Isabel Gauthier
Encyclopedia
Isabel Gauthier is a cognitive neuroscientist currently holding the position of professor and head of the Object Perception Lab at Vanderbilt University
’s Department of Psychology, where she is also the co-director of the Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience graduate program. She was born in Montreal, Québec, Canada, in 1971. She acquired her PhD at Yale University
(1993-1998) under Michael Tarr. In 2000, with the support of the James S. McDonnell Foundation
, she founded the Perceptual Expertise Network (PEN), which now comprises over ten labs based across North America; in 2006 PEN became part of the NSF-funded Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center (TDLC).
Gauthier has received the Young Investigator Award, Cognitive Neuroscience Society (2002), the APA Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology in the area of Behavioral/Cognitive Neuroscience (2003) and the Troland research award from the National Academy of Sciences “For seminal experiments on the role of visual expertise in the recognition of complex objects including faces and for exploration of brain areas activated by this recognition.” (2008). She was elected Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (2010).
Beginning in 2011, Gauthier serves as editor of JEP:General.
Gauthier has researched many topics involved in perception, with a focus on the role of perceptual expertise in category-specific effects in domains such as faces, letters or musical notation. She incorporates different techniques to study these topics, including functional magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI), event-related potentials (ERP), and behavioral training studies using novel objects (e.g., Greeble
s, YUFOs, Ziggerins).
One brain area frequently investigated by Gauthier and colleagues using fMRI is the fusiform face area
(FFA). The FFA is believed to play an important role in face recognition, but Gauthier’s research has examined the role that FFA may play in the expert perception of non-face objects, such as cars in car experts.
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
’s Department of Psychology, where she is also the co-director of the Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience graduate program. She was born in Montreal, Québec, Canada, in 1971. She acquired her PhD at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
(1993-1998) under Michael Tarr. In 2000, with the support of the James S. McDonnell Foundation
James S. McDonnell Foundation
The James S. McDonnell Foundation was founded in 1950 by aerospace pioneer James S. McDonnell. It was established to "improve the quality of life," and does so by contributing to the generation of new knowledge through its support of research and scholarship. Originally called the McDonnell...
, she founded the Perceptual Expertise Network (PEN), which now comprises over ten labs based across North America; in 2006 PEN became part of the NSF-funded Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center (TDLC).
Gauthier has received the Young Investigator Award, Cognitive Neuroscience Society (2002), the APA Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology in the area of Behavioral/Cognitive Neuroscience (2003) and the Troland research award from the National Academy of Sciences “For seminal experiments on the role of visual expertise in the recognition of complex objects including faces and for exploration of brain areas activated by this recognition.” (2008). She was elected Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (2010).
Beginning in 2011, Gauthier serves as editor of JEP:General.
Gauthier has researched many topics involved in perception, with a focus on the role of perceptual expertise in category-specific effects in domains such as faces, letters or musical notation. She incorporates different techniques to study these topics, including functional magnetic resonance imaging
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI is a type of specialized MRI scan used to measure the hemodynamic response related to neural activity in the brain or spinal cord of humans or other animals. It is one of the most recently developed forms of neuroimaging...
(fMRI), event-related potentials (ERP), and behavioral training studies using novel objects (e.g., Greeble
Greeble (psychology)
The Greebles refers to a category of novel objects used as stimuli in psychological studies of object and face recognition, created by Scott Yu at Yale University. They were named by the psychologist Robert Abelson. The greebles were created for Isabel Gauthier's dissertation work at Yale, so as to...
s, YUFOs, Ziggerins).
One brain area frequently investigated by Gauthier and colleagues using fMRI is the fusiform face area
Fusiform face area
The fusiform face area is a part of the human visual system which might be specialized for facial recognition, although there is some evidence that it also processes categorical information about other objects, particularly familiar ones.-Localization:...
(FFA). The FFA is believed to play an important role in face recognition, but Gauthier’s research has examined the role that FFA may play in the expert perception of non-face objects, such as cars in car experts.
Publications
The following 29 journal articles have been cited at least 29 times (h-index = 29 as of June 2011, according to Web of Science)- Gauthier, I., Tarr, M.J., Anderson, A.W., Skudlarski, P. & Gore, J. C. (1999). Activation of the middle fusiform ‘face area’ increases with expertise recognizing novel objects. Nature Neuroscience, 2(6):568-573.
- Gauthier, I., Skudlarski, P., Gore, J.C., & Anderson, A. W. (2000). Expertise for cars and birds recruits brain areas involved in face recognition. Nature Neuroscience, 3(2): 191-197.
- Gauthier, I., & Tarr, M.J. (1997). Becoming a "Greeble" expert: Exploring mechanisms for face recognition, Vision Research, 37(12), 1673-1682.
