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David Heeger
open-in-new
<h2 id="research">Research</h2> <p>Heeger's academic research spans a cross-section of <a href="/facts/Engineering/RFVg8H3I">engineering</a>, <a href="/facts/Psychology/duoqW7Sz">psychology</a>, and <a href="/facts/Neuroscience/o5RV8Cas">neuroscience</a>. In the fields of <a href="/facts/Perceptual_psychology/TdvIatTt">perceptual psychology</a>, <a href="/facts/Systems_neuroscience/ApgMwt1C">systems neuroscience</a>, <a href="/facts/Cognitive_neuroscience/VWcV08yY">cognitive neuroscience</a>, and <a href="/facts/Computational_neuroscience/eclSYyJK">computational neuroscience</a>, Heeger has developed computational theories of neuronal processing in the <a href="/facts/Visual_system/QVcuA27K">visual system</a>, and he has performed <a href="/facts/Psychophysics/yDPmvvGf">psychophysics</a> (perceptual psychology) and <a href="/facts/Neuroimaging/dA5Cteaf">neuroimaging</a> (functional magnetic resonance imaging, <a href="/facts/FMRI/GIayRTAL">fMRI</a>) experiments on human vision. His primary contribution to computational neuroscience is a theory of neural processing called the <a href="/facts/Normalization_model/gNXX64h1">normalization model</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> His experimental research has contributed to our understanding of the topographic organization of visual cortex (<a href="/facts/Retinotopy/KIcCTABq">retinotopy</a>),<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> visual awareness,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a> visual pattern detection/discrimination,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a> visual <a href="/facts/Motion_perception/kShuo6b8">motion perception</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15"><sup>15</sup></a> <a href="/facts/Stereopsis/AL5Ydh0m">stereopsis</a> (depth perception),<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16"><sup>16</sup></a> <a href="/facts/Attention/pleJPaeQ">attention</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17"><sup>17</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18"><sup>18</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19"><sup>19</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20"><sup>20</sup></a> <a href="/facts/Working_memory/kzeDD3KQ">working memory</a>, the control of eye and hand movements, neural processing of complex audio-visual and emotional experiences (movies, music, narrative),<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:21" href="#fn:21"><sup>21</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:22" href="#fn:22"><sup>22</sup></a> abnormal visual processing in <a href="/facts/Dyslexia/9xzu9tga">dyslexia</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:23" href="#fn:23"><sup>23</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:24" href="#fn:24"><sup>24</sup></a> and neurophysiological characteristics of autism.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:25" href="#fn:25"><sup>25</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:26" href="#fn:26"><sup>26</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:27" href="#fn:27"><sup>27</sup></a> </p><p>In the fields of <a href="/facts/Image_processing/zenalNCf">image processing</a>, <a href="/facts/Computer_vision/Tl2Yyk66">computer vision</a>, and <a href="/facts/Computer_graphics/lapBE8wv">computer graphics</a>, Heeger has worked on <a href="/facts/Motion_estimation/FF2TIndo">motion estimation</a> and <a href="/facts/Image_registration/y2KUwdRL">image registration</a>, <a href="/facts/Wavelet/3XcX4uIP">wavelet</a> image representations,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:28" href="#fn:28"><sup>28</sup></a> <a href="/facts/Anisotropic_diffusion/HK9nIVKt">anisotropic diffusion</a> (edge-preserving noise reduction),<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:29" href="#fn:29"><sup>29</sup></a> image fidelity metrics (for evaluating image <a href="/facts/Data_compression/gMFuY4FT">data compression</a> algorithms), and <a href="/facts/Texture_synthesis/5ymhjdb6">texture analysis/synthesis.</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:30" href="#fn:30"><sup>30</sup></a> </p><p>Heeger's current research focuses on developing and testing a unified theory of cortical circuit function. The field of neuroscience needs a general theory of brain function, like Maxwell's Equations for the brain. There is considerable evidence that the brain relies on a set of canonical neural circuits that perform a set of canonical neural computations, repeating them across brain regions and modalities to apply operations of the same form. But we lack a theoretical framework for how such canonical computations can support a wide variety of cognitive processes and brain functions. Heeger developed a class of circuit models, called Oscillatory Recurrent Gated Neural Integrator Circuits (ORGaNICs), that recapitulate many key neurophysiological and cognitive/perceptual phenomena including sensory processing and attention in visual cortex, working memory in prefrontal and parietal cortex, and premotor activity and motor control in motor cortex.