Massachusetts General Hospital

Neurology of Vision Laboratory

Directors: Lucia M. Vaina, MD, PhD, and Ferdinando S. Buonanno, MD

The adult brain constantly adapts to changes in stimuli, and this plasticity is manifest not only as learning and memory but also as dynamic changes in information transmission and processing. Using interactively multimodal imaging (fMRI, MEG) and psychophysics, the Neurology of Vision Laboratory's (NOVI) goal is to understand the mechanisms mediating visual perception in healthy and damaged human brains, and long-term plasticity and short-term dynamics in networks of the adult normal and stroke-damaged cortex.
 
Our research is translational, conducted hand in hand with several neurologists, physiatrists, and other clinicians. We are developing  psychophysical tests for the diagnosis of  cognitive and higher visual function deficits, and use fMRI, MEG and behavioral tasks to develop a physiological marker for prognosis of recovery of such deficits in stroke patients, and for determining  programs of targeted rehabilitation of such deficits.

Principal Investigators

Ferdinando S. Buonanno,  MD

• Assistant Professor of Neurology,
• Harvard Medical School
• Associate in Neurology,
  Massachusetts General Hospital

Lucia Maria Vaina, MD, PhD

• Lecturer on Neurology,
  Harvard Medical School
• Associate in Neurology,
  Massachusetts General Hospital
• Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Neurology and Neuroscience
  Boston University, Brain and Vision Research Laboratory

Clinical Associates

• Black-Schaffer, Randie, MD - Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital
• Lee, Yong-Tae, MD - Physiatrist, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital
• Petrone, Paul - OT Clincial Practice Leader, Spaulding Rehabiltation Hospital
• Wagner, Lynne Brady, MA - Director of Stroke Rehabilitation Program, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital

Research Scientists

• Calabro, Finnegan, PhD - Post Doc Fellow, Mass General
• Hamalainen, Matti, PhD - Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging
• Nahhas, Michael, Dr. - Research Assistant, Mass General
• Rana, Kunjan - Graduate student, Mass General
• Yendiki, Anastasia, PhD - Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging

Disrupted dynamic causal and spectral cortical connectivity explain impairment on an object motion discrimination task during egomotion in a patient with a left occipital lobe infarct. 

View Poster

Lucia M. Vaina1,2, Kunjan D. Rana1, Ferdinando Buonanno2, Finnegan J. Calabro1, Matti Hamalainen2 1Brain & Vision Research Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
2Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Departments of Neurology & Radiology, Boston, MA, USA vaina@bu.edu, kdrana@bu.edu, fbuonano@partners.org, msh@nmr.mgh,harvard.edu
Interaction of cortical networks mediating object motion detection by moving observers

Cortical dynamics of perception and decision in sensory tasks: an MEG study

Perception and perceptual decisions arise from the spatiotemporal orchestration of activity distributed across brain networks. Functional MRI (fMRI) studies have shown that discrete networks mediate the sensory processing and the representation of visual search task (VSS2011 C&V). However, fMRI does not have the temporal precision required for revealing the neuronal mechanisms that integrate sensory information and coordinate the decision making process during perceptual tasks. View poster

Deficit of temporal dynamics of detection of a moving object during egomotion in a stroke patient: an MEG study

Using anatomically constrained MEG in conjunction with Granger causality in the time domain (DGC)1 and PLV in the frequency domain and  bands) we compared in a patient and 6 healthy controls the direction and dynamics of connectivity between the functional areas involved in detection of a moving object by a moving observer in two experimental conditions: visual only (unimodal) and cross-modal, visual augmented by an auditory cue co-localized and congruent to the moving object. Our previous psychophysical study of these tasks demonstrated that in healthy observers, this specific auditory cue significantly enhanced task performance. View poster

Detection of object motion during self-motion: psychophysics and neuronal substrate

During self-motion, the separation of the motion flow field into self- and  object-motion components is critical to safe navigation. “Flow-parsing”, a visual-only implementation, has been proposed based on the subtraction of induced selfmotion from the perceived flow field1,2. Is object detection during forward observer translation consistent with the low-parsing hypothesis? What brain networks mediate the detection of object motion by a moving observer? View poster

Direction of motion in depth: dissociation of perception 114 of self-motion and object motion

Accurately estimating direction of self-motion through the environment (heading) and detecting possibility of collision with a moving object (collision detection) are fundamental tasks of visually guided navigation. Do heading estimation and collision with a moving object share the same motion mechanisms? Is performance on collision detection affected differently by a static or moving observer? Why? What do fMRI studies tell us about the neural substrate of the collision detection task (static observer)? View poster

Functional Stealing: Reorganization of the Retinotopic Map After Occipital Lobe Infarction

While neuroplasticity after stroke has been amply demonstrated using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in the motor (1-4) and language (5) systems, there is a dearth of human studies examining neuroplasticity in the cortical visual system. This is in stark contrast with the extensive knowledge of visual mechanisms and their neural substrate in non-human primates and humans. View poster

Medical Student Research Project Opportunities

The signature of brain networks after ischemic stroke in humans

In order to understand pathological states after stroke, the projects involves using fMRI data, both from  rest states and from quantitative computerized psychophysical tasks, to determine changes in  functional brain networks in patients compared with healthy subjects. Students will learn fMRI data analysis (Free Surfer), and models of brain connectivity analysis and graph theory concepts that are used to quantitatively characterize the human connectome at the behavioral level.The projects may be done as a mini-project, in a few months, or as a full projects over a few years.

