Marc A. Sommer
W. H. Gardner, Jr. Associate Professor
Overview
We study circuits for cognition. Using a combination of neurophysiology and biomedical engineering, we focus on the interaction between brain areas during visual perception, decision-making, and motor planning. Specific projects include the role of frontal cortex in metacognition, the role of cerebellar-frontal circuits in action timing, the neural basis of "good enough" decision-making (satisficing), and the neural mechanisms of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).
Selected Grants
Neurobiology Training Program awarded by National Institutes of Health (Mentor). 2019 to 2024
Impact of Timing, Targeting, and Brain State on rTMS of Human and Non-Human Primates awarded by National Institutes of Health (Principal Investigator). 2017 to 2021
Neuromuscular Control of Primate Eye Movements awarded by National Institutes of Health (Principal Investigator). 2019 to 2021
Rational Design of TMS for Neuromodulation awarded by National Institutes of Health (Principal Investigator). 2014 to 2020
Psychophysics-Guided Signal Processing for Retinal Prosthetics awarded by National Institutes of Health (Co Investigator). 2018 to 2020
Neuronal Control of Eye Alignment awarded by (Principal Investigator). 2017 to 2019
The Role of Frontal Cortex in Primate Metacognition awarded by National Science Foundation (Principal Investigator). 2015 to 2019
Thrust 1: Biophysical Modeling and Satisficing Control Strategies as Derived from Quantification of Primate Brain Activ awarded by Office of Naval Research (Principal Investigator). 2013 to 2018
Basic predoctoral training in neuroscience awarded by National Institutes of Health (Training Faculty). 1992 to 2018
Visual Continuity Across Saccades awarded by National Institutes of Health (Principal Investigator). 2016
Pages
Abzug, Z. M., and M. A. Sommer. “Supplementary Eye Fields.” Reference Module in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology, Elevier, 2017. Open Access Copy
Sommer, Marc A., and R. H. Wurtz. The Dialogue between Cerebral Cortex and Superior Colliculus: Multiple Ascending Pathways for Corollary Discharge. MIT Press, 2014. Open Access Copy
Middlebrooks, P. G., et al. “Studying metacognitive processes at the single neuron level.” The Cognitive Neuroscience of Metacognition, 2013, pp. 225–44. Scopus, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-45190-4_10. Full Text Open Access Copy
Crapse, T. B., and M. A. Sommer. “Corollary Discharge.” Encyclopedia of Perception, edited by R. B. Goldstein, SAGE Publications, 2009, pp. 325–27. Open Access Copy
Shin, S. Y., et al. “Visuomotor Integration.” Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, edited by M. D. Binder et al., Springer, 2009, pp. 4354–59. Open Access Copy
Sommer, M. A., and R. H. Wurtz. “Single Neurons and Primate Behavior.” Methods in Mind, edited by C. Senior et al., MIT Press, 2009, pp. 123–39. Open Access Copy
Sommer, M. A. “Supplementary eye fields.” Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, edited by L. R. Squire, Academic Press, 2009, pp. 635–43. Manual, doi:10.1016/B978-008045046-9.01122-0. Full Text Open Access Copy
Wurtz, R. H., et al. “The Superior Colliculus and the Cognitive Control of Movement.” The New Cognitive Neurosciences, edited by M. S. Gazzaniga, MIT Press, 2000, pp. 573–87. Open Access Copy
Smith, M. A., et al. “The Macrophage as the Demyelinative Agent: A Role for Antimyelin Antibodies.” Multiple Sclerosis: Current Status of Research and Treatment, edited by R. M. Herndon and F. J. Seil, Demos Publications, 1994, pp. 51–66.
Bohlen, M. O., et al. “Transduction of Craniofacial Motoneurons Following Intramuscular Injections of Canine Adenovirus Type-2 (CAV-2) in Rhesus Macaques.” Frontiers in Neuroanatomy, vol. 13, Sept. 2019. Scopus, doi:10.3389/fnana.2019.00084. Full Text Open Access Copy
Subramanian, Divya, et al. “Corollary Discharge for Action and Cognition..” Biological Psychiatry. Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, vol. 4, no. 9, Sept. 2019, pp. 782–90. Epmc, doi:10.1016/j.bpsc.2019.05.010. Full Text Open Access Copy
Toader, Andrew C., et al. “Probabilistic inferential decision-making under time pressure in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)..” J Comp Psychol, vol. 133, no. 3, Aug. 2019, pp. 380–96. Pubmed, doi:10.1037/com0000168. Full Text Open Access Copy
Abzug, Zachary M., and Marc A. Sommer. “Neuronal correlates of serial decision-making in the supplementary eye field.” Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 38, no. 33, Society for Neuroscience, Aug. 2018, pp. 7280–92. Open Access Copy
Caruso, Valeria C., et al. “Beyond the labeled line: variation in visual reference frames from intraparietal cortex to frontal eye fields and the superior colliculus..” Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 119, no. 4, Apr. 2018, pp. 1411–21. Epmc, doi:10.1152/jn.00584.2017. Full Text Open Access Copy
Rao, Hrishikesh M., et al. “Sensorimotor Learning during a Marksmanship Task in Immersive Virtual Reality..” Front Psychol, vol. 9, 2018. Pubmed, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00058. Full Text Open Access Copy
Abzug, Z. M., and M. A. Sommer. “Serial decision-making in monkeys during an oculomotor task.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, vol. 44, no. 1, American Psychological Association, Jan. 2018, pp. 95–102. Manual, doi:10.1037/xan0000154. Full Text Open Access Copy
Oh-Descher, Hanna, et al. “Probabilistic inference under time pressure leads to a cortical-to-subcortical shift in decision evidence integration..” Neuroimage, vol. 162, Nov. 2017, pp. 138–50. Pubmed, doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.08.069. Full Text Open Access Copy
Rao, H. M., et al. “Circuits for presaccadic remapping.” Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 116, no. 6, Dec. 2016, pp. 2624–36. Manual, doi:10.1152/jn.00182.2016. Full Text Open Access Copy
Oh, Hanna, et al. “Satisficing in split-second decision making is characterized by strategic cue discounting..” J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn, vol. 42, no. 12, Dec. 2016, pp. 1937–56. Pubmed, doi:10.1037/xlm0000284. Full Text Open Access Copy
Pages
Yarossi, M., et al. “An experimental and computational framework for modeling multi-muscle responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation of the human motor cortex.” International Ieee/Embs Conference on Neural Engineering, Ner, vol. 2019-March, 2019, pp. 1122–25. Scopus, doi:10.1109/NER.2019.8717159. Full Text Open Access Copy
Clements, J. M., et al. “Neurophysiology of Visual-Motor Learning during a Simulated Marksmanship Task in Immersive Virtual Reality.” 25th Ieee Conference on Virtual Reality and 3d User Interfaces, Vr 2018 Proceedings, 2018, pp. 451–58. Scopus, doi:10.1109/VR.2018.8446068. Full Text Open Access Copy