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Duane G. Albrecht, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology Emeritus (Retired)
VITA
Email: albrecht@psy.utexas.edu
Visual Neuroscience Lab
Center for Perceptual Systems
See also Perceptual Systems, Behavioral Neuroscience, Cognition
Duane Albrecht received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in Biological Psychology. His main teaching areas are in biological, perceptual and visual perception psychology. In his own words: The research in the Visual Neuroscience laboratory follows from the long-standing traditions of sensory physiology and psychophysics, with the ultimate goal of understanding sensation and perception. We are investigating the visual system in monkeys, cats, and humans. We want to understand the neurophysiology of the visual system and how it relates to visual perception. To that end we perform single neuron electrophysiological experiments: we measure the electrical activity of individual neurons located in the visual cortex of monkeys and cats while systematically varying visual stimuli. These measurements are then quantitatively evaluated within the context of specific theoretical and formal mathematical/computational models.
Selected Publications
Albrecht, D. G., De Valois, R. L., & Thorell, L .G. (1980). Visual cortical neurons: Are bars or gratings the optimal stimulus? Science, 207, 88-90.
Albrecht, D., & Hamilton, D. B. (1982). Striate cortex in monkey and cat: Contrast response function. Journal of Neurophysiology, 48, 217-237.
Albrecht, D., Farrar, S. B., & Hamilton, D. B. (1984). Spatial contrast adaptation characteristics of neurons recorded in the cat's visual cortex. Journal of Physiology, 347, 713-739.
Hamilton, D. B., Albrecht, D., & Geisler, W. S. (1989). Visual cortical receptive fields in monkey and cat: Spatial and temporal phase transfer function. Vision Research, 29, 1285-1308.
Albrecht, D. G., & Geisler, W. S. (1991). Motion selectivity and the contrast response function of simple cells in the visual cortex. Visual Neuroscience, 7, 531-549.
Albrecht, D. G. (1995). Visual cortex neurons in monkey and cat: Effect of contrast on the spatial and temporal phase transfer functions. Visual Neuroscience, 12, 1191-1210.
Geisler, W.S. and Albrecht, D.G. Visual Cortex Neurons in Monkeys and Cats: Detection, Discrimination and Identification. Visual Neuroscience, 14: 897-920. 1997.
Geisler, W.S. and Albrecht, D.G. Spatial vison. In, Handbook of Perception and Cognition, K.K. De Valois (Ed.). New York: Academic Press, pp. 79-128. 2000.
Heeger, D.G., Huk, A., Geisler, W.S. and Geisler, W.S. Spikes vs. bold: What does neuroimaging tell us about neural activity. Nature Neuroscience, 3: 631-633. 2000.
Geisler, W.S. and Albrecht, D.G. Spatial vision. In Encyclopedia of Psychology, E. Karzdin (Ed.). New York: Oxford. 2000.
Mehta, A.B., Crane, A.M., Rylander III, H.G., Thomsen, S.I. and Albrecht, D.G. Maintaining the cornea and the general physiological environment in visual neurophysiological experiments. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 109: 153-166. 2001.
Geisler, W.S., Albrecht, D.G., Crane, A.M. and Stern, L. Motion direction signals in the primary visual cortex of cat and monkey. Visual Neuroscience, 18: 1-16. 2001.
Albrecht, D.G., Geisler, W.S., Frazor, R.B. and Crane, A.M. Visual cortex neurons in monkeys and cats: Temporal dynamics of the contrast response function. Journal of Neurophysiology, 88: 889-914. 2002.
Albrecht, D.G., Geisler, W.S., and Crane, A.M. Primary visual cortex: Linear and nonlinear properties. In The Visual Neurosciences, Vol. 1, L. Chalupa and J.S. Werner (Eds.) Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 747-764, 2004 (invited chapter).
Frazor, R.A., Albrecht, D.G., Geisler, W.S., and Crane, A.M. Visual cortex neurons of monkeys and cats: Temporal dynamics of the spatial frequency response function. Journal of Neurophysiology, 91: 2607-2627, 2004.
Albrecht, D.G., Creiger, C.P., and Crane, A.M. Visual neurophysiology: A field-effect amplifier designed and built by R.L. De Valois. Journal of the Optical Society of America, 22: 2034-2038, 2005.
