Positions Held

Postdoctoral Scholar (July 2014 – Present)

Perception and Action (PandA) Lab
Department of Cognitive Science Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, NY
PI & Mentor: Brett R. Fajen

Visiting Scholar (September 2013 – July 2014)

Department of Cognitive Science Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, NY

Education

Ph.D. Cognitive and Neural Systems, Boston University (2009 - 2013)

Thesis: Neural models of inter-cortical networks in the primate visual system for navigation, attention, path perception, & static and kinetic figure-ground perception

Selection of courses:

Computational models of vision, movement, audition, recognition, planning, and reinforcement; partial differential equations, qualitative theory of ordinary differential equations, stochastic processes,
mathematical statistics, machine learning, computational neuroscience, differential geometry.

BA Computational Neuroscience and Mathematics, Skidmore College (2005 - 2009)

Thesis: The Traveling Salesman in the Natural Environment
Advised by Flip Phillips & Tom O’Connell

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Layton OW & Fajen BR (2016) A Neural Model of MST and MT Explains Perceived Object Motion During Self-Motion. Journal of Neuroscience. 36(301).

Layton OW & Fajen BR (2016) Competitive Dynamics in MSTd: A Mechanism for Robust Heading Perception Based on Optic Flow. PLOS Computational Biology. 12(6).

Layton OW & Fajen BR (2016) The Temporal Dynamics of Heading Perception in the Presence of Moving Objects. Journal of Neurophysiology. 115(1).

Layton OW & Fajen BR(2016) Sources of bias in the perception of heading in the presence of moving objects: Object-based and border-based discrepancies. Journal of Vision. 16(1).

Layton OW & Yazdanbakhsh A (2015) A Neural Model of Border-Ownership from Kinetic Occlusion. Vision Research (106).

Layton OW & Browning NA (2014) A Unified Model of Heading and Path Perception in Primate MSTd. PLOS Computational Biology. 10(2).

Layton OW, Mingolla E & Yazdanbakhsh A (2014) Neural Dynamics of Feedforward and Feedback Processing in Figure-Ground Segregation. Frontiers in Psychology. 5(972).

Layton OW & NA Browning (2013) The Simultaneous Coding of Heading and Path in Primate MSTd. Neural Networks (IJCNN).

Layton OW, Mingolla E, & Yazdanbakhsh A (2012) Dynamic Coding of Border-Ownership in Visual Cortex. Journal of Vision. 12(13).

Layton OW & Browning NA (2012) Recurrent Competition Explains Temporal Effects of Attention in MSTd. Frontiers In Computational Neuroscience. 6(80).

Layton OW, Mingolla E, & Browning NA (2012) A Motion-Pooling Model of Visually-Guided Navigation Explains Human Behavior in the Presence of Independently Moving Objects. Journal of Vision.

Grants & Awards

Office of Naval Research (N00014-14-1-0359). Optic flow based navigation in complex and dynamic environments. 2014 - present
Coauthored and investigator in funded proposal.

AFOSR (FA9550-12-1-0436). Visual Depth Perception From Motion through Texture Accretion and Deletion: A Neural Model of Figure–Ground Segregation and Occlusion. 2012 -2014
Contributed to funded proposal.

Outstanding Teaching Fellow Award, 2011

Research Assistantship, 2010–2013

Dean’s Fellowship, 2009–2010

Teaching

Computational and Neural Models in Vision Science. Dept. of Cognitive Science. Spring 2017
Developed curriculum and will serve as primary instructor.

Invited Talks & Seminars

Department Seminar: Brain & Cognitive Sciences (University of Rochester). Temporal Dynamics as a Solution for Perceiving Self-Motion and Object Motion. June 2016.

Research Seminar: Christopher Pack’s Lab (McGill University). Optic Flow Based Navigation in Dynamic Environments. June 2016.

Department Seminar: Center for Complex Systems (Florida Atlantic University). Optic Flow Based Navigation in Dynamic Environments. March 2016.

Department Seminar: Cognitive Science (RPI). Bridging the Gap: Visually-Guided Navigation and Cortex. February 2016.

Department Seminar: Center for Imaging Science (Rochester Institute of Technology). Using Dynamical Systems to Model Human Heading Perception. October 2014.

Department Seminar: Cognitive Science (RPI). Modeling Heading Perception with Dynamical Systems. October 2014.

Research Seminar: William Warren’s Lab (VENLab, Brown University). Neural Dynamics of Human Visually-Guided Navigation. November 2012.

Invited Lectures

Sensation and Perception (Skidmore College). Motion Perception. October 2016.

Introductory Neuroscience (Skidmore College). Neuroscience Seminar. April 2016.

Minds and Machines (RPI Undergraduate Cognitive Science course). Primate Cognition and Evolution. November 2015.

Minds and Machines (RPI Undergraduate Cognitive Science course). Topics in Animal Cognition. October 2014.

Neural and Computational Models of Vision (Boston University). Separate Lectures on Motion and Figure-Ground Perception. October 2012, 2013

Conference Talks

Vision Sciences Society (St. Pete’s Beach, FL). A Neural Model of MST and MT Explains Perceived Object Motion During Self-Motion. May 2016.

MODVIS (St. Pete Beach, FL). The Role of Border-Ownership in Detecting Kinetic Occlusion. May 2014.

International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (Dallas, TX). The Simultaneous Coding of Heading and Path in Primate MSTd. August 2013.

International Conference in Cognitive and Neural Systems (Boston, MA). A Neural Model of Illusory Contours and Shapes: A Multi-scale Investigation. May 2013.

MODVIS (Naples, FL). A Multi-Scale Model of Figure-Ground Segregation in the Primate Visual System. May 2013.

2nd Annual Optic Flow Workshop (Boston, MA). Time Course of MSTd Cells. August 2012.

Vision Sciences Society (Naples, FL). Recurrent Competition Explains Temporal Effects of Attention in MSTd. May 2012.