Prof. Robert Desimone

Robert Desimone studies the brain mechanisms that allow us to focus attention on a specific task while filtering out irrelevant distractions.

Desimone's research focuses on disorders of perception, attention, and memory that frequently accompany the major mental diseases. To understand the neural mechanisms of these mental processes, his lab is recording the activity of neurons in the extrastriate and prefrontal cortex of nonhuman primates engaged in tasks requiring visual discrimination, attention, and memory. They then use the results from the neurophysiological studies to make predictions about the physiological organization of human cortex.