Jocelyn Faubert (born 1959) is a

psychophysicist Psychophysics quantitatively investigates the relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they produce. Psychophysics has been described as "the scientific study of the relation between stimulus and sensation" or, m ...

best known for his work in the fields of visual perception, vision of the elderly, and

neuropsychology Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology concerned with how a person's cognition and behavior are related to the brain and the rest of the nervous system. Professionals in this branch of psychology often focus on how injuries or illnesses of t ...

. Professor Faubert holds the NSERC- Essilor Industrial Research Chair in Visual Perception and Presbyopia. He is the director of the Laboratory of Psychophysics and Visual Perception at the University of Montreal. Professor Faubert has also been involved in the award-winning transfer of research and developments from the laboratory into the commercial domain. He is a co-founder and member of the Board of Directors of CogniSens Inc. Dr. Faubert obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

in Montreal, Quebec. Faubert's early work was related to

aging Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...

, vision, and glaucoma. More recently, his work has focused on neuroplasticity as it relates to visual perception and cognitive performance.

Psychophysics and Visual Perception Laboratory

Dr. Faubert oversees the work of over ten masters and doctoral students as well as a team of researchers and post-doctoral fellows in his multidisciplinary psychophysical and visual perception laboratory. He has been director for over 20 years. research areas include: * Brain Function * Perception * Multi-sensory integration * Neurolobiological Alterations (

Autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

mTBI A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include loss of consciousness (LOC); memory loss; headaches; difficulty with thinking, concentration, ...

Stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

amongst others) * Neurological systems * Biophonics *

Nanophotonics Nanophotonics or nano-optics is the study of the behavior of light on the nanometer scale, and of the interaction of nanometer-scale objects with light. It is a branch of optics, optical engineering, electrical engineering, and nanotechnology. It ...

* Optics Over 130 Peer-reviewed articles have resulted from the research conducted at the laboratory, as well as several patents. One of the stated aims of the University of Montreal's laboratory is to develop technologies for use in the society at large; applying research resulting from investigations into aging and perceptual-cognitive performance to the commercial domain.

Technologies

The laboratory makes use of several suites of sophisticated technology to conduct its research: * EON Icube : A Multi-sided immersive environment in which participants are completely surrounded by virtual imagery and 3D sound. * CAVE :The Cave Automatic Virtual Environment is an advanced display system of the size of a room. It combines stereoscopic projection and high-resolution 3D computer graphics to create the illusion of being present in a virtual environment. * EEG: the recording of electrical activity along the scalp produced by the firing of neurons within the brain. EEG refers to the recording of the brain's spontaneous electrical activity over a short period of time as recorded from multiple electrodes placed on the scalp. * Driving Simulator: An immersive 180° field-of-view screen with simulated rear and side-view mirrors. Used extensively in research into the driving capacity of the elderly.

Laboratory research populations

The laboratory utilises its 3D technologies and diagnostic equipment to investigate perceptual cognitive issues in various populations: adults, the elderly, children, autistics and those suffering from mild Traumatic Brain Injury (

Research programs

Using the immersive virtual reality technologies of the laboratory, Professor Faubert and his researchers are able to use custom-made programs in the CAVE, Icube and Driving Simulator to investigate areas of research interest. These include: * Simulated

Optic Flow Optical flow or optic flow is the pattern of apparent motion of objects, surfaces, and edges in a visual scene caused by the relative motion between an observer and a scene. Optical flow can also be defined as the distribution of apparent veloci ...

to examine effects on postural reactivity * Visual Distortion *

Multiple Object Tracking Multiple may refer to: Economics *Multiple finance, a method used to analyze stock prices *Multiples of the price-to-earnings ratio *Chain stores, are also referred to as 'Multiples' * Box office multiple, the ratio of a film's total gross to th ...

(MOT) programs for testing an individual's ability to track moving objects in their peripheral vision *

Biological Motion Perception Biological motion perception is the act of perceiving the fluid unique motion of a biological agent. The phenomenon was first documented by Swedish perceptual psychologist, Gunnar Johansson, in 1973. There are many brain areas involved in this p ...

Motion Perception Motion perception is the process of inferring the speed and direction of elements in a scene based on visual, vestibular and proprioceptive inputs. Although this process appears straightforward to most observers, it has proven to be a difficult pr ...

* Illusions

Scientific research

Aging and visual perception

In a number of studies, Dr. Faubert and colleagues were able to pinpoint the effect of normal

on visual and

perceptual Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sense, sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous ...

functions. One important study demonstrated that it is not the physical tools of vision which are affected by aging. Rather, it is a loss of computational or processing ability of the brain that ultimately affects visual perception as people age.

