Professor John H.R. Maunsell, Neurobiology and Computational Neuroscience, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, joining other scientists and researchers chosen in "recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research."
John H.R. Maunsell is the Albert D. Lasker Professor of Neurobiology and the director of the Neuroscience Institute.
Maunsell’s research focuses on how the brain represents and processes visual input, and the feedback between neuronal activity, behavior and performance. In particular, Maunsell studies neurons in the visual cerebral cortex, in response to varying levels of and shifts in attention. To do so, Maunsell uses a variety of molecular, anatomical, electrophysiological, optical and behavioral approaches to record and analyze individual neurons in monkeys and mice, trained to perform visual tasks. He has found that neuronal signals in the cerebral cortex are profoundly affected by attention, and has shown that this modulation by attention is greatly influenced by mechanisms that exist at all levels of sensory processing.
For his research contributions and service, Maunsell has been awarded numerous honors, including election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2014.