Anthony Norcia

Anthony Norcia
Professor (Research) of Psychology, Stanford University
Ph.D.

My research program centers around spatial vision and involves the use of behavioral, oculomotor, electrophysiological and functional MRI techniques in humans. My research has focused for many years on normal visual development as well as abnormal visual development in patients with strabismus, autism and cortical visual impairment. To inform this work, I also work with normal adults and animal models. I have published over 30 papers on the normal developmental process, the first in 1977. In addition, I have published over 30 papers on abnormal visual development over the last 20 years and am an expert in the diagnostic classification and pathophysiology of disorders of binocular vision and developmental disorders. I am thus in a position to translate basic science results into clinical applications. My laboratory has established numerous paradigms in which Visual Evoked Potentials have been used as objective measures of sensory and cognitive function. My group has published many papers in which we have related perceptual judgments to human brain activity. We have developed multiple generations of sophisticated and flexible instrumentation that we have shared with many other laboratories. Central to our research program is our unique integration of functional MRI and high-density EEG source imaging that allows us to relate brain electrical activity to identified visual areas with 1-2 cm accuracy in individual participants. The development of this technique involved the creation and management of a diverse team of experts in functional MRI, physics, biomedical engineering and visual physiology. I have completed training of 18 post-doctoral fellows, 14 of whom have gone on to faculty positions or full-time research positions. I am currently training three post-docs and three graduate students. I have served on 12 Ph.D. thesis committees at Stanford. As a Research Professor, I am able to devote most of my time to direct mentoring of my trainees.