Martin S. Banks

Professor (Vision Science)

Email: martybanks@berkeley.edu

Web site: http://bankslab.berkeley.edu/

Research areas: Systems and Computational Neuroscience, Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience

Our research focuses on visual space perception which is the problem of how we perceive the 3d layout of the world from the information arriving at the eyes. This problem is interesting because the 3rd dimension (depth) is not directly available in the retinal images; the nervous system must estimate that dimension from a variety of sources of information including binocular disparity, pictorial cues, and motion parallax. We are currently studying a variety of topics including depth perception through disparity (stereopsis), the integration of disparity with other depth cues, the integration of visual cues with tactile, vestibular, and auditory cues, the perception of self-motion, and more. We are also involved in the development of virtual-reality devices such as a novel computer graphic procedure that allows us to simulate accurately the focusing response of the eye. We are also involved in modeling the processes we study with ideal observer analysis, Bayesian estimation, and signal processing techniques.

Selected Publications

Vishwanath, D., Girshick, A.R. & Banks, M.S. 2005. Why pictures look right when viewed from the wrong place Nature Neuroscience 8: 1401-1410.

Banks, M.S., Gepshtein, S., & Landy, M.S. 2004. Why is spatial stereoresolution so low Journal of Neuroscience 24: 2077-2089.

Backus, BT, Banks, MS, van Ee, R, & Crowell, JA 1999. Horizontal and vertical disparity, eye position, and stereoscopic slant perception Vision Research 39: 1143-1170.

Adams, WJ, Banks, MS, & van Ee, R 2001. Adaptation to 3d distortions in human vision Nature Neuroscience 4: 1063-1064.

Ernst, MO & Banks, MS 2002. Humans integrate visual and haptic information in a statistically optimal way Nature 415: 429-433.

Hillis, JM, Ernst, MO, Banks, MS, & Landy, MS 2002. Combining sensory information: Mandatory fusion within, but not between, senses Science 298: 1627-1630.

Akeley, K., Watt, S.J., Girshick, A.R., & Banks, M.S. 2004. A stereo display prototype with multiple focal distances ACM Transactions on Graphics 23: 1804-1813.

Ernst, MO, Banks, MS, & Buelthoff, HH 2000. Touch can affect visual slant perception Nature Neuroscience 3: 69-73.

Crowell, JA, Banks, MS, Shenoy, KV, & Andersen, RA 1998. Visual self-motion perception during head turns is mediated by a non-linear interaction between three extra-retinal cues Nature Neuroscience 1: 732-737.