Staff

Professor David Milner, MA, PhD, Dip Psych, FRSE, FRS

(email at a.d.milner@durham.ac.uk)

Biography

My research is concerned with human visual perception, visuomotor control and spatial attention. I am interested in how these processes operate, and how they inter-relate with each other. My approach is based on empirical neuropsychological studies, in which we carry out systematic investigations of patients with brain damage, set specifically within the context of the wider background of cognitive neuroscience. Neuropsychological research can offer not only insights into the brain processes themselves, but can also enable us to use knowledge of those processes to help us understand the disorders suffered by brain-damaged individuals.

Much of the theoretical background that informs our research can be found in the books 'The Visual Brain in Action' (AD Milner and MA Goodale, Oxford University Press, 1995, 2006; http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780198524724) and 'Sight Unseen' (Goodale and Milner, Oxford University Press, 2004; http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780198568070). Our theoretical starting point is the fact that the patchwork quilt of visual areas laid out on the cortex of the primate brain divides broadly into two somewhat separate systems (the 'dorsal' and the 'ventral'). We argue that these two systems respectively mediate visual processing directed at two distinct functional endpoints: perception/cognition and visuomotor control. The ventral system is involved in constructing our conscious perceptual experiences and as a gateway to the memory systems of the brain, and in turn is modulated by those stored visual memories. The dorsal system operates in a much more 'bottom-up' fashion, transforming visual information to program and guide our actions (manual, ocular, and locomotor). A precis of the theory can be accessed on-line (http://www.theassc.org/files/assc/2367.pdf).

Research Groups

• Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience

Publications

Books: authored

• Milner, A. D. & Goodale, M. A. (2006). The Visual Brain in Action, Second Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Goodale, M. A. & Milner, A. D. (2004). Sight Unseen: An Exploration of Conscious and Unconscious Vision. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Books: sections

• Milner, A. D. & Goodale, M. A. (2010). Cortical visual systems for perception and action. In Perception, Action and Consciousness: Sensorimotor Dynamics and Two Visual Systems. Gangopadhyay, N., Madary, M. & Spicer, F. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Milner, A.D. (2008). Visual awareness and human action. In Frontiers in Consciousness Research. Weiskrantz, L. & Davies, M. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Journal papers: academic

• Marrett, N.E. de-Wit, L.H. Roser, M., Kentridge, R.W. , Milner, A.D. & Lambert, A.J. (2011). Testing the dorsal stream attention hypothesis: Electrophysiological correlates and the effects of ventral stream damage. Visual Cognition 19(9): 1089-1121.
• Cavina-Pratesi, C., Kuhn, G., Ietswaart, M. & Milner, A. D. (2011). The magic grasp: motor expertise in deception. PLoS ONE 6(2): e16568.
• De-Wit, L. H., Cole, G. G., Kentridge, R. W. & Milner, A. D. (2011). The parallel representation of the objects selected by attention. Journal of Vision 11(4): 13.
• Cavina-Pratesi, C., Ietswaart, M., Humphreys, G. W., Lestou, V. & Milner, A. D. (2010). Impaired grasping in a patient with optic ataxia: Primary visuomotor deficit or secondary consequence of misreaching? Neuropsychologia 48: 226-234.
• Cavina-Pratesi, C., Kentridge, R. W., Heywood, C. A. & Milner, A. D. (2010). Separate channels for processing form, texture and color: evidence from fMRI adaptation and visual object agnosia. Cerebral Cortex 20: 2319-2332.
• Cavina Pratesi, C., Kentridge, R. W., Heywood, C. A. & Milner, A. D. (2010). Separate processing of texture and form in the ventral stream: evidence from fMRI and visual agnosia. Cerebral Cortex 20(2): 433-446.
• Read, J. C. A., Phillipson, G. P., Serrano-Pedraza, I., Milner, A. D. & Parker, A. J. (2010). Stereoscopic vision in the absence of the lateral occipital cortex. PLoS ONE 5(9): e12608.
• Goodale, M. A. & Milner, A. D. (2010). Two visual streams: interconnections do not imply duplication of function. Cognitive Neuroscience 1: 65-68.
• Steeves, J., Dricot, L., Goltz, H.C., Sorger, B., Peters, J., Milner, A.D., Goodale, M.A., Goebel, R. & Rossion, B. (2009). Abnormal face identity coding in the middle fusiform gyrus of two brain-damaged prosopagnosic patients. Neuropsychologia 47(12): 2584-2592.
• Dijkerman, H.C., McIntosh, R.D., Schindler, I., Nijboer, T.C.W. & Milner, A.D. (2009). Choosing between alternative wrist postures: action planning needs perception. Neuropsychologia 47(6): 1476-1482.
• Milner, A.D. (2009). Mapping a model of object recognition. Commentary on Warrington and Taylor’s 1978 paper. Perception 38: 944-946.
• De-Wit, L., Kentridge, R.W. & Milner, A.D. (2009). Object based attention and visual area LO. Neuropsychologia 47(6): 1483-1490.
• Carey, D.P., Dijkerman, H.C. & Milner, A.D. (2009). Pointing to two imaginary targets at the same time: Bimanual allocentric and egocentric localization in visual form agnosic D.F. Neuropsychologia 47(6): 1469-1475.
• De-Wit, L. H., Kentridge, R. W. & Milner, A. D. (2009). Shape processing area LO and illusory contours. Perception 38(8): 1260-1263.
• Schindler, I., McIntosh, R.D., Cassidy, T.P., Birchall, D., Benson, V., Ietswaart, M. & Milner, A.D. (2009). The disengage deficit in hemispatial neglect is restricted to between-object shifts and is abolished by prism adaptation. Experimental Brain Research 192(3): 499-510.
• Schindler, I., Ellison, A. & Milner, A.D. (2008). Contralateral visual search deficits following TMS. Journal of Neuropsychology 2: 501-508.
• Rice, N.J., Edwards, M.G., Schindler, I., Punt, T.D., McIntosh, R.D., Humphreys, G.W., Lestou, V. & Milner, A.D. (2008). Delay abolishes the obstacle avoidance deficit in unilateral optic ataxia. Neuropsychologia 46(5): 1549-1557.
• Nijboer, T.C.W., McIntosh, R.D., Nys, G.M.S., Dijkerman, H.C. & Milner, A.D. (2008). Prism adaptation improves voluntary but not automatic orienting in neglect. Neuroreport 19: 293-298.
• Milner, A.D. & Goodale, M.A. (2008). Two visual systems re-viewed. Neuropsychologia 46: 774-785.

Media Contacts

Available for media contact about:

• Vision / eye movement: the brain and visual perception
• Memory and brain function: the brain and visual perception