SPACE lab

Studying the Brain's Spatial Coding via Computation and Experiments

Jennifer M. Groh, Ph.D.

A lab in the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences

OUR MISSION

Research in the SPACE laboratory is devoted to investigating neural representations of space. We combine theoretical/computational and experimental approaches to study how our brains encode the locations of sights and sounds and how the brain performs computations on different sensory inputs to permit communication between the senses despite a shifting relationship between the eyes and ears across eye movements. We are developing new theories of neural representations to address shortcomings in the prevailing dogma regarding how sensory information is encoded in neural activity patterns.

JOB OPENINGS

Interested in joining our research team? See below to learn about our openings.

THE BRAIN AND SPACE

I believe space is so important to brain function that I've written a whole book about it: Making Space: How the Brain Knows Where Things Are (Harvard Univ Press, 2014). For a general audience, including interested students. Supported by a Guggenheim fellowship. See Table of Contents and Index. Reviews in Nature and the New Scientist . Also Amazon.

Making Space: How the Brain Knows Where Things Are

You can also take my free online course The Brain and Space on Coursera. Open now on Coursera's "on demand" platform.

MEDIA COVERAGE

Our recent work on eardrum movements accompanying eye movements (Gruters, Murphy et al. PNAS 2018) was covered in The Atlantic by Ed Yong. This work reaches down into the ear itself and shows a form of interaction between sensory systems. Perhaps there are no safe spaces... Earlier coverage of our biorxiv preprint at the New Scientist.

For "Making Space" I was on BBC World Service: The Forum on October 18, 2014: Natural Navigation. Audio here. And on WUNC (NPR) "The State of Things" with Frank Stasio on Dec 5, 2014. Audio here. Also Ideas Roadshow and CBC radio's IDEAS .

The 2014 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to John O'Keefe, May-Britt Moser, and Edvard Moser for their elegant work on spatial coding in the hippocampus. I made a video about their scientific discoveries. See also this article.

Ventriloquism and the Brain on CBC's Quirks and Quarks. More here. Article in Telegraph.

Another ventriloquism study. Article in Raleigh News and Observer. Interview on. WPTF radio.

And our study showing that the superior colliculus uses a map for visual stimuli and a meter for sounds - and this is even true for the motor-related activity. Coverage here and here.

LATEST STUDIES- JOIN THE LAB!

We are currently working on a new theory of how neurons might represent multiple stimuli across time, called time division multiplexing (Caruso et al. Nat Comm 2018; Jun et al. 2022). Such a coding strategy would enhance the brain's processing capacity and could account for widespread discrepancies between perceptual resolution and receptive field size. This is collaborative work with Prof Surya Tokdar (Duke Statistics) as well as Prof Marlene Cohen (U Pittsburgh, U Chicago), Prof Winrich Freiwald (Rockefeller University), Prof Brent Doiron (U. Chicago), Prof Liz Romanski, and Prof Farran Briggs (Univ Rochestor).

Another important problem in neural representations concerns how auditory and visual representations link up, particularly given movements of the sense organs such as the eyes, head, and ears. After decades of neurophysiological studies revealing widespread oculomotor signals in auditory brain regions, we took the question out the periphery, namely the ear, where we made a novel discovery: the eardrums move when the eyes move. These signals in the ear reflect descending brain signals and carry accurate information about the direction and amplitude of eye movements as they happen. This work involves past and present collaborations with Kurtis Gruters, PhD (lab alum), David Murphy, PhD (lab alum), Dr. David Kaylie, MD (Duke), Prof. Christopher Shera, PhD (USC) and Prof. David Smith, PhD (Univ Florida). Our latest work on this topic is available on biorxiv here, here, and here.

SPRING 2023 : We are currently hiring postdoc(s) and research associate(s). See description here . Applicants should email cover letter describing relevant experimental and computational experience, CV, and names of reference to jmgroh [at] duke [dot] edu .

GRADUATE STUDENT OPENINGS

I anticipate an opening for a graduate student for the fall of 2023. Most of my students come from one of the following programs:Neurobiology, Psychology and Neuroscience, or the Cognitive Neuroscience Admitting Program; I can also accept students via Computer Science or Biomedical Engineering. I encourage interested applicants to contact me at: . and to consider taking my Coursera course on "The Brain and Space". This course will give you a taste of how I like to think about the brain as well as an introduction to some of our scientific discoveries and those of other researchers.

COMMUNICATING ABOUT SCIENCE

I occasionally tweet about science, education, and policy as @JMGrohNeuro. Here is my ResearchGate profile

ANNE'S LIST

(Last updated Feb 2017)

PEOPLE

JENNIFER M. GROH, PH.D

LAB DIRECTOR

Professor
Dept. of Psychology and Neuroscience (primary)
Dept. of Neurobiology (primary)
Dept. of Biomedical Engineering (secondary)
Dept. of Computer Science (secondary)
Center for Cognitive Neuroscience (core)
Duke Institute for Brain Sciences

(CV)