KOBI

Education:

• 1980-1985 Ph.D. in Biophysics, Univ California at Berkeley
• 1977-1979 Vordiplom in Biochemistry, Univ Tübingen
• 1976-1979 Vordiplom in Chemistry, Univ Tübingen

 

Employment:

• 2004- Professor of Cognitive Biology, Otto-von-Guericke Universität Magdeburg
• 2000-2004 Professor of Theoretical and Cognitive Neurobiology, Univ of Plymouth
• 1999-2000 Visiting Lecturer, Institute of Neuroinformatics, ETH Zürich
• 1988 Senior Research Fellow with Christof Koch, Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology
• 1993 Research Fellow with David van Essen, Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology
• 1986-1989 Visiting Scientist with Dov Sagi, Dept Applied Mathematics, Weizmann Institute

 

Academic activities:

• 2009- Associate Editor, Vision Research
• 2007- Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Berstein Center for Computational Neurosciene (BCCN) Göttingen
• 2011- Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Bernstein Focus Neurotechnology (BFNT) Göttingen
• 2015 Organizer workshop “Emergent cognition in brain-like systems: compounding heterogeneity at multiple scales”, Magdeburg, Germany.
• 2004- Co-organizer, European Summer School “Visual Neuroscience: from spikes to awareness”
• 2004 Organizer workshop “New perspectives on visual cortex”, Tobermory, Isle of Mull, Scotland.
• 1999 Organizer workshop “Visual attention and cortical circuits”, Catalina Island, California.

 

Reviewer for Nature, Science, Nature Neuroscience, Current Biology,Journal of Neuroscience, European Journal of Neuroscience, Journal of Vision, Perception and Psychophysics, and many others. Referee for Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, European Community, National Science Foundation, Agence National de Recherche, FWF (Wissenschaftsfonds),Wellcome Trust, German Israeli Foundation, and others.

 

Selected grants:

• 2013-2017 Participant in Marie Curie ITN INDIREA.
• 2011-2016 Coordinator of EU FP7 project CORONET “Choreographing neural networks:coupling activity dynamics across biomimetic brain interfaces with
• neuromorphic VLSI”, € 2,665,000.
• 2010 Fens-IBRO European Neuroscience Schools programme award, € 23,000, with Prof. K. Gegenfurtner (Giessen) und Prof. F. Bremmer (Marburg).
• 2007-2010 Coordinator Bernstein Group Magdeburg “Components of cognition: from small networks to flexible rules”, € 890,000.
• 2005-2007 Exzellenzprogramm "Neurowissenschaften" des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt, Teilprojekt "Situationsabhängiges Verstärkungslernen", € 138,230.
• 2004-2008 European Summer School "Visual Neuroscience: from spikes to awareness",Volkswagen Foundation, € 180,000, with Prof. K. Gegenfurtner (Giessen)
• und Prof. F. Bremmer (Marburg).
• 2004-2006 EFRE grants of approximately € 360,000.
• 2003 Computational/experimental workshop “New perspectives on visual cortex”, Office of Naval Research and Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit. £22,000.
• 2002-2006 Coordinator of EU FP5 project ALAVLSI “Attend-to-learn and learn-to-attend with neuromorphic, analogue VLSI”, € 2,390,000.
• 2001 Royal Society Wolfson Foundation “Encoding of visual information in neural activity”, £238,000.

 

Publications 

Ph.D. Thesis

• Cells that guide the growth of neural processes in the embryo of the leech. Advisor Gunther S. Stent, University of California at Berkeley, Fall 1985.

 

Refereed Journal Papers

[1] J Braun, J R Abney and J C Owicki (1984) How a gap junction maintains its structure.Nature 310, 316-318.

[2] R L Gimlich and J Braun (1985) Improved fluorescent compounds for tracing cell lineage. Developmental Biology 109, 509-514.

[3] J Braun, J R Abney and J C Owicki (1987) Lateral interactions among membrane proteins. I. Valid estimates based in freeze fracture electron micrography. Biophysical Journal 52, 427-439.

[4] J R Abney, J Braun and J C Owicki (1987) Lateral interactions among membrane proteins. II. Implications for organization of gap junctions. Biophysical Journal 52, 441-454.

[5] J Braun and G S Stent (1989) Axon outgrowth along segmental nerves in the leech: I. Identification of candidate guidance cells. Developmental Biology 132, 471- 485.

[6] J Braun and G S Stent (1989) Axon outgrowth along segmental nerves in the leech: II. Identification of actual guidance cells. Developmental Biology 132, 486-501.

[7] J Braun and D Sagi (1990) Vision outside the focus of attention. Perception & Psychophysics 48, 45-58.

[8] J Braun and D Sagi (1991) Texture-based tasks are little affected by a second task which requires peripheral or central attentive fixation. Perception 20, 483-500.

[9] M B Ben-Av, D Sagi, and J Braun (1992) Visual attention and perceptual grouping. Perception & Psychophysics 52, 277-294.

[10] J L Gallant, J Braun and D C VanEssen (1993) Selectivity for polar, hyperbolic, and cartesian gratings in macaque extrastriate cortex. Science 259, 100-103.

[11] J Braun (1994) Visual search among items of different salience: removal of visual attention mimics a lesion in extrastriate area V4. J Neurosci 14, 554-567.

[12] J Braun (1994) Shape-from-shading is independent of visual attention and may be a "texton". Spatial Vision 7, 311-322.

[13] C Kolb and J Braun (1995) Blindsight in normal observers. Nature 377, 336--338.

[14] C Koch and J Braun (1996) Towards the neural correlate of visual awareness. Curr Op Neurobiol 6, 158--164.

[15] D K Lee, C Koch and J Braun (1997) Spatial vision thresholds in the absence of attention. Vision Research 37, 2409--2418.

[16] L Itti, J Braun, D K Lee and C Koch (1997) A model of early visual processing. Adv Neur Inf Proc Sys 10, 173--179.

[17] J Braun and B Julesz (1998) Dividing attention at little cost: detection and discrimination tasks. Percep & Psychophys 60, 1--23.

[18] J Braun (1998) Vision and attention: the role of training. Nature 393, 424--5. [19] J Braun (1999) On the detection of salient contours. Spatial Vision 12, 211-25.

[20] L Itti, J Braun, D K Lee and C Koch (1998) Attentional modulation of human pattern psychophysics reproduced by a quantitative model. Adv Neur Inf Proc Sys 11, 789-795.

[21] D K Lee, C Koch, J Braun (1999) Attentional capacity is undifferentiated: concurrent discrimination of form, color, and motion. Perception & Psychophysics 61, 1241- 55.

[22] D K Lee, L Itti, C Koch, J Braun (1999) Attention activates winner-take-all competition among visual filters. Nature Neuroscience 2, 375--381.

[23] L Itti, C Koch, J Braun (1999) A quantitative model relating visual neuronal activity to psychophysical thresholds. Neurocomputing 26, 743-8.

[24] B Zenger, J Braun, C Koch (2000) Attentional effect on contrast detection in the presence of salient distractors. Vision Res 40, 3717-24.

[25] L Itti, C Koch, J Braun (2000) Revisiting spatial vision: toward a unifying model. J Opt Soc Am A 17, 1899-917.

[26] A Polonsky, R Blake, J Braun, D Heeger (2000) Neuronal activity in human primary visual cortex correlates with perception during binocular rivalry. Nature

Neuroscience 3, 1153-9.

[27] O Speck, T Ernst, J Braun, C Koch, E N Miller, L Chang (2000) Gender differences in the functional organization of the brain for working memory. Neuroreport  11, 2581-5.

[28] J Jovicich, R J Peters, C Koch, J Braun, L Chang, T Ernst (2001) Brain areas specific for attentional load in a motion tracking task. J Cog Neurosci 13, 1048-58.

[29] L Chang, O Speck, EN Miller, J Braun, J Jovicich, C Koch, L Itti, T Ernst (2001) Neural correlates of attention and working memory deficits in HIV patients. Neurology 57, 1001-7.

[30] L Itti, J Braun, C Koch (2001) Modeling the modulatory effect of attention on human spatial vision. Adv Neur Inf Proc Sys 14, in press.

