2018 Keynote: Of mantids and men: Stereoscopic (3D) vision in humans and insects

3 July 2018, 2.20 PM - 3 July 2018, 3.20 PM

Professor Jenny Read, Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University

New Wing, Queen's Building, University of Bristol

Abstract
People used to think stereoscopic “3D” vision was restricted to a few “higher” mammals such as primates and cats. However, we now know it has evolved independently in several taxa, including mammals, birds, amphibians and at least one insect: the praying mantis.

Mantids are the only invertebrates known to possess stereo vision, so it’s particularly interesting to understand how their stereo works and whether it is similar to our own. Professor Jenny Read will review what is known about stereoscopic vision in humans and other animals, and describe recent work from her lab suggesting that insect stereo vision works very differently from our own.

Biography
Jenny Read is Professor of Vision Science at Newcastle University’s Institute of Neuroscience. She has a first class degree in physics (1994), a doctorate in theoretical physics (1997) and a Masters in neuroscience (1999), all from Oxford University, UK.

From 1997-2001 she was a Wellcome Training Fellow in Mathematical Biology at Oxford University, then from 2001-2005 a postdoctoral fellow at the US National Eye Institute. She returned to the UK in 2005 with a University Research Fellowship from the Royal Society, Britain’s national science academy.

Her lab works on many aspects of visual perception, especially stereoscopic or “3D” vision. Current projects include modelling how visual cortex encodes binocular information, developing a new stereo vision test for children (http://research.ncl.ac.uk/asteroid/), and uncovering how insects see in stereoscopic 3D (http://www.jennyreadresearch.com/research/m3/).

More information and all publications are available at www.jennyreadresearch.com

2018 Programme
A link to the 2018 programme can be found VRC 2018 programme (PDF, 416kB).

Contact information

Email: bvi-enquiries@bristol.ac.uk or telephone 0117 95 45488.

VRC keynote 2018

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