The project can be split into 3-4 related subprojects to be carried out by multiple students. All projects are carried out at MGH-Neurology Department and the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, under the supervision of Drs. Vaina and Buonanno.

Prerequisites (desired but not obligatory): Matlab, fluent in basic statistics and signal processing, good with computers, good knowledge of human brain anatomy. But most important, energy and enthusiasm!

There are no open positions at this time. Please see the Current Projects page for Medical Student opportunities.

Read about and apply for residency, fellowship and observership programs at http://www.massgeneral.org/neurology/education/.

Apply for temporary positions (summer interns)  through the Bulfinch Temporary Service Web site at http://www.massgeneral.org/careers/temporary.aspx. Search for all opportunities using ID# 2200484.

All applicants should register with the Mass General Careers Web site at http://www.massgeneral.org/careers/viewall.aspx. Request a list of current open positions at mghneurology@partners.org.

Ferdinando S. Buonanno, MD

1. Diaz T, Cubeddu RJ, Rengifo-Moreno PA, Cruz-Gonzalez I, Solis-Martin J, Buonanno FS, Inglessis I, Palacios IF. Management of residual shunts after initial percutaneous patent foramen ovale closure: A single center experience with immediate and long-term follow-up. Catheter Cardiovasc Interv. 2010 Jul 1; 76(1):145-50.
   View in: PubMed
2. Miller JC, Hirsch JA, Colon RA, Buonanno FS, Thrall JH, Uppot RN. Cerebral aneurysms. J Am Coll Radiol. 2010 Jan; 7(1):73-6.
   View in: PubMed
3. Nogueira RG, Yoo AJ, Buonanno FS, Hirsch JA. Endovascular approaches to acute stroke, part 2: a comprehensive review of studies and trials. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2009 May; 30(5):859-75.
   View in: PubMed
4. Kiernan TJ, Yan BP, Cubeddu RJ, Rengifo-Moreno P, Gupta V, Inglessis I, Ning M, Demirjian ZN, Jaff MR, Buonanno FS, Schainfeld RM, Palacios IF. May-Thurner syndrome in patients with cryptogenic stroke and patent foramen ovale: an important clinical association. Stroke. 2009 Apr; 40(4):1502-4.
   View in: PubMed
5. Nogueira RG, Baccin CE, Rabinov JD, Pryor JC, Buonanno FS, Hirsch JA. Reversible parkinsonism after treatment of dural arteriovenous fistula. J Neuroimaging. 2009 Apr; 19(2):183-4.
   View in: PubMed

View All Publications on PubMed

Lucia M. Vaina, MD, PhD

1. Deficit of Temporal Dynamics of Detection of a Moving Object During Egomotion in a Stroke Patient: A Psychophysical and MEG Study. doi: 10.1167/11.11.723 Journal of Vision September 23, 2011 vol. 11 no. 11 article 723 PDF
2. Vaina, L. M., & Dumoulin, S. O. (2011). Neuropsychological evidence for three distinct motion mechanisms. Neurosci Lett, 495(2), 102-106. PubMed
3. Vaina, LM, Calabro, F, Lin, FH, Hamalainen, M. (2010) “Long-range coupling of prefrontal cortex and visual (MT) or polysensory (STP) cortical areas in motion perception”, Biomeg_2010, 197-201, Springer Verlag
4. Vaina, LM, Sikoglu, EM, Sloviev S, LeMay, M, Squatrito, S, Cowey, A . “Functional and anatomical profile of visual motion impairments in stroke patients correlated with fMRI in normal subjects.” Journal of Neuropsychology (2010) 4, 121-145 PubMed
5. Vaina LM, Soloviev S (2004). The Functional Neuroanatomy of Heading Perception in Humans. In: Vaina LM, Beardsley SA, and Rushton S (Eds.), Optic Flow and Beyond, Chapter 5. Synthese Library, Kluwer Academic Press, 109-138. 
6. Vaina LM, Soloviev S (2003). First-order and Second-order motion: neurological evidence from neuroanatomically distinct systems. In: Heywood CC and Milner D (Eds.) The Roots of visual awareness-Progress in Brain Research, Vol 44, Chapter 14, 197-212. PubMed
7. Vaina LM, Solomon J, Chowdhuri S, Sinha P, Belliveau JW (2001). “Functional Anatomy of Biological Motion Perception in Humans.” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA). 98(20): 11656-11661. 
8. Vaina LM, Cowey A, Eskew RT, LeMay M, Kemper T (2001). “Anatomical Correlates Of Global Motion Perception: Evidence From Unilateral Cortical Brain Damage.”  Brain. 124: 310-321. PubMed
9. Vaina LM, Rushton SK (2000).  What Neurological Patients tell us about the Use of Optic Flow. In: Lappe M (Ed.) International Review of Neurobiology, 44: 293-314. PubMed

View All Publications on PubMed

Updated 11/2/2011

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