Our lab is interested in neural mechanisms underlying higher-order brain functions linking perception and action, especially decision making. We are working on answering the question how the brain processes sensory information and combines it with other information in order to select what action to take next and when to take that action. So far, these mechanisms have mainly been studied from a psychological point of view, whereas neurophysiologists have largely concentrated on lower-level mechanisms. We are trying to bridge this gap by utilizing both behavioral and neurophysiological methods and by using mathematical models for exploring potential neural mechanisms.

Teaching Interests:
Systems Neuroscience, Modeling

Courses Taught:
NPB 14 Illusions: Fooling the Brain - Term(s): Winter
NSC 285 Literature in Visual Neuroscience - Term(s): Fall
NSC 222 Systems Neuroscience - Term(s): Winter

Publications:

Wendelken C, Ditterich J, Bunge SA, Carter CS (2009) Stimulus and response conflict processing during perceptual decision making. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience 9:434-447

Niwa M, Ditterich J (2008) Perceptual Decisions between Multiple Directions of Visual Motion. Journal of Neuroscience 28:4435-4445

Ditterich J (2006) Evidence for time-variant decision making. European Journal of Neuroscience 24:3628-3641

Ditterich J (2006) Stochastic models of decisions about motion direction: Behavior and physiology. Neural Networks 19:981-1012

Hanks TD, Ditterich J, Shadlen MN (2006) Microstimulation of macaque area LIP affects decision-making in a motion discrimination task. Nature Neuroscience 9:682-689

Ditterich J, Mazurek ME, Shadlen MN (2003) Microstimulation of visual cortex affects the speed of perceptual decisions. Nature Neuroscience 6:891-898

Ditterich J, Keller I, Eggert T, Straube A (2002) Modeling visuospatial perception in neglect patients. Biological Cybernetics 86:41-57

Ditterich J, Eggert T (2001) Improving the homogeneity of the magnetic field in the magnetic search coil technique. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 48:1178-1185

Ditterich J, Eggert T, Straube A (2000) Relation between the metrics of the presaccadic attention shift and of the saccade before and after saccadic adaptation. Journal of Neurophysiology 84:1809-1813

Ditterich J, Eggert T, Straube A (2000) The role of the attention focus in the visual information processing underlying saccadic adaptation. Vision Research 40:1125-1134

Ditterich J, Eggert T, Straube A (1998) Fixation errors and timing in sequences of memory-guided saccades. Behavioural Brain Research 95:205-217