Ian Charest

Prof. Ian Charest is a cognitive computational neuroscientist generally interested in high-level vision and audition. He leads the Charest Lab at the Université de Montréal, where he and his team investigate visual recognition in the brain using neuroimaging techniques such as magneto-electroencephalography (M-EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). His work makes use of advanced computational modelling and analysis techniques, including machine learning, representational similarity analysis (RSA), and artificial neural networks (ANNs), to better understand human brain function. The current topics of research in the lab include information processing in the brain during perception, memory, and visual consciousness when recognizing and interpreting natural scenes and visual objects. Prof. Charest’s laboratory is currently funded by an NSERC Discovery Grant to study the interaction between vision and semantics, and he leads a Courtois Chair in cognitive and computational neuroscience to develop an online platform for the cross-disciplinary investigation of behavioural, computational, and neuroimaging datasets.