Jocelyn Faubert (born 1959) is a Canadian psychophysicist best known for his work in the fields of

visual perception Visual perception is the ability to detect light and use it to form an image of the surrounding Biophysical environment, environment. Photodetection without image formation is classified as ''light sensing''. In most vertebrates, visual percept ...

, vision of the elderly, and

neuropsychology Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology concerned with how a person's cognition and behavior are related to the brain and the rest of the nervous system. Professionals in this branch of psychology focus on how injuries or illnesses of the brai ...

. Faubert holds the

NSERC The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; , CRSNG) is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering research in Canada. NSERC directly funds university professors and students as ...

Essilor Essilor International is a French multinational corporation specialized in the design, manufacture and sale of ophthalmic lenses, optical equipment and instruments. It is the world's largest manufacturer of ophthalmic lenses. Founded in 197 ...

Industrial Research Chair in Visual Perception and Presbyopia. He is the director of the Laboratory of Psychophysics and Visual Perception at the

University of Montreal A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

. Faubert has also been involved in the transfer of research and developments from the laboratory into the commercial domain. He is a co-founder and member of the Board of Directors of CogniSens Inc. Faubert obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

in Montreal, Quebec. Faubert's early work was related to

aging Ageing (or aging in American English) is the process of becoming Old age, older until death. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi; whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentiall ...

vision Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...

, and

glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that can lead to damage of the optic nerve. The optic nerve transmits visual information from the eye to the brain. Glaucoma may cause vision loss if left untreated. It has been called the "silent thief of ...

. More recently, his work has focused on

neuroplasticity Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity or just plasticity, is the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through neurogenesis, growth and reorganization. Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to reorganize and rewir ...

as it relates to

and cognitive performance.

Research

Faubert oversees the work of a team of researchers and post-doctoral fellows in his multidisciplinary psychophysical and visual perception laboratory. Research areas include

Brain Function The brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for special senses ...

Perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...

, Multi-sensory integration, Neurolobiological Alterations (

Autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

mTBI A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, a bri ...

Stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

), Neurological systems, Biophonics,

Nanophotonics Nanophotonics or nano-optics is the study of the behavior of light on the nanometer scale, and of the interaction of nanometer-scale objects with light. It is a branch of optics, optical engineering, electrical engineering, and nanotechnology. I ...

and

Optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of optical instruments, instruments that use or Photodetector, detect it. Optics usually describes t ...

. Over 130 peer-reviewed articles have resulted from the research conducted at the laboratory, as well as several patents.

Technologies

The laboratory makes use of several suites of technology to conduct its research: * EON Icube : A Multi-sided immersive environment in which participants are completely surrounded by virtual imagery and 3D sound. *

CAVE Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

:The Cave Automatic Virtual Environment is an advanced display system of the size of a room. It combines stereoscopic projection and high-resolution 3D computer graphics to create the illusion of being present in a virtual environment. *

EEG Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method to record an electrogram of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain. The bio signals detected by EEG have been shown to represent the postsynaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons in the neoc ...

: the recording of electrical activity along the scalp produced by the firing of neurons within the brain. EEG refers to the recording of the brain's spontaneous electrical activity over a short period of time as recorded from multiple electrodes placed on the scalp. * Driving Simulator: An immersive 180° field-of-view screen with simulated rear and side-view mirrors. Used extensively in research into the driving capacity of the elderly.

Laboratory research populations

The laboratory utilises its 3D technologies and diagnostic equipment to investigate perceptual cognitive issues in various populations: adults, the elderly, children,

autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

s and those suffering from mild Traumatic Brain Injury (

Scientific research

Faubert and colleagues were able to pinpoint the effect of normal

visual The visual system is the physiological basis of visual perception (the ability to detect and process light). The system detects, transduces and interprets information concerning light within the visible range to construct an image and buil ...

and

perceptual Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...

functions. One important study demonstrated that it is not the physical tools of vision which are affected by aging. Rather, it is a loss of computational or processing ability of the brain that ultimately affects visual perception as people age. Faubert and colleagues examined the impact of

developmental disorders Developmental disorders comprise a group of psychiatric conditions originating in childhood that involve serious impairment in different areas. There are several ways of using this term. The most narrow concept is used in the category "Specific D ...

(

autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

fragile x syndrome Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a genetic neurodevelopmental disorder. The average IQ in males with FXS is under 55, while affected females tend to be in the borderline to normal range, typically around 70–85. Physical features may include a lo ...

, etc.) on visual function. They were able to demonstrate that in the case of autism (unlike fragile x), patients' results are not pathway-specific, but rather are dependent on the complexity of the neural processing required to perceive the image. Over the course of their studies, Faubert and colleagues observed autism patients who could significantly outperform the general population at certain visual tasks, and patients who could significantly underperform the general population at the same tasks. The laboratory engages in research concerning illusions in order to investigate perceptual function. For example, the

peripheral drift illusion The peripheral drift illusion (PDI) refers to a motion illusion generated by the presentation of a sawtooth luminance grating in the visual periphery. This illusion was first described by Faubert and Herbert (1999), although a similar effect ca ...

illustrates that temporal differences in luminance processing produce a signal that tricks the motion system. Mild Perceptual Impairment (MPI) is a term that covers the deficits in complex perception that accompany reduced cognitive ability in the elderly, those affected by Autism, and also those individuals suffering from mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI). Faubert's recent research has covered the detection of these deficits through detecting distinct "perceptual signatures" as well as through simulated optic flow in a virtual environment, assessing postural reactivity to determine cognitive-perceptual levels.

Awards and honors

Faubert has seven distinct patents registered worldwide. He has acted as a referee for more than 17

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

academic journals. He has been a guest lecturer including the Joe Brunei Award lecture in recognition for outstanding contributions in Ophthalmic Optics in 2009.

Patents

Faubert has been engaged in transferring technology from the academic world to the biomedical industry. This has led to seven distinct

patents A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

(3 delivered, 4 pending) all of which are licensed to

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

companies. Between 2007 and 2009, Faubert and colleagues patented a series of technologies designed to aid in the assessment and intervention of early neurobiological alterations (NBA) such as concussions, dementia, developmental disorders (e.g. autism, fragile X) etc. In 2010, a spin-off company licensed these technologies with a variety of medical and athletic purposes. In 1999, Faubert, along with Vasile Diaconu, patented "On-line Spectroreflectometry Oxygenation Measurement in the Eye" (O.S.O.M.E). This development allows doctors to measure a patient's blood oxygen level non-invasively. The device instead is able to check the color of the retinal artery at the back of the eye and render a precise measurement in a matter of seconds. This technology and 2 other related technologies are licensed to a spin-off company that is fabricating new generation retinal cameras for ophthalmologists and optometrists.

Technology transfer

Faubert and the Visual Perception and Psychophysics Laboratory have been involved in transferring laboratory developments into the commercial domain since 1999. Several funding agencies have been involved in brokering this technology transfer. From the commercial domain, Essilor (an ophthalmic lens company) has partnered with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Together, their aim has been to explore the connection between aging, visual perception, and posture. Faubert has been a chairholder at the NSERC since 2003, at which time his laboratory received a five-year grant (renewed in 2008). In a separate commercial venture, Faubert's Laboratory has partnered with Univalor (a technology transfer specialist), CogniSens Inc. (a biomedical technology company) and Cognisens Athletics Inc., licensing four technologies related to visual perception and brain function. The aim of this partnership is to commercialize Faubert's research in the medical and team sports markets. Applications include concussion detection (NeuroMinder C3) and perceptual-cognitive training ( NeuroTracker).

References

External links

Jocelyn Faubert (laboratory webpage)

''New Frontier for Perceptual-cognitive Enhancement''
TEDxMontreal talk with Jocelyn Faubert * NeuroTracker technology and its application in the sports world
''Virtual Reality brain training improves Athletes’ performance''
Blog post from Eon Reality Company {{DEFAULTSORT:Faubert, Jocelyn 1959 births Autism researchers Canadian cognitive neuroscientists Concordia University alumni Living people Academic staff of the Université de Montréal