How your brain's ongoing activity shapes what you perceive
Establishing a Unified Framework of Spontaneous Brain Activity in Perception
['FUNDING_R01'] · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · NIH-11117036
This project looks at how spontaneous patterns of brain activity just before a stimulus change what people see or hear.
Quick facts
| Phase | ['FUNDING_R01'] |
|---|---|
| Study type | Nih_funding |
| Sex | All |
| Sponsor | NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE (nih funded) |
| Locations | 1 site (NEW YORK, UNITED STATES) |
| Trial ID | NIH-11117036 on ClinicalTrials.gov |
What this research studies
You would take part in sessions where researchers record your brain activity using noninvasive methods like EEG or fMRI while you do simple perception tasks. They will analyze ongoing (prestimulus) brain patterns to separate one process that carries content-specific information shaped by past experience from another process tied to general arousal or behavioral state. The team will measure how these two processes differently influence whether you detect or report things (sensitivity versus decision bias). Results across people and conditions will be combined to build a unified framework of how ongoing brain activity participates in perception.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are adults willing to undergo noninvasive brain recordings (EEG or MRI) while performing simple perception tasks, and may include people with perceptual symptoms.
Not a fit: People seeking immediate clinical treatment for an urgent condition or those unable to follow task instructions due to severe cognitive impairment are unlikely to receive direct benefit.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help explain and eventually guide better treatments for perceptual disturbances in clinical disorders.
How similar studies have performed: Prior human EEG and fMRI studies have shown prestimulus brain activity can bias perception, but this unified framework approach is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE — NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (ACTIVE)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: HE, BIYU JADE — NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- Study coordinator: HE, BIYU JADE
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.