Professor Zoe Kourtzi University positionProfessor Professor Zoe Kourtzi is pleased to consider applications from prospective PhD students. DepartmentsHome pagehttp://www.psychol.cam.ac.uk/directo... Research ThemesInterestsMy work aims to understand the role of learning and experience in enabling humans of all ages to translate sensory experience into complex decisions and adaptive behaviours. Adaptive cognitive abilities are critical for survival and social interactions, yet extracting meaning from the complex, and frequently ambiguous, input of the natural world is a computationally demanding task that is far from understood. I address this challenge through an interdisciplinary approach that combines behavioural paradigms with multimodal brain imaging (MRI, EEG, MEG, TMS) and state-of-the-art computational methods. I apply these techniques to study the young and ageing brain and understand learning and cortical plasticity across the lifespan. Research Focus
EquipmentBehavioural analysis Computational modelling Electroencephalography (EEG) Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) Neuropsychological testing Positron Emission Tomography (PET) CollaboratorsNo collaborators listed Associated News Items
Publications2014Lestou V, Lam JM, Humphreys K, Kourtzi Z, Humphreys GW (2014), “A dorsal visual route necessary for global form perception: evidence from neuropsychological FMRI.” J Cogn Neurosci 26(3):621-34 Details Shen Y, Mayhew SD, Kourtzi Z, Ti?o P (2014), “Spatial-temporal modelling of fMRI data through spatially regularized mixture of hidden process models.” Neuroimage 84:657-71 Details 2013Baker R, Dexter M, Hardwicke TE, Goldstone A, Kourtzi Z (2013), “Learning to predict: Exposure to temporal sequences facilitates prediction of future events.” Vision Res Details Chang DH, Kourtzi Z, Welchman AE (2013), “Mechanisms for extracting a signal from noise as revealed through the specificity and generality of task training.” J Neurosci 33(27):10962-71 Details Garcia A, Kuai SG, Kourtzi Z (2013), “Differences in the time course of learning for hard compared to easy training.” Front Psychol 4:110 Details Johannsen L, Li KZ, Chechlacz M, Bibi A, Kourtzi Z, Wing AM (2013), “Functional neuroimaging of the interference between working memory and the control of periodic ankle movement timing.” Neuropsychologia 51(11):2142-53 Details Kuai SG, Kourtzi Z (2013), “Learning to see, but not discriminate, visual forms is impaired in aging.” Psychol Sci 24(4):412-22 Details Kuai SG, Levi D, Kourtzi Z (2013), “Learning optimizes decision templates in the human visual cortex.” Curr Biol 23(18):1799-804 Details Mayhew SD, Kourtzi Z (2013), “Dissociable circuits for visual shape learning in the young and aging human brain.” Front Hum Neurosci 7:75 Details Welchman AE, Kourtzi Z (2013), “Linking brain imaging signals to visual perception.” Vis Neurosci 30(5-6):229-41 Details 2012de Jong MC, Kourtzi Z, van Ee R (2012), “Perceptual experience modulates cortical circuits involved in visual awareness.” Eur J Neurosci 36(12):3718-31 Details Li S, Mayhew SD, Kourtzi Z (2012), “Learning shapes spatiotemporal brain patterns for flexible categorical decisions.” Cereb Cortex 22(10):2322-35 Details Mayhew SD, Li S, Kourtzi Z (2012), “Learning acts on distinct processes for visual form perception in the human brain.” J Neurosci 32(3):775-86 Details 2011Kourtzi Z, Connor CE (2011), “Neural representations for object perception: structure, category, and adaptive coding.” Annu Rev Neurosci 34:45-67 Details 2010Chen D, Li S, Kourtzi Z, Wu S (2010), “Behavior-constrained support vector machines for fMRI data analysis.” IEEE Trans Neural Netw 21(10):1680-5 Details Duncan KK, Hadjipapas A, Li S, Kourtzi Z, Bagshaw A, Barnes G (2010), “Identifying spatially overlapping local cortical networks with MEG.” Hum Brain Mapp 31(7):1003-16 Details Gerardin P, Kourtzi Z, Mamassian P (2010), “Prior knowledge of illumination for 3D perception in the human brain.” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107(37):16309-14 Details Kourtzi Z (2010), “Visual learning for perceptual and categorical decisions in the human brain.” Vision Res 50(4):433-40 Details Mayhew SD, Li S, Storrar JK, Tsvetanov KA, Kourtzi Z (2010), “Learning shapes the representation of visual categories in the aging human brain.” J Cogn Neurosci 22(12):2899-912 Details Papathomas TV, Kourtzi Z, Welchman AE (2010), “Perspective-based illusory movement in a flat billboard--an explanation.” Perception 39(8):1086-93 Details Peterson MF, Das K, Sy JL, Li S, Giesbrecht B, Kourtzi Z, Eckstein MP (2010), “Ideal observer analysis for task normalization of pattern classifier performance applied to EEG and fMRI data.” J Opt Soc Am A Opt Image Sci Vis 27(12):2670-83 Details Zhang J, Kourtzi Z (2010), “Learning-dependent plasticity with and without training in the human brain.” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107(30):13503-8 Details Zhang J, Meeson A, Welchman AE, Kourtzi Z (2010), “Learning alters the tuning of functional magnetic resonance imaging patterns for visual forms.” J Neurosci 30(42):14127-33 Details 2009Jastorff J, Kourtzi Z, Giese MA (2009), “Visual learning shapes the processing of complex movement stimuli in the human brain.” J Neurosci 29(44):14026-38 Details Kourtzi Z (2009), “Challenges in object recognition: selectivity vs invariance.” Perception 38(6):818-20; discussion 824-5 Details Li S, Mayhew SD, Kourtzi Z (2009), “Learning shapes the representation of behavioral choice in the human brain.” Neuron 62(3):441-52 Details Preston TJ, Kourtzi Z, Welchman AE (2009), “Adaptive estimation of three-dimensional structure in the human brain.” J Neurosci 29(6):1688-98 Details Raemaekers M, Lankheet MJ, Moorman S, Kourtzi Z, van Wezel RJ (2009), “Directional anisotropy of motion responses in retinotopic cortex.” Hum Brain Mapp 30(12):3970-80 Details Schwarzkopf DS, Zhang J, Kourtzi Z (2009), “Flexible learning of natural statistics in the human brain.” J Neurophysiol 102(3):1854-67 Details 2008Kourtzi Z, Krekelberg B, van Wezel RJ (2008), “Linking form and motion in the primate brain.” Trends Cogn Sci 12(6):230-6 Details Lestou V, Pollick FE, Kourtzi Z (2008), “Neural substrates for action understanding at different description levels in the human brain.” J Cogn Neurosci 20(2):324-41 Details Ostwald D, Lam JM, Li S, Kourtzi Z (2008), “Neural coding of global form in the human visual cortex.” J Neurophysiol 99(5):2456-69 Details Preston TJ, Li S, Kourtzi Z, Welchman AE (2008), “Multivoxel pattern selectivity for perceptually relevant binocular disparities in the human brain.” J Neurosci 28(44):11315-27 Details Schwarzkopf DS, Kourtzi Z (2008), “Experience shapes the utility of natural statistics for perceptual contour integration.” Curr Biol 18(15):1162-7 Details 2007Chandrasekaran C, Canon V, Dahmen JC, Kourtzi Z, Welchman AE (2007), “Neural correlates of disparity-defined shape discrimination in the human brain.” J Neurophysiol 97(2):1553-65 Details Li S, Ostwald D, Giese M, Kourtzi Z (2007), “Flexible coding for categorical decisions in the human brain.” J Neurosci 27(45):12321-30 Details Weigelt S, Kourtzi Z, Kohler A, Singer W, Muckli L (2007), “The cortical representation of objects rotating in depth.” J Neurosci 27(14):3864-74 Details 2006Jastorff J, Kourtzi Z, Giese MA (2006), “Learning to discriminate complex movements: biological versus artificial trajectories.” J Vis 6(8):791-804 Details Kourtzi Z (2006), “Textures of natural images in the human brain. Focus on "orientation-selective adaptation to first- and second-order patterns in human visual cortex".” J Neurophysiol 95(2):591-2 Details Kourtzi Z, Augath M, Logothetis NK, Movshon JA, Kiorpes L (2006), “Development of visually evoked cortical activity in infant macaque