Dr José van Velzen MSc PhD
Position held:
Lecturer
Phone:
+44 (0)20 7919 7294
Fax:
+44 (0)20 7919 7873
Email:
j.vanvelzen (@gold.ac.uk)
Room 1-15 Ben Pimlott Building,
Psychology Department,
Goldsmiths, University of London,
New Cross, SE14 6NW
Cognitive Neuroscience, Spatial perception and spatial attention, Multisensory processing, Motor preparation
Teaching
Programme coordinator MSc Research Methods in Psychology
Methods and Techniques in Cognitive Neuroscience (MSc Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, MSc Music, Mind and Brain)
Cognitive Neuroscience of Attention and Action (2nd and 3rd year BSc Psychology)
Research interests
My research interests include the cognitive and neural aspects of perception, attention and action. I use a combination of behavioural and neural imaging methods (EEG, ERP, MEG) to investigate the following questions (all these are suitable as PhD projects):
(1) Control processes in spatial attention and response preparation
Imaging studies have identified a network of frontoparietal brain areas in spatial attention, but also in movement control. Furthermore, electrophysiological markers of attentional control suggest shifts of spatial attention in vision, audition and touch are based on externally-defined coordinates, likely to be supplied by the visual system. Using ERPs we try to disentangle the relative contributions of brain areas involved in the control of attention and action, and investigate further the role of vision.
(2) Cross-modal links in perception, attention and action, in peripersonal and extrapersonal space
Previous research involving vision, audition and touch showed that shifts of attention in one sensory modality brought about shifts in attention in other modalities. Interestingly, we have recently shown that during response preparation, auditory processing is not affected by which hand is being prepared. This raises questions about the role of audition in spatial perception and spatial attention. Under which conditions is audition coupled to vision and touch? ERPs will be used to assess couplings between vision, audition and touch in peripersonal and extrapersonal space.
(3) Spatial processing and spatial attention mechanisms in the blind
It is widely assumed that congenital blind participants have an inferior sense of external space, caused by the lack of input of visual information. This project aims to investigate this claim in detail and will take into account the experience the blind have had growing up. ERP measures will be collected to elucidate the underlying neural mechanisms active during spatial processing in the congenitally and late blind.
(4) Posture effects and effects of tool use on visual spatial perception and attention
It has been shown that posture can effect processing of visual information, in the sense that information presented close to a hand or an actively-used tool is processed more efficiently when compared to the same information being processed without the presence of such an object. In this project we investigate this phenomenon using hands, hand-like object and tools.
Selected publications
Eardley, Alison F and Van Velzen, Jose. 2011. Event-related potential evidence for the use of external coordinates in the preparation of tactile attention by the early blind. European Journal Of Neuroscience, 33(10), pp. 1897-1907. ISSN 0953-816X [Article]
Gherri, Elena, Van Velzen, Jose L. and Eimer, Martin. 2009. The instructed context of a motor task modulates covert response preparation and shifts of spatial attention. Psychophysiology, 46(3), pp. 655-667. ISSN 00485772 [Article]
Fockert, Jan W. de, Ramchurn, Anusha, Van Velzen, Jose L., Bergström, Zara M. and Bunce, David. 2009. Behavioral and ERP evidence of greater distractor processing in old age. Brain Research, 1282, pp. 67-73. ISSN 00068993 [Article]
Kiss, Monika, Van Velzen, Jose L. and Eimer, Martin. 2008. The N2pc component and its links to attention shifts and spatially selective visual processing. Psychophysiology, 45(2), pp. 240-249. ISSN 0048-5772 [Article]
Gherri, Elena, Van Velzen, Jose L. and Eimer, Martin. 2007. Dissociating effector and movement direction selection during the preparation of manual reaching movements: Evidence from lateralized ERP components. Clinical Neurophysiology, 118(9), pp. 2031-2049. ISSN 13882457 [Article]
Eimer, Martin, Van Velzen, Jose L., Gherri, Elena and Press, Clare. 2007. ERP correlates of shared control mechanisms involved in saccade preparation and in covert attention. Brain Research, 1135(1), pp. 154-166. ISSN 00068993 [Article]
Kennett, Steffan, Van Velzen, Jose L., Eimer, Martin and Driver, Jon. 2007. Disentangling gaze shifts from preparatory ERP effects during spatial attention. Psychophysiology, 44(1), pp. 69-78. ISSN 0048-5772 [Article]
