Marc A. Sommer

Research Interests:

Dr. Marc Sommer studies neuronal circuits of the brain. Research in his laboratory involves recording from single neurons and studying the effects of inactivating or stimulating well-defined brain areas. His goals are to understand how individual areas process signals and how multiple areas interact to cause cognition and behavior. Results from the work are guiding the design of vision-based models and robots.

Specialties:

Neuroengineering

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions:

• Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, 2005, 2006
• Fellow Award for Research Excellence, National Institutes of Health, 1999
• Member, International Neuropsychological Symposium, 2007
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, Neurosciences, National Science Foundation, 1990-1993

Courses Taught:

• BME 790L.001 - ADV TOP LAB FOR GRADS IN BME
• BME 790L.01L - ADV TOP LAB FOR GRADS IN BME

Representative Publications: (More Publications)

• Ashmore, Robin A. and Sommer, Marc A., Delay activity of saccade-related neurons in the caudal dentate nucleus of the macaque cerebellum, Journal of Neurophysiology, vol 109 (2013), pp. 2129-2144 [pdf], [doi] [abs].
• Smith, Matthew A. and Sommer, Marc A., Spatial and temporal scales of neuronal correlation in visual area V4, Journal of Neuroscience, vol 33 (2013), pp. 5422-5432 [pdf], [doi] [abs].
• Mayo, J. Patrick and Sommer, Marc A., Neuronal correlates of visual time perception at brief timescales, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol 110 no. 4 (2013), pp. 1506-1511 [pdf], [doi] [abs].
• Shin, SooYoon and Sommer, Marc A., Division of labor in frontal eye field neurons during presaccadic remapping of visual receptive fields, Journal of Neurophysiology, vol 108 (2012), pp. 2144-2159 [pdf], [doi] [abs].
• Middlebrooks, Paul G. and Sommer, Marc A., Neuronal correlates of metacognition in primate frontal cortex, Neuron, vol 75 no. 3 (2012), pp. 517-530 [pdf], [doi] [abs].
• Crapse, Trinity B. and Sommer, Marc A., Frontal eye field neurons assess visual stability across saccades, Journal of Neuroscience, vol 32 no. 8 (2012), pp. 2835–2845 [pdf], [doi] [abs].
• Shin, SooYoon and Sommer, Marc A., Activity of neurons in monkey globus pallidus during oculomotor behavior compared with that in substantia nigra pars reticulata, Journal of Neurophysiology, vol 103 no. 4 (2010), pp. 1874-1887 [pdf], [doi] [abs].
• Crapse, Trinity B. and Sommer, Marc A., Corollary discharge across the animal kingdom, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, vol 9 no. 8 (2008), pp. 587-600 [pdf], [doi] [abs].
• Sommer, Marc A. and Wurtz, Robert H., Influence of the thalamus on spatial visual processing in frontal cortex, Nature, vol 444 no. 7117 (2006), pp. 374-377 [pdf], [doi] [abs].
• Sommer, Marc A. and Wurtz, Robert H., A pathway in primate brain for internal monitoring of movements, Science, vol 296 no. 5572 (2002), pp. 1480-1482 [pdf], [doi] [abs].

Lectures and Invited Talks:

• New Faculty Lecture Series,