Xuan Xian
Research Associate,Sr
2008
HDWeb Bio Page
Current Activities
Current Research Activities
The main goal of my research is to study how color and color appearance is processed in the human visual system, using psychophysical, computational and neuro-physiological methods. Formation and evolution of receptive fields coding color information will be interpreted based on natural scene statistics. I am also interested in perceptual organization and object recognition, especially principles of perceptual grouping. Attention and eye movements will also be studied in conjunction of these interests.
Current Extension Activities
Seek to hire multiple human subjects. Trying to recruit undergraduate and graduate students to assist in both experimental design and data analysis. While actively seek teaching opportunities, I am in the process of preparing teaching materials for courses like Sensation and Perception, Introduction to System Neurophysiology, Vision or Color Vision.
Biography
Biographical Statement
I am specially interested in human perception, neural representation and natural scene statistics of color and perceptual grouping. Here in Cornell, I use psychophysical methods to measure human perception of visual illusions which provide a good tool to test hypotheses about object processing in the brain. Together with Dr. David Field, we use both psychophysical and computational methods to study natural scene statistics with special emphasis on color. Is our trichromacy shaped by natural scenes? Can we explain the formation of different visual pathways and color opponent receptive fields with computational models based on natural scenes?
During my post-doctoral study at Stanford, I studied neuronal representation of color and color appearance in V4 using neurophysiology method, e.g. single-electrode recording in Dr. Tirin Moore’s lab. We will continue to collaborate on these projects and will also study the influence of eye movements to processes along different visual pathways.
Education
Ph.D. in Psychology (concentration on Perception), 08/2004
Dissertation title: Perceptual grouping in color perception,University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
M.A. in Psychology, 8/2002
Thesis title: Chromatic induction from complex surrounds, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
B.S. in Applied Psychology, 7/1999, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, P.R. China
Courses, Websites, Pubs
Related Websites
http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/xx37
http://redwood.psych.cornell.edu/
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/nbio/moore.html
http://www.ccp.uchicago.edu/faculty/Steven_Shevell/
Selected Publications
Xian, S.X. & Shevell, S.K. (2004) Changes in Color Appearance Caused by Perceptual Grouping. Vision Neuroscience, 21(3), 383-388.