Eimer, Martin, Van Velzen, Jose L., Gherri, Elena and Press, Clare. 2006. Manual response preparation and saccade programming are linked to attention shifts: ERP evidence for covert attentional orienting and spatially specific modulations of visual processing. Brain Research, 1105(1), pp. 7-19. ISSN 00068993 [Article]
Van Velzen, Jose L., Eardley, A., Forster, B. and Eimer, M.. 2006. Shifts of attention in the early blind: An ERP study of attentional control processes in the absence of visual spatial information. Neuropsychologia, 44(12), pp. 2533-2546. ISSN 00283932 [Article]
Eimer, Martin and Van Velzen, Jose L.. 2006. Covert manual response preparation triggers attentional modulations of visual but not auditory processing. Clinical Neurophysiology, 117(5), pp. 1063-1074. ISSN 13882457 [Article]
Eimer, Martin and Van Velzen, Jose L.. 2006. Covert manual response preparation triggers attentional modulations of visual but not auditory processing. Clinical Neurophysiology, 117(5), pp. 1063-1074. ISSN 13882457 [Article]
Van Velzen, Jose L., Gherri, Elena and Eimer, Martin. 2006. ERP effects of movement preparation on visual processing: attention shifts to the hand, not the goal. Cognitive Processing, 7(S1), pp. 100-101. ISSN 1612-4782 [Article]
Eimer, Martin and Van Velzen, Jose L.. 2005. Spatial tuning of tactile attention modulates visual processing within hemifields: an ERP investigation of crossmodal attention. Experimental Brain Research, 166(3-4), pp. 402-410. ISSN 0014-4819 [Article]
Macaluso, E., Driver, J., Van Velzen, Jose L. and Eimer, Martin. 2005. Influence of gaze direction on crossmodal modulation of visual ERPS by endogenous tactile spatial attention. Cognitive Brain Research, 23(2-3), pp. 406-417. ISSN 09266410 [Article]
Althaus, Monika, Gomarus, H. Karin, Wijers, Albertus, Mulder, Lambertus J.M., Van Velzen, Jose L. and Minderaa, Ruud B.. 2005. Cortical and Autonomic Correlates of Visual Selective Attention in Introverted and Extraverted Children. Journal of Psychophysiology, 19(1), pp. 35-49. ISSN 0269-8803 [Article]
Eimer, Martin, Forster, Bettina, Van Velzen, Jose L. and Prabhu, Gita. 2005. Covert manual response preparation triggers attentional shifts: ERP evidence for the premotor theory of attention. Neuropsychologia, 43(6), pp. 957-966. ISSN 00283932 [Article]
Driver, Jon, Eimer, Martin, Macaluso, E. and Van Velzen, Jose L.. 2004. The neurobiology of human spatial attention. In: Nancy Kanwisher and John Duncan, eds. Functional neuroimaging of visual cognition. Attention & performance XX. Oxford: Oxford University Press , pp. 267-300. ISBN 0198528450 [Book Section]
Van Velzen, Jose L., Eimer, M. and Driver, J.. 2004. ERP Evidence for Cross-Modal Audiovisual Effects of Endogenous Spatial Attention within Hemifields. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 16(2), pp. 272-288. ISSN 0898929X [Article]
Eimer, Martin, Forster, Bettina and Van Velzen, Jose L.. 2003. Anterior and posterior attentional control systems use different spatial reference frames: ERP evidence from covert tactile-spatial orienting. Psychophysiology, 40(6), pp. 924-933. ISSN 00485772 [Article]
Eimer, Martin, Forster, Bettina and Van Velzen, Jose L.. 2003. Shifts of attention in light and in darkness: an ERP study of supramodal attentional control and crossmodal links in spatial attention. Cognitive Brain Research, 15(3), pp. 308-323. ISSN 09266410 [Article]
Van Velzen, Jose L. and Eimer, M.. 2003. Early posterior ERP components do not reflect the control of attentional shifts towards expected peripheral events. Psychophysiology, 40(5), pp. 827-831. ISSN 00485772 [Article]
Van Velzen, Jose L., Forster, Bettina and Eimer, Martin. 2002. Temporal dynamics of lateralized ERP components elicited during endogenous attentional shifts to relevant tactile events. Psychophysiology, 39(6), pp. 874-878. ISSN 0048-5772 [Article]
Eimer, Martin and Van Velzen, Jose L.. 2002. Crossmodal links in spatial attention are mediated by supramodal control processes: Evidence from event-related potentials. Psychophysiology, 39, pp. 437-449. ISSN 0048-5772 [Article]
Eimer, Martin, Van Velzen, Jose L. and Driver, Jon. 2002. Cross-Modal Interactions between Audition, Touch, and Vision in Endogenous Spatial Attention: ERP Evidence on Preparatory States and Sensory Modulations. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14(2), pp. 254-271. ISSN 0898-929X [Article]
Eimer, Martin, Maravita, Angelo, Van Velzen, Jose L., Husain, Masud and Driver, Jon. 2002. The electrophysiology of tactile extinction: ERP correlates of unconscious somatosensory processing. Neuropsychologia, 40(13), pp. 2438-2447. ISSN 00283932 [Article]