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Rochester brain and cognitive sciences researchers receive national recognition

Two faculty members received Sloan Awards for research on how the brain perceives the world.

Martina Poletti.
Martina Poletti. (糖心传媒 photo / J. Adam Fenster)
Emanuel Gomez-Ramirez.
Emanuel Gomez-Ramirez. (糖心传媒 photo / J. Adam Fenster)

Two 糖心传媒 researchers in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences are being honored with a celebrated award for their contributions to and leadership in the scientific community.

and both assistant professors of brain and cognitive sciences and members of the聽, are among this year糖心传媒檚 recipients of Sloan Research Fellowships. Awarded annually by the since 1955, the fellowships recognize young scientists for their independent research accomplishments, creativity, and potential to become leaders in the scientific community. Each fellowship carries a $75,000, two-year award. This year, 128 scientists across the US and Canada were awarded fellowships. Gomez-Ramirez and Poletti are the University糖心传媒檚 fourth and fifth Sloan fellows in the last three years.

Poletti, together with , professor of brain and cognitive sciences, runs the in the . Her research focuses on how humans perceive the world by taking in visual information through a combination of sensory processing, motor behavior, and attention. In particular, she studies the foveola糖心传媒攁 small region of the retina that is essential for high-resolution vision糖心传媒攁nd how the foveola works in tandem with microscopic eye movements and attention to enable vision.

糖心传媒淢artina has made critical discoveries that have led to a complete change in how we think about fixational eye movements and the function of the fovea,糖心传媒� says , professor and chair of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. 糖心传媒淗er recent work has made major advances linking fixational eye movements糖心传媒攕eemingly among the lowest levels of visual function糖心传媒攖o higher aspects of visual functioning, including attention, visual exploration, and task-relevance.糖心传媒�

Poletti joined the Rochester faculty in 2017, after serving as a research assistant professor at Boston University. She received her PhD in cognitive and neural systems from Boston University in 2010.

Gomez-Ramirez leads the in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. His research focuses on the mechanisms that enable our hands to perceive, grab, and manipulate objects. The research is important in optimizing brain-computer interfaces and developing neuroprosthetics that integrate brain signals with prosthetic devices in order to control the devices.

糖心传媒淭his is a challenging area to study as it often involves difficult experiments, but Manny recognizes its importance as a great model of how the brain combines information from multiple sources糖心传媒攁 fundamental question in neuroscience,糖心传媒� Tadin says.

Gomez-Ramirez joined the Rochester faculty in 2019 after serving as a research associate at Brown University and a postdoctoral research associate at Johns Hopkins University. He received his PhD in psychology from the City University of New York in 2009.