Synesthesia

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In synesthesia, information between the senses is blended. Letters might trigger the experience of colors, or sounds the experience of taste, or many other combinations. My laboratory has tested and verified over 20,000 synesthetes, and we are working to understand how it sheds light on consciousness, from the genetics to the neural networks.

Time perception

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To understand the neural mechanisms of time perception, David's lab combines psychophysical, behavioral, and computational approaches to address the relationship between the timing of perception and the underlying neural signals.

Neurolaw

lawbook David is founder and co-director of the Center for Science and Law, which studies how new discoveries in neuroscience can navigate the way we make laws, punish criminals, and develop rehabilitation.

Sensory Substitution

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Can sensory data be fed through unusual sensory channels? And can the brain learn to extract the meaning of such information streams?

Yes and yes. Sensory substitution is a non-invasive technique for circumventing the loss of one sense by feeding its information through another channel.

Other Projects

Other projects in our lab include the use of real-time feedback neuroimaging to break drug addiction, intervention programs in high-violence neighborhoods, word aversion, illusory motion reversal, the flash lag effect, a theory of cerebellar glomeruli, extracellular calcium as a neurotransmitter, and dopamine and human decision-making. Click to learn more.

brainexplorers

Deep brain recording in humans

DBS

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) targets deep nuclei in the brain to help with Parkinsons Disease or tremor. During surgery, we have a window to measure the responses of single neurons in the human brain. While the recording electrodes are in place, we present sights and sounds to a patient while the responses of the neurons are recorded. Find out more.

From the Blog

Italy's STYLE magazine: Idea Guys

Think it's unlikely for a scientist to be featured on the cover of an Italian fashion magazine? Me too! But strange things happen...
Breivik's Brain

What could explain Anders Breivik's shooting attack in Oslo, Norway? While this was being debated from the angles of politics, religion, and sociology, I wanted to ask this from the viewpoint of neurobiology.
Your brain constantly re-calibrates its timing.

Hear my friend Alan Burdick discuss his new book on time perception...
Time to End the War on Drugs?

To liberalise or prohibit? I joined Eliot Spitzer, Julian Assange, Vicente Fox, Russell Brand, Richard Branson and several others for an online debate.

In other news...

New Scientist interview on the V.E.S.T.

Your reality need not be constrained by your biology. Read the interview here.

Why Brain Science Matters

Why should the US invest in brain science? See David's opinion in the New York Times.

BrainCheck: A Simple Way to Track Brain Health

Interested in seeing your brain health data? Eagleman's BrainCheck has quick tests you can take anywhere to assess brain function. Sign up for free.

Learn more about the Science

Antiphospholipid Syndrome

Far to the left-field of my normal research, I'm pursuing a new hypothesis: whether there is a connection between people who get envenomated by the asp caterpillar, and the acquisition of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS)