Prof Marcello Rosa - Researcher Profile

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Address

Department of Physiology
Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences, Clayton

Biography

 

Brain subdivisions offer insight into visual perception

Professor Marcello Rosa says one-third of the human brain relates to vision in some way. The Monash Bionic Eye Project is working on the idea that bypassing the eyes and directly stimulating the brain will allow us to treat most people who lose their vision. As part of this project, Marcello is trying to understand how many subdivisions of the brain are responsible for vision, and what roles they play in this process. 

 

 

Marcello says perception is a crucial area for the Bionic Eye Project. One of his focuses is to identify how neurones function in different parts of the visual cortex, and how electrical activity influences perception. He is studying various aspects of motion to understand this.

“We do research on exactly how brain cells interact with each other, to allow us to see that an object is moving from right to left, and at a certain speed,” Marcello says. “We probe different areas of the brain with stimuli, or patterns that move at different speeds, and we try and find out which parts of the brain provide the signal that you use to perceive motion.”

Marcello also studies the consequences of brain lesions such as stroke, which impacts on the ability of the brain to process information. 

“We have a good idea of the function of the brain’s subdivisions, but what happens if a person loses one of those? How can you re-route the information so they can recover some vision? We have substances that can reveal a single cell, and where it’s sending information. When someone has a stroke, they might initially lose their sight, but we know that some of those functions recover. We’re trying to understand what this recovery process actually means, in terms of how the cells in your brain reconnect with each other. The idea is that by understanding this process, you can then find ways of optimising and enhancing it,” he says.

Marcello says their research on brain subdivisions gave them a unique insight into brain maturation. Their initial theory was that different areas of the brain don’t mature at the same time. This turned out to be correct, but they also discovered that they mature in a manner that is more complex than originally thought.

“People used to think we had one primary visual area, but we actually found two distinct subdivisions of the primary visual cortex, which mature in parallel. A baby can see motion and recognise simple objects, but more complicated things come later in life. 

“There are actually two parallel streams of maturation in the brain. One seems to be devoted to motion and the other to recognising things. The system that allows you to see motion is mature by the end of the second year of life, whereas the system that allows you to interpret visual patterns is not fully mature until adolescence,” Marcello says.

Marcello also recently discovered a type of brain cell that can process complex signals, in an unexpected part of the brain. He says its existence highlights how little researchers know about how the brain processes information.

“We discovered a new type of cell in the brain. We were looking at a part of the brain that is thought to be responsible for very simple processing, sending from the retina to the cerebral cortex, but suddenly we found cells that have very complex electrical response patterns. We’re studying this next year and it could have a big pay-off, because it goes against the current theory that processing is like a sequential computer. Because we found something complex at the beginning of the process, we have to try and explain what’s going on.” 

 

Keywords

visual cortex, vision, cerebral cortex, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology

Qualifications

PHD IN BIOPHYSICS
Institution: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Year awarded: 1992

Publications

Book Chapters

Rosa, M.G., Tweedale, R., 2004, Maps of the visual field in the cerebral cortex of primates: functional organization and significance, in The Primate Visual System, eds John H Kaas and Christine E Collins, CRC Press, USA, pp. 261-288.

Journal Articles

Rajan, R., Dubaj, V., Reser, D.H., Rosa, M.G., 2013, Auditory cortex of the marmoset monkey - complex responses to tones and vocalizations under opiate anaesthesia in core and belt areas, European Journal Of Neuroscience [P], vol 37, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd, UK, pp. 924-941.

Reser, D.H., Burman, K.J., Yu, H., Chaplin, T., Richardson, K.E., Worthy, K.H., Rosa, M.G., 2013, Contrasting Patterns of Cortical Input to Architectural Subdivisions of the Area 8 Complex: A Retrograde Tracing Study in Marmoset Monkeys, Cerebral Cortex [P], vol E-pub, Oxford University Press, UK, pp. 1-22.

Chaplin, T.A., Yu, H., Rosa, M.G., 2013, Representation of the visual field in the primary visual area of the marmoset monkey: Magnification factors, point-image size and proportionality to retinal ganglion cell density, Journal of Comparative Neurology [P], vol 521, issue 5, John Wiley & Sons Inc, USA, pp. 1001-1009.

Rosa, M.G., Angelucci, A., Jeffs, J., Pettigrew, J.D., 2013, The case for a dorsomedial area in the primate 'third-tier' visual cortex, Proceedings of the Royal Society - Biological Sciences (Series B) [P], vol 280, issue 1750, The Royal Society Publishing, UK, pp. 0-5.

Yu, H., Chaplin, T.A., Davies, A.J., Verma, R., Rosa, M.G., 2012, A specialized area in limbic cortex for fast analysis of peripheral vision, Current Biology [P], vol 22, issue 14, Cell Press, USA, pp. 1351-1357.

Schira, M.M., Tyler, C., Rosa, M.G., 2012, Brain mapping: the (un)folding of striate cortex, Current Biology [P], vol 22, issue 24, Cell Press, USA, pp. 1051-1053.

Lui, L.L., Dobiecki, A.E., Bourne, J.A., Rosa, M.G., 2012, Breaking camouflage: responses of neurons in the middle temporal area to stimuli defined by coherent motion, European Journal Of Neuroscience [P], vol 36, issue 1, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd, UK, pp. 2063-2076.

Reser, D.H., Witharanage, R.W., Rosa, M.G., Dyer, A.G., 2012, Honeybees (Apis mellifera) learn color discriminations via differential conditioning independent of long wavelength (green) photoreceptor modulation, PLoS ONE [P], vol 7, issue 11 (Art. No.: e48577), Public Library of Science, USA, pp. 1-8.

Dyer, A.G., Boyd-Gerny, S., McLoughlin, S., Rosa, M.G., Simonov, V., Wong, B.B.M., 2012, Parallel evolution of angiosperm colour signals: common evolutionary pressures linked to hymenopteran vision, Proceedings of the Royal Society - Biological Sciences (Series B) [P], vol 279, issue 1742, The Royal Society Publishing, UK, pp. 3606-3615.

Passarelli, L., Rosa, M.G., Gamberini, M., Bakola, S., Burman, K.J., Fattori, P., Galletti, C., 2011, Cortical connections of area V6Av in the macaque: A visual-input node to the eye/hand coordination system, Journal Of Neuroscience [P], vol 31, issue 5, Society for Neuroscience, USA, pp. 1790-1801.

Burman, K., Reser, D., Richardson, K., Gaulke, H., Worthy, K., Rosa, M., 2011, Subcortical projections to the frontal pole in the marmoset monkey, European Journal Of Neuroscience [P], vol 34, issue 2, Wiley-Blackwell, USA, pp. 303-319.

Yu, H., Rosa, M., 2010, A simple method for creating wide-field visual stimulus for electrophysiology: Mapping and analyzing receptive fields using a hemispheric display, Journal of Vision [P], vol 10, issue 14 (Art. No. 15), Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, USA, pp. 1-16.

Norgate, M., Boyd-Gerny, S., Simonov, V., Rosa, M., Heard, T., Dyer, A., 2010, Ambient temperature influences Australian native stingless bee (Trigona carbonaria) preference for warm nectar, PLoS ONE [P], vol 5, issue 8, Public Library of Science, San Francisco CA USA, pp. 1-8.

Burman, K.J., Reser, D.H., Yu, H., Rosa, M.G., 2010, Cortical input to the frontal pole of the marmoset monkey, Cerebral Cortex [P], vol 21, Oxford University Press, UK, pp. 1712-1737.

Cloherty, S.L., Mustari, M.J., Rosa, M.G., Ibbotson, M.R., 2010, Effects of saccades on visual processing in primate MSTd, Vision Research [P], vol 50, issue 24, Pergamon, UK, pp. 2683-2691.

Yu, H., Verma, R., Yang, Y., Tibballs, H.A., Lui, L.L., Reser, D.H., Rosa, M.G., 2010, Spatial and temporal frequency tuning in striate cortex: Functional uniformity and specializations related to receptive field eccentricity, European Journal Of Neuroscience [P], vol 31, issue 6, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd, United Kingdom, Germany, pp. 1043-1062.

Burman, K.J., Rosa, M.G., 2009, Architectural subdivisions of medial and orbital frontal cortices in the marmoset monkey (Callithrix jacchus), The Journal of Comparative Neurology, vol 514, issue 1, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., USA, pp. 11-29.

Rosa, M.G., Palmer, S.M., Gamberini, M., Burman, K.J., Yu, H., Reser, D.H., Bourne, J.A., Tweedale, R., Galletti, C., 2009, Connections of the dorsomedial visual area: pathways for early integration of dorsal and ventral streams in extrastriate cortex, Journal Of Neuroscience [P], vol 29, issue 14, Society for Neuroscience, USA, pp. 4548-4563.

Reser, D.H., Burman, K.J., Richardson, K., Spitzer, M.W., Rosa, M.G.P., 2009, Connections of the marmoset rostrotemporal auditory area: Express pathways for analysis of affective content in hearing, European Journal Of Neuroscience [P], vol 30, issue 4, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd, United Kingdom, pp. 578-592.

Burman, K.J., Palmer, S.M., Gamberini, M., Spitzer, M.W., Rosa, M.G., 2008, Anatomical and physiological definition of the motor cortex of the marmoset monkey, The Journal of Comparative Neurology, vol 506, issue 5, Wiley-Liss, Div John Wiley & Sons Inc, USA, pp. 860-876.

Dyer, A.G., Rosa, M.G., Reser, D.H., 2008, Honeybees can recognise images of complex natural scenes for use as potential landmarks, The Journal of Experimental Biology, vol 211, issue 8, The Company of Biologists Ltd., United Kingdom, pp. 1180-1186.

Bourne, J.A., Warner, C.E., Upton, D., Rosa, M.G., 2007, Chemoarchitecture of the middle temporal visual area in the marmoset monkey (Callithrix jacchus): Laminar distribution of calcium-binding proteins (Calbindin, Parvalbumin) and nonphosphorylated neurofilament, The Journal of Comparative Neurology, vol 500, issue 5, Wiley-Liss, Div John Wiley & Sons Inc, Hoboken NJ USA, pp. 832-849.

Burman, K.J., Lui, L., Rosa, M.G., Bourne, J.A., 2007, Development of non-phosphorylated neurofilament protein expression in neurones of the New World monkey dorsolateral frontal cortex, European Journal of Neuroscience, vol 25, issue 6, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford England UK, pp. 1767-1779.

Padberg, J., Franca, J.G., Cooke, D.F., Soares, J.G., Rosa, M.G., Fiorani Jr., M., Gattass, R., Krubitzer, L., 2007, Parallel evolution of cortical areas involved in skilled hand use, The Journal of Neuroscience, vol 27, issue 38, Society of Neuroscience, Washington, DC, USA, pp. 10106-10115.

Lui, L., Bourne, J.A., Rosa, M.G., 2007, Spatial and temporal frequency selectivity of neurons in the middle temporal visual area of new world monkeys (Callithrix jacchus), European Journal of Neuroscience, vol 25, issue 6, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford England UK, pp. 1780-1792.

Lui, L., Bourne, J.A., Rosa, M.G., 2007, Spatial summation, end inhibition and side inhibition in the middle temporal visual area (MT), Journal of Neurophysiology, vol 97, issue 2, American Physiological Society, Bethesda USA, pp. 1135-1148.

Palmer, S.M., Rosa, M.G., 2006, A distinct anatomical network of cortical areas for analysis of motion in far peripheral vision, European Journal of Neuroscience, vol 24, issue 8, Blackwell Publishing, UK, pp. 2389-2405.

Burman, K.J., Palmer, S.M., Gamberini, M., Rosa, M.G., 2006, Cytoarchitectonic subdivisions of the dorsolateral frontal cortex of the marmoset monkey (Callithrix jacchus), and their projections to dorsal visual areas, The Journal of Comparative Neurology, vol 495, issue 2, Wiley-Liss & Son, Inc, New Jersey USA, pp. 149-172.

Lui, L., Bourne, J.A., Rosa, M.G.P., 2006, Functional response properties of neurons in the dorsomedial visual area of new world monkeys (Callithrix jacchus), Cerebral Cortex, vol 16, issue 2, Oxford University Press, UK, pp. 162-177.

Bourne, J.A., Rosa, M.G., 2006, Hierarchical development of the primate visual cortex, as revealed by neurofilament immunoreactivity: early maturation of the middle temporal area (MT), Cerebral Cortex, vol 16, issue 3, Oxford University Press, UK, pp. 405-414.

Elston, G.N., Rosa, M.G., 2006, Ipsilateral corticocortical projections to the primary and middle temporal visual areas of the primate cerebral cortex: Area-specific variations in the morphology of connectionally identified pyramidal cells, European Journal of Neuroscience, vol 23, issue 12, Blackwell Publishing, Oxon England, pp. 3337-3345.

Palmer, S.M., Rosa, M.G., 2006, Quantitative analysis of the corticocortical projections to the middle temporal area in the marmoset monkey: evolutionary and functional implications, Cerebral Cortex, vol 16, issue 9, Oxford University Press, UK, pp. 1361-1375.

Rosa, M.G., Tweedale, R., 2005, Brain maps, great and small: lessons from comparative studies of primate visual cortical organization, Royal Society of London. Philosophical Transactions. Biological Sciences, vol 360, issue 1456, Royal Society, UK, pp. 665-691.

Rosa, M.G., Manger, P.R., 2005, Clarifying homologies in the mammalian cerebral cortex: the case of the third visual area (V3), Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology, vol 32, issue 5-6, Blackwell Publishing Asia, Carlton Vic Australia, pp. 327-339.

Rosa, M.G., Palmer, S.M., Gamberini, M., Tweedale, R., Pinon, M.C., Bourne, J.A., 2005, Resolving the organization of the New World monkey third visual complex: the dorsal extrastriate cortex of the marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), Journal of Comparative Neurology, vol 483, issue 2, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, USA, pp. 164-191.

Lui, L., Bourne, J.A., Rosa, M.G., 2005, Single-unit responses to kinetic stimuli in New World monkey area V2: physiological characteristics of cue-invariant neurones, Experimental Brain Research, vol 162, issue 1, Springer-Verlag, Germany, pp. 100-108.

Bourne, J.A., Warner, C.E., Rosa, M.G., 2005, Topographic and laminar maturation of striate cortex in early postnatal marmoset monkeys, as revealed by neurofilament immunohistochemistry, Cerebral Cortex, vol 15, issue 6, Oxford University Press, UK, pp. 740-748.

Manger, P., Rosa, M.G., 2005, Visual thalamocortical projections in the flying fox: parallel pathways to striate and extrastriate areas, Neuroscience, vol 130, issue 2, Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd, Oxford England, pp. 497-511.

Bourne, J.A., Lui, L., Tweedale, R., Rosa, M.G.P., 2004, First- and second-order stimulus length selectivity in New World monkey striate cortex, European Journal of Neuroscience, vol 19, issue 1, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford UK, pp. 169-180.

Bourne, J.A., Rosa, M.G.P., 2003, Laminar expression of neurofilament protein in the superior colliculus of the marmoset monkey (Callithrix jacchus), Brain Research, vol 973, issue 1, Elsevier, The Netherlands, pp. 142-145.

Bourne, J.A., Rosa, M.G.P., 2003, Neurofilament protein expression in the geniculostriate pathway of a New World monkey (Callithrix jacchus), Experimental Brain Research, vol 150, issue 1, Springer-Verlag, New York USA, pp. 19-24.

Bourne, J.A., Rosa, M.G.P., 2003, Preparation for the in vivo recording of neuronal responses in the visual cortex of anaesthetised marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), Brain Research Protocols, vol 11, issue 3, Elsevier, The Netherlands, pp. 168-177.

Bourne, J.A., Tweedale, R., Rosa, M.G.P., 2002, Physiological Responses of New World Monkey V1 Neurons to Stimuli Defined by Coherent Motion, Cerebral Cortex, vol 12, issue 11, Oxford University Press Inc, USA, pp. 1132-1145.

Rosa, M.G.P., 2002, Visual Maps in the adult primate cerebral cortex: some implications for brain development and evolution, Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research, vol 35, Assoc Bras Divulg Cientifica, Brazil, pp. 1485-1498.

Manger, P., Collins, R., Rosa, M., 2001, An architectonic comparison of the ventrobasal complex of two megachiropteran and one microchiropteran bat: implcations for the evolution of chiroptera, Somatosensory and Motor Research, vol 18, issue 2, Carfax Publishing, Basingstoke England, pp. 131-140.

Soares, J.G., Gattass, R., Souza, A.P.B., Rosa, M., Fiorani, M., Brandao, B., 2001, Connectional and neurochemical subdivisions of the pulvinar in cebus monkeys, Visual Neuroscience, vol 18, issue 1, Cambridge University Press, New York NY USA, pp. 25-41.

Manger, P., Rosa, M., Collins, R., 2001, Somatotopic organization and cortical projections of the ventrobasal complex of the flying fox: an "inverted" wing representation in the thalamus, Somatosensory and Motor Research, vol 18, issue 1, Carfax Publishing, Basinstoke England, pp. 19-30.

Rosa, M., Tweedale, R., 2001, The dorsomedial visual areas in new world and old world monkeys: homology and function, European Journal of Neuroscience, vol 13, issue 3, Blackwell Science Ltd, Oxford England, pp. 421-427.

Rosa, M.G., Pinon, M.C., Gattass, R., Sousa, A.P.B., 2000, "Third Tier" ventral extrastriate cortex in the new world monkey, Cebus Apella, Experimental Brain Research, vol 132 issue 2, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg Germany, pp. 287-305.

Elston, G.N., Rosa, M.G., 2000, Pyramidal Cells, Patches and Cortical Columns: a Comparative Study of Infragranular Neurons in TWO, TE and the Superior Temporal Polysensory Area of the Macaque Monkey, The Journal of Neuroscience, vol 20, issue RC117, Society for Neuroscience, Washington USA, pp. 1-5.

Rosa, M.G.P., Tweedale, R., Elston, G.N., 2000, Visual responses of neurons in the middle temporal areas of new world monkeys after lesions of striate cortex, Journal of Neuroscience, vol 20 issue 14, Society for Neuroscience, Washington DC USA, pp. 5552-5563.

Rosa, M.G., Krubitzer, L.A., Molnar, Z., Nelson, J., 1999, Organization of visual cortex in the northern quoll, Dasyurus hallucatus: evidence for a homologue of the second visual area in marsupials, European Journal of Neuroscience, vol 11(3), Blackwell Science Ltd, Oxford UK, pp. 907-915.

Other

Rosa, M.G.P., 2002, Visual cortex, Encyclopedia of the Human Brain, vol 4, Academic Press, New York NY USA, pp. 753-773.

Postgraduate Research Supervisions

Current Supervision

Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
A multimodal study of working memory.
Supervisors:
Rosa, M (Main), Price, N (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Chronic and acute multielectrode recordings from the primary and middle temporal visual areas.
Supervisors:
Rosa, M (Main), Yu, H (Associate).

Completed Supervision

Student:
Burns, O.
Program of Study:
Learning to discriminate speech in background noise. (PHD) 2007.
Supervisors:
Rajan, R (Main), Rosa, M (Associate).
Student:
Lui, L.
Program of Study:
Functional response properties of neurones in motion processing areas of marmoset monkey visual cortex. (PHD) 2007.
Supervisors:
Rosa, M (Main), Bourne, J (Associate).
Student:
Palmer, S.
Program of Study:
Anatomical networks for motion processing in the cerebral cortex. (PHD) 2007.
Supervisors:
Rosa, M (Main).
Student:
Upton, D.
Program of Study:
Repetition after-effects of response inhibition: evidence for episodic memory retrieval. (PHD) 2008.
Supervisors:
Fitzgerald, P (Main), Rosa, M (Associate).