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:31" href="#fn:31"><sup>31</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:32" href="#fn:32"><sup>32</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:33" href="#fn:33"><sup>33</sup></a> The theory offers a unified framework for the dynamics of neural activity, and it recapitulates many key neurophysiological and cognitive/perceptual phenomena (including normalization, oscillatory activity, sustained delay-period activity, sequential activity and traveling waves of activity), measured with a wide range of methodologies (including intracellular recordings of membrane potential fluctuations, firing rates of individual neurons, optogenetic manipulations, local field potentials, neuroimaging, and behavioral performance). </p> <h2 id="education-and-career">Education and career</h2> <p>Heeger holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics as well as a master's degree and doctorate in computer science—all from the <a href="/facts/University_of_Pennsylvania/LBBBULox">University of Pennsylvania</a>. He was a postdoctoral fellow at <a href="/facts/MIT/Xk49vNA8">MIT</a>, a research scientist at the <a href="/facts/NASA-Ames_Research_Center/DQUsdLam">NASA-Ames Research Center</a>, and an associate professor at <a href="/facts/Stanford_University/JEQeF9z2">Stanford</a> before joining NYU. </p> <h2 id="personal-life">Personal life</h2> <p>His father, <a href="/facts/Alan_J._Heeger/l4hcXFJM">Alan J. Heeger</a>, is an American physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2000.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:34" href="#fn:34"><sup>34</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="awards">Awards</h2> <ul><li>1987 <a href="/facts/Marr_Prize/R1vfLhYs">David Marr Prize</a> in computer vision.</li> <li>1994 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in neuroscience.</li> <li>2002 <a href="/facts/Troland_Research_Awards/y0FL1pTf">Troland Research Award</a> in psychology from the <a href="/facts/National_Academy_of_Sciences/M3oePVeG">National Academy of Sciences</a>.</li> <li>2006 <a href="https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2006/november/nyus_heeger_explores.html">Margaret and Herman Sokol Faculty Award</a> in the Sciences from New York University in 2006.</li> <li>2013 Elected to the <a href="/facts/National_Academy_of_Sciences/M3oePVeG">National Academy of Sciences</a>.</li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="http://www.cns.nyu.edu/~david/">Home page</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.cns.nyu.edu/heegerlab/">Laboratory page</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-heeger-a5991021">David Heeger</a> on <a href="/facts/LinkedIn/Iq2IcNMt">LinkedIn</a></li> <li><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=6ggnUzYAAAAJ">David J Heeger</a> publications indexed by <a href="/facts/Google_Scholar/FhEwS2QM">Google Scholar</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Carandini, M. and D.J. Heeger, Normalization as a canonical neural computation. Nat Rev Neurosci, 2012. 13(1): p. 51-62. <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Heeger, D.J., Normalization of cell responses in cat striate cortex. Vis Neurosci, 1992. 9(2): p. 181-197. <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Gardner, J.L., et al., Maps of visual space in human occipital cortex are retinotopic, not spatiotopic. J Neurosci, 2008. 28(15): p. 3988-99. <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Larsson, J. and D.J. Heeger, Two retinotopic visual areas in human lateral occipital cortex. J Neurosci, 2006. 26(51): p. 13128-42. <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Schluppeck, D., P. Glimcher, and D.J. Heeger, Topographic organization for delayed saccades in human posterior parietal cortex. J Neurophysiol, 2005. 94(2): p. 1372-84. <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Silver, M.A., D. Ress, and D.J. Heeger, Topographic maps of visual spatial attention in human parietal cortex. J Neurophysiol, 2005. 94(2): p. 1358-71. <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Huk, A.C., R.F. Dougherty, and D.J. Heeger, Retinotopy and functional subdivision of human areas MT and MST. J Neurosci, 2002. 22(16): p. 7195-7205. <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Polonsky, A., et al., Neuronal activity in human primary visual cortex correlates with perception during binocular rivalry. Nat Neurosci, 2000. 3(11): p. 1153-9. <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Lee, S.H., R. Blake, and D.J. Heeger, Traveling waves of activity in primary visual cortex during binocular rivalry. Nat Neurosci, 2005. 8(1): p. 22-3. <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Lee, S.H., R. Blake, and D.J. Heeger, Hierarchy of cortical responses underlying binocular rivalry. Nat Neurosci, 2007. 10(8): p. 1048-54. <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>Ress, D. and D.J. Heeger, Neuronal correlates of perception in early visual cortex. Nat Neurosci, 2003. 10: p. 10. <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>Boynton, G.M., et al., Neuronal basis of contrast discrimination. Vision Res, 1999. 39(2): p. 257-69. <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>Huk, A.C., D. Ress, and D.J. Heeger, Neuronal basis of the motion aftereffect reconsidered. Neuron, 2001. 32(1): p. 161-72. <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:14"><p>Huk, A.C. and D.J. Heeger, Pattern-motion responses in human visual cortex. Nat Neurosci, 2002. 