Marge Livingstone

Marge Livingstone, Ph.D.

Takeda Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School

Research
Publications

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Margaret Livingstone, PhD

Takeda Professor of Neurobiology
Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School

Email: margaret_livingstone@hms.harvard.edu
Website: Livingstone Lab website – more information about Margaret Livingstone’s research (opens in a new tab)

The Aim

The Livingstone Lab studies how we learn to recognize faces, objects, and scenes, with a focus on visual development.

The Impact

The Livingstone Lab studies how the brain develops the ability to recognize and differentiate between objects we see in everyday life, including faces, cars, and animals. Certain brain cells become specialized for these tasks based on our experiences. By understanding how these areas of the brain develop and function, this research can help explain why some people have difficulty recognizing forms and images, such as is the case with dyslexia and face blindness. This knowledge could lead to better support for people with vision or learning difficulties, and could improve diagnosis or treatment for related disorders.

A Closer Look

McGovern.MIT.edu – January 2024: Scolnick Prize awarded to Margaret Livingstone (article, opens in a new tab)

MIT’s McGovern Institute announces Livingstone as the winner of its most prestigious neuroscience prize, the Scolnick Prize. It honors her for her discovery that face‑recognition regions in the brain are not hard‑wired at birth, but must be built from experience, overturning a decades‑old assumption about how the cortex organizes itself.

Brandeis.edu – October 2024: Rosenstiel Award for discoveries in face recognition (article, opens in a new tab)

Livingstone is named co‑recipient of the prestigious Rosenstiel Award (alongside Nancy Kanwisher, Winrich Freiwald, and Doris Tsao) for discovering how and where in the brain face recognition happens. This discovery includes mapping a network of six interconnected face areas and probing the specific features that make individual neurons respond.

Publications View

Mechanisms of face perception.

Authors: Authors: Tsao DY, Livingstone MS.
Annu Rev Neurosci 2008-01-01
View full abstract on Pubmed

The double-anchoring theory of lightness perception: a comment on Bressan (2006).

Authors: Authors: Howe PD, Sagreiya H, Curtis DL, Zheng C, Livingstone MS.
Psychol Rev 2007-10-01
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Postscript: a reply to Bressan (2007).

Authors: Authors: Howe PD, Sagreiya H, Curtis DL, Zheng C, Livingstone MS.
Psychol Rev 2007-10-01
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Perspectives on science and art.

Authors: Authors: Conway BR, Livingstone MS.
Curr Opin Neurobiol 2007-08-01
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Cytochrome oxidase and neurofilament reactivity in monocularly deprived human primary visual cortex.

Authors: Authors: Duffy KR, Murphy KM, Frosch MP, Livingstone MS.
Cereb Cortex 2007-06-01
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The use of the cancellation technique to quantify the Hermann grid illusion.

Authors: Authors: Howe PD, Livingstone MS.
PLoS One 2007-02-28
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Contrast affects speed tuning, space-time slant, and receptive-field organization of simple cells in macaque V1.

Authors: Authors: Livingstone MS, Conway BR.
J Neurophysiol 2007-01-01
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Explaining the footsteps, belly dancer, Wenceslas, and kickback illusions.

Authors: Authors: Howe PD, Thompson PG, Anstis SM, Sagreiya H, Livingstone MS.
J Vis 2006-12-12
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Spatial and temporal properties of cone signals in alert macaque primary visual cortex.

Authors: Authors: Conway BR, Livingstone MS.
J Neurosci 2006-10-18
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V1 partially solves the stereo aperture problem.

Authors: Authors: Howe PD, Livingstone MS.
Cereb Cortex 2006-09-01
View full abstract on Pubmed