Doruk Gölcü

B.S., Bilkent University
Perceptual Learning of Object Shape
presented by Charles D. Gilbert

Doruk Gölcü came to Rockefeller after receiving an undergraduate degree in the department of molecular biology and genetics at Bilkent University in Anakara, Turkey. Doruk’s work at Rockefeller involved using psychophysical tools to study brain mechanisms of object recognition and perceptual learning. Psychophysics is the science of quantitative measurement of perception and behavior and is a valuable tool for understanding the way by which information is represented, or stored, in the brain. When thinking about how objects are represented, one could imagine that individual neurons could respond specifically to individual objects, representing them holistically. One theme supports this view, suggesting the existence of grandmother cells, where one cell would be selective for a single unique object. The alternative hypothesis is that objects are represented as a set of their component features. In this view the object would be represented by an ensemble of neurons, each responding specifically to different object components. Doruk’s studies supported the latter idea, finding that learning to recognize one object transferred to other objects those shared components with the learned object.

Doruk is hoping to apply his experience in the study of the behavioral basis of human perception and cognition to other systems of animal behavior and neuroethology.