- Department：
- Position：Investigator
- Research Field：Neuroscience, Visual Perception, Consciousness, Prefrontal Cortex, Cognition
- Phone：
- E-mail：vishal.kapoor@icpbr.ac.cn
Dr. Vishal Kapoor is the head of the Laboratory of Neural Dynamics of Visual Perception and Cognition. He received his bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology (2004) from Jamia Millia Islamia University, and a master’s degree in Neuroscience (2006) from the National Brain Research Centre, India, where he investigated the inhibitory control of action in humans. In 2007, he joined the Department for Physiology of Cognitive Processes, at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tuebingen, Germany, to pursue his doctoral degree, where his dissertation investigated the role of prefrontal cortex in conscious visual perception. He submitted his thesis in 2015, and received his PhD degree in Neuroscience (summa cum laude) from the Faculty of Science and Faculty of Medicine at the University of Tuebingen, Germany. Subsequently, he continued with his postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics. In November, 2021, he joined the International Center for Primate Brain Research (ICPBR), Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT) of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS). Research in his lab focuses on the neural mechanisms underlying conscious visual perception and cognition.
One of the greatest mysteries in science is ‘What is consciousness?’. Understanding the biological basis of consciousness has been considered one of the most enigmatic and hardest problems in neuroscience. One approach aimed at understanding this elusive phenomenon considered amenable to neuroscientific pursuit is to investigate the neural correlates of conscious vision. To this end, we are interested in understanding the neural substrates underlying visual perception.
While much is known about the functional specialization pertaining to individual regions of the primate visual system, how this neural machinery together realizes subjective visual perception remains to be understood. Importantly, investigating how perception aids higher cognitive function is central to a holistic understanding of how brain produces behavior. Therefore, our research is aimed at investigating the neural substrates underlying conscious perception and disambiguating these processes from those underlying cognition.
Evidently, scrutinizing how the neural machinery, gives rise to visual perception and cognition, may also reveal insights into a more general understanding of ‘what is consciousness?’.
(*- equal contribution, #-corresponding author)