5(1): p. 72-5. <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:15"><p>Heeger, D.J., et al., Motion opponency in visual cortex. J Neurosci, 1999. 19(16): p. 7162-74. <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:16"><p>Backus, B.T., et al., Human cortical activity correlates with stereoscopic depth perception. J Neurophysiol, 2001. 86(4): p. 2054-68. <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:17"><p>Reynolds, J.H. and D.J. Heeger, The normalization model of attention. Neuron, 2009. 61(2): p. 168-85. <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:18"><p>Herrmann, K., et al., When size matters: attention affects performance by contrast or response gain. Nat Neurosci, 2010. 13(12): p. 1554-9. <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:19"><p>Ress, D., B.T. Backus, and D.J. Heeger, Activity in primary visual cortex predicts performance in a visual detection task. Nat Neurosci, 2000. 3(9): p. 940-945. <a href="#fnref:19" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:20"><p>Gandhi, S.P., D.J. Heeger, and G.M. Boynton, Spatial attention affects brain activity in human primary visual cortex. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 1999. 96(6): p. 3314-9. <a href="#fnref:20" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:21"><p>Hasson, U., et al., A hierarchy of temporal receptive windows in human cortex. J Neurosci, 2008. 28(10): p. 2539-50. <a href="#fnref:21" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:22"><p>Hasson, U., R. Malach, and D.J. Heeger, Reliability of cortical activity during natural stimulation. Trends Cogn Sci, 2010. 14(1): p. 40-8. <a href="#fnref:22" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:23"><p>Demb, J.B., G.M. Boynton, and D.J. Heeger, Brain activity in visual cortex predicts individual differences in reading performance. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 1997. 94(24): p. 13363-6. <a href="#fnref:23" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:24"><p>Demb, J.B., G.M. Boynton, and D.J. Heeger, Functional magnetic resonance imaging of early visual pathways in dyslexia. J Neurosci, 1998. 18(17): p. 6939-51. <a href="#fnref:24" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:25"><p>Dinstein, I., et al., A mirror up to nature. Curr Biol, 2008. 18(1): p. R13-8. <a href="#fnref:25" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:26"><p>Dinstein, I., et al., Normal movement selectivity in autism. Neuron, 2010. 66(3): p. 461-9. <a href="#fnref:26" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:27"><p>Dinstein, I., et al., Unreliable evoked responses in autism. Neuron, 2012. 75(6): p. 981-91. <a href="#fnref:27" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:28"><p>Simoncelli, E.P., et al., Shiftable multi-scale transforms. IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, Special Issue on Wavelets, 1992. 38: p. 587-607. <a href="#fnref:28" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:29"><p>Black, M., et al., Robust anisotropic diffusion. IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, 1998. 7: p. 421-432. <a href="#fnref:29" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:30"><p>Heeger, D.J. and J.R. Bergen. Pyramid-Based Texture Analysis/Synthesis. in Computer Graphics, SIGGRAPH Proceedings. 1995. <a href="#fnref:30" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:31"><p>Heeger, David J. (2017-02-21). "Theory of cortical function". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 114 (8): 1773–1782. Bibcode:2017PNAS..114.1773H. doi:10.1073/pnas.1619788114. ISSN 1091-6490. PMC 5338385. PMID 28167793. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5338385" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5338385</a> <a href="#fnref:31" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:32"><p>Heeger, David J.; Mackey, Wayne E. (2019-11-05). "Oscillatory recurrent gated neural integrator circuits (ORGaNICs), a unifying theoretical framework for neural dynamics". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 116 (45): 22783–22794. Bibcode:2019PNAS..11622783H. doi:10.1073/pnas.1911633116. ISSN 1091-6490. PMC 6842604. PMID 31636212. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6842604" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6842604</a> <a href="#fnref:32" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:33"><p>Heeger, David J.; Zemlianova, Klavdia O. (2020-09-08). "A recurrent circuit implements normalization, simulating the dynamics of V1 activity". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 117 (36): 22494–22505. Bibcode:2020PNAS..11722494H. doi:10.1073/pnas.2005417117. ISSN 1091-6490. PMC 7486719. PMID 32843341. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7486719" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7486719</a> <a href="#fnref:33" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:34"><p>"The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2000". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2024-12-23. <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2000/summary/" target="_blank">https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2000/summary/</a> <a href="#fnref:34" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>