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| Lance M. Optican, Ph.D., Senior Investigator |
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Dr. Optican received a B.S. degree in Physics & Biosystems Analysis from the California
Institute of Technology in 1972. He received his Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering in 1978 from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he worked with David A. Robinson studying the cerebellar-dependent adaptive control of rapid eye movements (saccades). Dr. Optican obtained postdoctoral training with F.A. Miles at the NIMH, studying visually induced adaptive control of saccades. Since 1982, Dr. Optican has been a Research Biomedical Engineer in the NEI and in 1988 was appointed Chief of the Section on Neural Modeling within the Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research. His laboratory explores how the brain converts visual information into rapid eye movements.
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Research Interests:
Brain functions arise through the complex interactions of many neurons. During behavior, neurophysiological techniques can observe the responses of some neurons, but they cannot reveal directly the nature of their functional interactions. The Neural Modeling Section was established to provide insight into the nature of neuronal interactions underlying motor behavior through theoretical and mathematical modeling. Without good models, it is impossible to explain what signals are intrinsic to the brain, what behaviors to expect, or how to interpret the effects of brain lesions. My goal is to construct and test models of sensory and motor functions that are based on experimental observations.
The most extensive use of this approach has been to describe the neuronal properties of the saccadic system. Saccades are the rapid, voluntary movements that redirect our gaze. The movement is controlled by neurons in several areas of the neocortex (e.g., LIP, FEF), by brain stem neurons (e.g., pre-motor burst neurons and motor neurons), and by two specialized structures (the Superior Colliculus and the cerebellum). Our neuromimetic model reproduces most features of visually guided saccadic behavior, with only known cell types and with the correct time course of activity. This lets us learn a great deal about how the brain actually performs movements.
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Selected Recent Publications:
Contact Information:
Dr. Lance M. Optican
Neural Modeling Section
Laaboratory of Sensorimotor Research, NEI
Building 49, Room 2A50
49 Convent Drive MSC 4435
Bethesda, MD 20892-4435
Telephone: (301) 496-3549 (office),
(301) 402-0511 (fax)
Email: LOptican@nih.gov
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