Development Disorders and Visual Perception

In a number of studies, Dr. Faubert and colleagues examined the impact of

developmental disorders Developmental disorders comprise a group of psychiatric conditions originating in childhood that involve serious impairment in different areas. There are several ways of using this term. The most narrow concept is used in the category "Specific Di ...

(

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

fragile x syndrome Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a genetic disorder characterized by mild-to-moderate intellectual disability. The average IQ in males with FXS is under 55, while about two thirds of affected females are intellectually disabled. Physical features may ...

, etc.) on visual function. They were able to demonstrate that in the case of autism (unlike fragile x), patients' results are not

pathway Pathway or pathways may refer to: Entertainment * ''The Pathway'' (novel), a 1914 work by Gertrude Page *''The Pathway'', a 2001 album by Officium Triste * ''Pathway'' (album), by the Flaming Stars * ''Pathways'' (album) (2010), by the Dave Hol ...

-specific, but rather are dependent on the complexity of the neural processing required to perceive the image. Over the course of their studies, Dr. Faubert and colleagues observed autism patients who could significantly outperform the general population at certain visual tasks, and patients who could significantly underperform the general population at the same tasks.

Illusions

The laboratory engages in research concerning illusions in order to investigate perceptual function. For example, the peripheral drift illusion illustrates that temporal differences in luminance processing produce a signal that tricks the motion system.

Mild perceptual impairment

Mild Perceptual Impairment (MPI) is a term that covers the deficits in complex perception that accompany reduced cognitive ability in the elderly, those affected by Autism, and also those individuals suffering from mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI). Professor Faubert's recent research has covered the detection of these deficits through detecting distinct "perceptual signatures" as well as through simulated optic flow in a virtual environment, assessing postural reactivity to determine cognitive-perceptual levels.

Awards and honors

Dr. Faubert has received many accolades from the scientific community. He has seven distinct patents registered worldwide. He has acted as a referee for more than 17

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

academic journals. He has been a guest lecturer over 20 times since 2004, including the Joe Brunei Award lecture in recognition for outstanding contributions in Ophthalmic Optics in 2009.

Patents

Dr. Faubert has been actively engaged in transferring technology from the academic world to the biomedical industry. This has led to seven distinct

patents A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

(3 delivered, 4 pending) all of which are licensed to

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...

companies. Between 2007 and 2009, Dr. Faubert and colleagues patented a series of technologies designed to aid in the assessment and intervention of early neurobiological alterations (NBA) such as concussions, dementia, developmental disorders (e.g. autism, fragile X) etc. In 2010, a spin-off company licensed these technologies with a variety of medical and athletic purposes. In 1999, Dr. Faubert, along with Vasile Diaconu, patented "On-line Spectroreflectometry Oxygenation Measurement in the Eye" (O.S.O.M.E). This development allows doctors to measure a patient's blood oxygen level non-invasively. The device instead is able to check the color of the retinal artery at the back of the eye and render a precise measurement in a matter of seconds. This technology and 2 other related technologies are licensed to a spin-off company that is fabricating new generation retinal cameras for ophthalmologists and optometrists.

Technology transfer

Dr. Faubert and the Visual Perception and Psychophysics Laboratory have been involved in transferring laboratory developments into the commercial domain since 1999. Several funding agencies have been involved in brokering this technology transfer. From the commercial domain, Essilor (an ophthalmic lens company) has partnered with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Together, their aim has been to explore the connection between aging, visual perception, and posture. Dr. Faubert has been a chairholder at the NSERC since 2003, at which time his laboratory received a five-year grant (renewed in 2008). In a separate commercial venture, Dr. Faubert's Laboratory has partnered with Univalor (a technology transfer specialist), CogniSens Inc. (a biomedical technology company) and Cognisens Athletics Inc., licensing four technologies related to visual perception and brain function. The aim of this partnership is to commercialize Dr. Faubert's research in the medical and team sports markets. Applications include concussion detection (NeuroMinder C3) and perceptual-cognitive training ( NeuroTracker).

References

External links

Jocelyn Faubert (laboratory webpage)

''New Frontier for Perceptual-cognitive Enhancement''
TEDxMontreal talk with Jocelyn Faubert * NeuroTracker technology and its application in the sports world
''Virtual Reality brain training improves Athletes’ performance''
Blog post from Eon Reality Company {{DEFAULTSORT:Faubert, Jocelyn 1959 births Autism researchers Canadian cognitive neuroscientists Concordia University alumni Living people Academic staff of the Université de Montréal