I obtained my B.S. degree at Kyoto University, Japan, in 2008. I then received my Ph. D. at Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Japan, in 2013, where I investigated the neural mechanisms of visual perception of objects and textures in macaque monkeys under the supervision of Dr. Hidehiko Komatsu. I moved to the U.S. in 2015 and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at New York University. I studied the neural mechanisms of perceptual decision making with Dr. Roozbeh Kiani. From 2021 October, I joined the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT), the Institute of Neuroscience (ION), as an investigator and the head of the Laboratory of Perception and Decision making.

My ultimate goal is to reveal how our brains recognize and understand the external world. Our brains are equipped with the ability to perceive a variety of objects and to classify them into different conceptual categories. I believe that this ability emerges not only through highly developed visual systems but also through the mechanisms that select how to interact with objects. Therefore, I approach this problem by studying both visual processing and decision-making mechanisms in the brain.

•  Okazawa G, Kiani R.  (2023)  Neural Mechanisms that Make Perceptual Decisions Flexible.  Annu. Rev. Physiol.  85: 18.1–18.25.

•  Okazawa G, Sha L, Kiani R.  (2021)  Linear integration of sensory evidence over space and time underlies face categorization.  J. Neurosci.  41: 7876-7893

•  Okazawa G, Hatch CE, Mancoo A, Machens CK, Kiani R.  (2021)  Representational geometry of perceptual decisions in the monkey parietal cortex.  Cell  184: 3748-3761

•  Okazawa G, Sha L, Purcell BA, Kiani R.  (2018)  Psychophysical reverse correlation reflects both sensory and decision-making processes.  Nat. Commun.  9: 3479

•  Okazawa G, Tajima S, Komatsu H.  (2015)  Image statistics underlying natural texture selectivity of neurons in macaque V4.  PNAS.  112: E351-60