum in memory visualization: Rapid cognitive learning at sub-lobular and causal network levels. IS&T Human Vision and Electronic Imaging .
. (2020). Rapid training of supramodal spatial cognition and memory for improved navigation in low vision and blindness. ARVO Issue abstract 2020. ARVO 2020. Retrieved from https://iovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2766791&resultClick=1
. (2019). Top-down control of spatial memory visualization in early visual cortex. Retrieved from VSS, Fl
. (2019). Is the face schema innate? Evidence from learning faces in the congenital blind. Retrieved from SfN
. (2018). Memory Visualization and spatial learning. Retrieved from Nano-symposium at SfN
Other Publications
. (2018). Memory drawing and learning in the class room. Retrieved from Southern China Normal University, Guangzhou
. (2014). The neurometabolic underpinnings of fMRI BOLD dynamics. In Advanced Brain Neuroimaging Topics in Health and Disease-Methods and Applications:. InTech. http://doi.org/10.5772/58274
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Smith-Kettlewell Brain Imaging Center
View CenterThe Smith-Kettlewell Brain Imaging Center supports a wide variety of human brain imaging modalities, including MRI, MRI morphometry, functional MRI, fMR Iretonogrphy, fMRI dynamics, functional connectivity, Granger-causal connectivity, DTI, DTI tractography, whole-head EEG, EEG functional connectivity, ERG, EEG eye tracking, electroblepharography, etc. Our work centers on human visual neuroscience and computational vision, especially in the areas of human visual processing in adults, of the diagnosis of eye diseases and cortical deficits in infants and adults, on brain plasticity in relation to low vision and blindness, and on the processes of blindness rehabilitation. We are particularly interested in the normal capabilities of binocular visual processing and its disruption by forms of traumatic brain injury.
Active
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ActiveAdvanced Spatiomotor Rehabilitation for Navigation in Blindness & Visual Impairment
Read MoreSuccessful navigation requires the development of an accurate and flexible mental, or cognitive, map of the navigational space and of the route trajectory required to travel from the current to the target location. The Cognitive-Kinesthetic (C-K) Rehabilitation Training that we have developed in the preceding period utilizes a unique form of blind memory-guided drawing to develop cognitive mapping to a high level of proficiency.
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ActiveHarnessing the Power of Drawing for the Enhancement of Learning across Levels of Vision Function
Read MoreRecent scientific findings about art and drawing suggest that drawing can facilitate learning in a wide variety of domains. The proposed collaboration will develop an interdisciplinary research program aimed at harnessing the power of drawing to enhance learning across fields of intellectual endeavor.
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ActiveMechanisms of Photophobia in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Human Subjects: Therapeutic Implications
Read MoreThe purpose of this grant is to identify the mechanisms responsible for generating photophobia in patients who have suffered mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Currently, estimates indicate that this painful condition persists in about 60% of those who suffered from blast-related traumatic brain injury and 30% of those who suffered non-blast-related concussive injuries.
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ActiveSL-CN: Harnessing the Power of Drawing for the Enhancement of Learning across Levels of Vision Function
Read MoreThis Science of Learning Collaborative Network brings together researchers and experts from the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, University of Bamberg (Germany), Columbia University and Emory University to investigate how the visual art of drawing can enhance learning. Underlying learning principles and neural mechanisms will be considered, and how these can be harnessed for real-life learning enhancement. Though humans have been drawing for at least 30,000 years, little is understood about brain processes involved in this activity.
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CompletedAdvanced Spatiomotor Rehabilitation in Blindness and Visual Impairment
Read MoreWe propose a multidisciplinary approach to effective spatiomotor rehabilitation in blindness and visual impairment. For those who have lost vision, the eye-hand coordination normally available for the manipulation of objects for everyday activities is unavailable and has to be replaced by information from other senses
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Completed
Encoding of 3D Structure in the Visual Scene: A New Conceptualization
Read MoreThe multidisciplinary goal was to develop an integrated conceptualization of the mid-level encoding of 3D object structure from multiple surface cues
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Completed
Human Oculomotor Functions & Their Deficits in Traumatic Brain Injury
Read MoreRecent studies have established that a high proportion of patients diagnosed with mild (or diffuse) traumatic brain injury (mTBI) exhibit binocular vision dysfunctions, particularly, deficiencies in the binocular coordination of eye movements.
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Completed
Learning in the Sighted and the Blind through Different Sensory Modalities: Structure and Dynamics of Cortical Reorganization
Read MoreThis project focuses on the emerging area of the neuroscience of art learning.
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Completed
Stereoscopic motion-in-depth perception: fMRI and neurophysiological studies
Read MoreThis project is designed to advance the integration of high field fMRI in alert macaque monkeys with "informed" neurophysiology, and to apply it in addressing a long-standing research question regarding the neural processing of stereoscopic 3-D motion.
Current
- Adam Manoogian - Senior Research Assistant
- Christopher Tyler - Head, Smith-Kettlewell Brain Imaging Center
- Michael Liang - Research Assistant
- Zhangziyi Zhou - Research Data Analyst
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Harnessing the power of visual art for blind rehabilitation
A Smith-Kettlewell scientist, Dr. Lora Likova, develops unique art training to drive brain plasticity in totally blind and visually impaired people. A major focus of Dr. Likova’s Lab, “Brain plasticity, learning and neurorehabilitation” is on the investigation of non-invasive methods for driving brain plasticity in the visually impaired. Her recent findings show that a special kind of rapid... -
Dr. Likova's Research on the Power of Drawing Featured in National...
On March 18, 2015, Dr Lora Likova’s work on how learning to draw promotes brain plasticity and can serve blindness rehabilitation was featured in a live National Endowment for the Arts webinar on Visual Arts, Learning, Coping. The webinar was hosted by the National Endowment for the Arts' Federal Interagency Task Force on the Arts and Human Development (an alliance of 19 federal departments,... -
ABCs for Therapists Blog Post about Dr. Likova's Blind Drawing...
A recent posting on the therapeutic value of the brain reorganization brought about by Lora Likova’s blind drawing training paradigm may be found here: abcsfortherapists.com/drawing-intervention-yields-promising-changes-in-the-brain -
Drawing Enhances Memory and Brain Plasticity Featured in Dana Foundation...
The Dana News Foundation published an online article about the blind training paradigm. -
United Academics Highlights Dr. Likova's Research on Brain...
An online article about the implications of Lora Likova’s work for the visual memory of artists can be seen here.
Principal Investigator:
Contact:
lora@ski.org
Office:
(415) 345-2066
Lab:
(415) 345-2087