- Rossion, B., Gauthier, I., Tarr, M.J., Despland, P., Bruyer, R, Linotte, S., Crommelinck, M. (2000). The N170 occipito-temporal component is delayed and enhanced to inverted faces but not to inverted objects: an electrophysiological account of face-specific processes in the human brain. Neuroreport. 11(1): 69-74.
- Gauthier, I., Tarr, M. J., Moylan, J., Skudlarski, P., Gore, J.C. & Anderson, A.W., (2000). The fusiform “face area” is part of a network that processes faces at the individual level. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 12(3): 495-504.
- Tarr, M. J., & Gauthier, I., (2000). FFA: A flexible fusiform area for subordinate- level visual processing automatized by expertise. Nature Neuroscience, 3(8), 764-769.
- Gauthier, I., Behrmann, M., & Tarr, M. J. (1999). Can face recognition really be dissociated from object recognition? Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 11, 349-370.
- Gauthier, I., Williams, P., Tarr, M. J., & Tanaka, J. (1998). Training "Greeble" experts: A framework for studying expert object recognition processes. Vision Research, 38, 2401-2428.
- Gauthier, I., & Tarr, M. J. (2002). Unraveling mechanisms for expert object recognition: Bridging brain activity and behavior. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. 28(2):431-446.
- Gauthier, I., Curran, T., Curby, K.M. & Collins, D. (2003). Perceptual interference supports a non-modular account of face processing. Nature Neuroscience, 6: 428-32.
- Grelotti, D., Gauthier, I., Schultz, R. T. (2002). Social interest and the development of cortical face specialization: what autism teaches us about face processing. Developmental Psychobiology 40(30):13-25.
- Tarr., M. J., Williams, P., Hayward, W. G., & Gauthier, I., (1998). Three-dimensional object recognition is viewpoint dependent. Nature Neuroscience, 1(4), 275-277.
- Gauthier, I., & Nelson, C. (2001). The development of face expertise, Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 11:219-224.
- Palmeri, T. J. Gauthier, I. (2004). Visual Object Understanding. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 5, 291-303.
- Gauthier, I., Hayward, W. G., Tarr, M.J (2002). BOLD activity during mental rotation and viewpoint-dependent object recognition. Neuron. 34:161-171.
- Bukach, C.M., Gauthier, I., Tarr, M.J. (2006). Beyond faces and modularity: the power of an expertise framework. Trends in Cognitive Science. 10(40):159-66.
- Gauthier, I., Logothetis (2000). Is face recognition not so unique after all? Cognitive Neuropsychology. 17(1/2/3), 125-142.
- Goffaux, V., Gauthier, I., & Rossion, B. (2003). Spatial Scale contribution to early visual differences between face and object processing. Cognitive Brain Research, 16:416-24.
- Gauthier, I., (2000). What constrains the organization of ventral temporal cortex?, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4(1):1-2.
- James, K. H., James, T. W., Jobard, G. Wong, C.-N. & Gauthier, I. (2005). Letter processing in the visual system: different activation patterns for single letters and strings. Cognitive and Affective Behavioral Neuroscience. 5(4): 452-66.
- Grelotti, D.J., Klin, A. J., Gauthier, I., Skudlarski, P., Cohen, D.J., Gore, J.C., Volkmar, F. R., & Schultz, R.T. (2005). FMRI activation of the fusiform gyrus and amygdala to cartoon characters but not faces in a boy with autism. Neuropsychologia, 43(3): 373-85.
- Gauthier, I., Tarr, M. J., Moylan, J., Anderson, A.W., Skudlarski, P. & Gore J.C. (2000). Does visual subordinate-level categorization engage the functionally defined fusiform face area? Cognitive Neuropsychology, 17(1/2/3), 143-163.
- Rossion, B., Curran, T., Gauthier, I. (2002). A defense of the subordinate level- expertise account for the N170 component. Commentary. Cognition 85(2):189-196.
- Gauthier, I., & Tarr, M.J. (1997). Orientation priming of novel shapes in the context of viewpoint-dependent recognition, Perception, 26(1), 51-73.
- Gauthier, I., & Tarr, M.J. (1997). Orientation priming of novel shapes in the context of viewpoint-dependent recognition, Perception, 26(1), 51-73.
- Palmeri, T. J., Wong, A. C.-N., Gauthier, I. (2004). Computational approaches to the development of perceptual expertise, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8: 378-86.
- Gauthier, I. & Bukach, C. (2006). Should we reject the expertise hypothesis? Cognition. 103(2):322-30.
- James, T.W. & Gauthier, I. (2006). Repetition-induced changes in BOLD response reflect accumulation of neural activity. Human Brain Mapping, 27(1):37-46.
- James, K.H. & Gauthier, I. (2006). Letter processing automatically recruits a multimodal brain network. Neuropsychologia. 44(14):2937-49.
- Richler, J.J., Gauthier, I., Wenger, M.J., & Palmeri, T.J. (2008). Holistic processing of faces: perceptual and decisional components. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34(2):328-42.