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Research Interests
My interests are in Cognitive Neuroscience with a focus on Social Cognition
and its neural bases. My research investigates the temporal dynamics of the neural networks underlying face
processing, in particular the perception and recognition of face identity, facial
expressions and gaze direction. I am particularly interested in the central role of eyes in these processes,
whether there exists a specific brain network dedicated to the detection
and processing of eyes in the environment, and how this possible system interacts with the neural
network subserving face processing. Recently we have started work investigating the relationships between gaze
processing and facial expression, attention and theory of mind, the ability to infer and understand the mental states of others
such as intentions and desires. I am also interested in how these cognitive abilities and
their underlying brain networks develop over the lifespan, and what role they play in pathologies
in which social cognition appears to go awry such as in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs).
My research program includes behavioral testing, EEG, MEG, fMRI, eye tracking and neuropsychological studies.
Funding
My research is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the Ontario Research Fund (ORF) and the Canada Research Chair program (CRC).
Website links
To go to the Face Lab website, click here: Face and Social Cognition Lab
To go to the EEG/ERP Labs website, click here: EEG/ERP Labs
To download PDF articles from the Itier lab, click here: Itier Lab publications
Recent Publications
Palanica, A., Itier, R.J. (in press). Attention capture by direct gaze is robust to context and task demands. Journal of Nonverbal Behaviour
Nemrodov, D., Itier, R.J. (2011). The role of eyes in early face processing: a rapid adaptation study of the face inversion effect. British Journal of Psychology, 102, 783-798.
Bayless, S.J., Glover, M., Taylor, M.J., Itier, R.J. (2011). Is it in the eyes? Dissociating the role of emotion and perceptual features of emotionally expressive faces in modulating orienting to eye-gaze. Visual Cognition, 19(4), 483-510.
Palanica, A., Itier, R.J. (2011). Searching for a perceived gaze direction using eye tracking. Journal of Vision, 11(2):19, 1-13.
Itier, R.J., Van Roon, P., Alain, C. (2011). Species sensitivity of early face and eye processing. Neuroimage, 54, 705-713.
Itier, R.J., Batty, M. (2009). Neural bases of eye and gaze processing: the core of social cognition. Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Reviews, 33(6), 843-863.
McIntosh, A.R., Kovacevic, N., Itier, R.J. (2008). Increased brain signal variability accompanies lower behavioural variability in development. PLos Computational Biology, 4(7), e1000106.
Bentin, S., Taylor, M.J., Rousselet, G.A., Itier, R.J., Caldara, R., Schyns, P.G., Jacques, C., Rossion, B. (2007). Controlling interstimulus perceptual variance does not abolish N170 face sensitivity. Nature Neuroscience, 10(7), 801-802.
Itier, R.J., Alain, C. Sedore, K., McIntosh, A.R. (2007). Early face specificity: it's in the eyes! Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19(11), 1815-1826.
Itier, R.J., Alain, C. Kovacevic, N., McIntosh, A.R. (2007). Explicit versus implicit gaze processing assessed by ERPs. Brain Research, 1177, 79-89.
Itier, R.J., Villate, C., Ryan, J.D. (2007). Eyes always attract attention but gaze-orienting is task dependent: evidence from eye movement monitoring. Neuropsychologia, 5, 1019-1028.
Itier, R.J., Herdman, A.T., George, N., Cheyne, D. & Taylor, M.J. (2006). Inversion and contrast-reversal effects on early face processing assessed by MEG. Brain Research, 1115, 108-120.
Itier, R.J., Latinus, M. & Taylor, M.J. (2006). Face, eye and object early processing: what is the face specificity? Neuroimage, 29(2), 667-676.
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