monkeys studied longitudinally with fMRI.” Magn Reson Imaging 24(4):359-66 Details Kourtzi Z, DiCarlo JJ (2006), “Learning and neural plasticity in visual object recognition.” Curr Opin Neurobiol 16(2):152-8 Details Tjan BS, Lestou V, Kourtzi Z (2006), “Uncertainty and invariance in the human visual cortex.” J Neurophysiol 96(3):1556-68 Details 2005Altmann CF, Grodd W, Kourtzi Z, Bülthoff HH, Karnath HO (2005), “Similar cortical correlates underlie visual object identification and orientation judgment.” Neuropsychologia 43(14):2101-8 Details Kourtzi Z, Betts LR, Sarkheil P, Welchman AE (2005), “Distributed neural plasticity for shape learning in the human visual cortex.” PLoS Biol 3(7):e204 Details Kourtzi Z, Huberle E (2005), “Spatiotemporal characteristics of form analysis in the human visual cortex revealed by rapid event-related fMRI adaptation.” Neuroimage 28(2):440-52 Details Krekelberg B, Vatakis A, Kourtzi Z (2005), “Implied motion from form in the human visual cortex.” J Neurophysiol 94(6):4373-86 Details Moutoussis K, Keliris G, Kourtzi Z, Logothetis N (2005), “A binocular rivalry study of motion perception in the human brain.” Vision Res 45(17):2231-43 Details Welchman AE, Deubelius A, Conrad V, Bülthoff HH, Kourtzi Z (2005), “3D shape perception from combined depth cues in human visual cortex.” Nat Neurosci 8(6):820-7 Details 2004Altmann CF, Deubelius A, Kourtzi Z (2004), “Shape saliency modulates contextual processing in the human lateral occipital complex.” J Cogn Neurosci 16(5):794-804 Details Kourtzi Z (2004), “"But still, it moves".” Trends Cogn Sci 8(2):47-9 Details 2003Altmann CF, Bülthoff HH, Kourtzi Z (2003), “Perceptual organization of local elements into global shapes in the human visual cortex.” Curr Biol 13(4):342-9 Details Kourtzi Z, Erb M, Grodd W, Bülthoff HH (2003), “Representation of the perceived 3-D object shape in the human lateral occipital complex.” Cereb Cortex 13(9):911-20 Details Kourtzi Z, Tolias AS, Altmann CF, Augath M, Logothetis NK (2003), “Integration of local features into global shapes: monkey and human FMRI studies.” Neuron 37(2):333-46 Details 2002Kourtzi Z, Bülthoff HH, Erb M, Grodd W (2002), “Object-selective responses in the human motion area MT/MST.” Nat Neurosci 5(1):17-8 Details Thornton IM, Kourtzi Z (2002), “A matching advantage for dynamic human faces.” Perception 31(1):113-32 Details 2001Grill-Spector K, Kourtzi Z, Kanwisher N (2001), “The lateral occipital complex and its role in object recognition.” Vision Res 41(10-11):1409-22 Details Kourtzi Z, Kanwisher N (2001), “Representation of perceived object shape by the human lateral occipital complex.” Science 293(5534):1506-9 Details Kourtzi Z, Shiffrar M (2001), “Visual representation of malleable and rigid objects that deform as they rotate.” J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 27(2):335-55 Details 2000Kourtzi Z, Kanwisher N (2000), “Implied motion activates extrastriate motion-processing areasResponse to David and Senior (2000).” Trends Cogn Sci 4(8):295-296 Details Kourtzi Z, Kanwisher N (2000), “Cortical regions involved in perceiving object shape.” J Neurosci 20(9):3310-8 Details Kourtzi Z, Kanwisher N (2000), “Activation in human MT/MST by static images with implied motion.” J Cogn Neurosci 12(1):48-55 Details Loula F, Kourtzi Z, Shiffrar M (2000), “Surface segmentation cues influence negative priming for novel and familiar shapes.” J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 26(4):929-44 Details 1999Kourtzi Z, Shiffrar M (1999), “Dynamic representations of human body movement.” Perception 28(1):49-62 Details Kourtzi Z, Shiffrar M (1999), “The visual representation of three-dimensional, rotating objects.” Acta Psychol (Amst) 102(2-3):265-92 Details 1998Ceraso J, Kourtzi Z, Ray S (1998), “The integration of object properties.” J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 24(5):1152-61 Details |