Tobias H. Donner, University of Amsterdam

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Tobias H. Donner

Biosketch

MD, Charité, Humboldt-University of Berlin (2003). PhD (summa cum laude), Charité (2003), thesis: Control of Goal-Directed Visual Search in the Human Brain. Postdoctoral fellow, Dept of Neurophysiology, Hamburg and Donders Institute, Nijmegen (2003-2006). Postdoctoral fellow, Center for Neural Science and Dept of Psychology, NYU (2006-2009). Assistant Professor in Brain and Cognition, Dept of Psychology, University of Amsterdam (since 2009).

Research Summary

Every day of our life is full of choices. I would like to understand how these are generated by neuronal interactions in our brain. I use neuroimaging techniques (EEG, MEG, and fMRI) to monitor large-scale neuronal interactions in the brains of healthy human subjects while they make simple decisions in perceptual tasks. I combine these measurements with detailed characterization of subjects' choice behavior and with computational models of the underlying mechanisms. This integrated approach opens a window on how neuronal assemblies accumulate information about the alternative options, compete, and finally settle in stable state that underlies our commitment to an alternative.

Teaching

I am currently teaching four courses conjointly with colleagues from the University of Amsterdam:

• Perception and Visual Consciousness (Bachelor Psychobiology)
• Neurosciences (Bachelor Psychology)
• Advanced Topics in Cognitive Neuroscience (Research Master Psychology)
• Brain Rhythms and Cogntion (Research Master Psychology).

I am also giving guest lectures on advanced EEG/MEG data analysis in the Research Master Brain & Cognitive Science.

Representative Publications

Donner TH & Siegel M. 2011. A Framework for Local Cortical Oscillation Patterns. Trends in Cognitive Science 15: 191-199.

Donner TH, Siegel M, Fries P & Engel AK. 2009. Build-up of Choice-Predictive Activity in Human Motor Cortex during Perceptual Decision-Making. Current Biology 19: 1581-5.

Siegel M, Donner TH, Oostenveld R, Fries P & Engel AK. 2008. Neuronal Synchronization Along the Human Dorsal Visual Pathway Reflects the Focus of Spatial Attention. Neuron 60: 709-19.

Donner TH, Sagi D, Bonneh YS & Heeger DJ. 2008. Opposite Neural Signatures of Motion-Induced Blindness in Human Dorsal and Ventral Visual Cortex. Journal of Neuroscience 28: 10298-310.

Donner TH, Siegel M, Oostenveld R, Fries P, Bauer M & Engel AK. 2007. Population Activity in the Human Dorsal Pathway Predicts the Accuracy of Visual Motion Detection. Journal of Neurophysiology 98: 345-359.