[31] JM Hopf, T Noesselt, C Tempelmann, J Braun, MA Schoenfeld, HJ Heinze (2004) Popout modulates focal attention in primary visual cortex. Neuroimage 22: 574- 82.

[32] N Tsuchiya, J Braun (2007) Contrast thresholds of component motion with full and poor attention. Journal of Vision, 7 (3): 1.1-15.

[33] A Pastukhov, J Braun (2007) Visual rivalry needs no prompting by attention. Journal of Vision, 7 (10): 5.1-17.

[34] P Camilleri, M Giulioni, V Dante, D Badoni, G Indiveri, B Michaelis, J Braun, P del Giudice (2007) A neuromorphic aVLSI network chip with configurable plastic synapses. IEEE Conference Hybrid Intelligent Systems 2007: 296—301. DOI: 10.1109/HIS.2007.60.

[35] A Pastukhov, L Fisher, J Braun (2009) Visual attention is a single, integrated resource. Vision Research (Special Issue on Attention), 49 (10): 1166-1173.

[36] A Pastukhov, J Braun (2008) A short-term memory of multi-stable perception. Journal of Vision, 8 (13): 7.1-14.

[37] M Giulioni, P Camilleri, V Dante, D Badoni, G Indiveri, J Braun, P del Giudice, A network chip of spiking neurons with plastic fully configurable stop-learning

synapses. IEEE Conference Electronics Circuits and Systems 2008: 678—681. DOI: 10.1109/ICECS.2008.4674944.

[38] R Houtkamp, J Braun (2009) Cortical response to task-relevant stimuli presented outside the focus of attention. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22 (9): 1980- 92.

[39] G Gigante, M Mattia, J Braun, P Del Giudice (2009) Bistable perception modeled as competing stochastic integrations at two levels. PLOS Computational Biology, 5 (7), e1000430: 1-9.

[40] Y Festman, J Braun (2010) Does feature similarity contribute to attentional selection. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 72 (8): 2128-43.

[41] O Hamid, A Wendemuth, J Braun (2010) Temporal context and conditional associative learning. BMC Neuroscience, 11: 45.

[42] A Pastukhov, J Braun (2010) Rare but precious: what microsaccades tell us about visual attention. Vision Research, 50 (12): 1173-84.

[43] J Braun, M Mattia (2010) Attractors and noise: twin drivers of decisions and multistability. (Review submitted by invitation). Neuroimage, 52 (3): 740-51.

[44] P Camilleri, M Giulioni, M Mattia, J Braun, P Del Giudice (2010) Self-sustained activity in attractor networks using neuromorphic VLSI. IEEE Proceedings Int Joint Conf Neural Netw: 1-6. DOI: 10.1109/IJCNN.2010.5596342.

[45] A Pastukhov, V Vonau, J Braun (2010) No stopping and no slowing: removing visual attention with no effect on visual performance. Int Conf Artif Neur Netw(ICANN), 6354: 510–515. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-15825-4_70.

[46] A Pastukhov, J Braun (2011) Cumulative history quantifies the role of neural adaptation in multi-stable perception. Journal of Vision, 11 (10): pii 12.

[47] M Hudak, P Gervan, B Friedrich, A Pastukhov, J Braun, I Kovacs (2011) Increased readiness for adaptation and faster alternation rates under binocular rivalry in children. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 5: 128.

[48] A Pastukhov, V Vonau, J Braun (2011) Believable change: bistable reversals are goverened by physical plausibility. Journal of Vision, 12 (1): pii 17.

[49] M Giulioni, P Camilleri, M Mattia, V Dante, J Braun, P Del Giudice (2011) Robust working memory in an asynchronously spiking neural network realized with neuromorphic VLSI. Frontiers of Neuroscience, 5: 149.

[50] Y Festman, J Braun (2012) Feature-based attention spreads in an object-specific manner. Vision Research, 54: 31-8.

[51] S Stonkute, J Braun, A Pastukhov (2012) The role of attention in ambiguous reversals of structure-from-motion. PloS One, 7 (5): e37734.

[52] A Pastukhov, J Braun (2012) Disparate time-courses of adaptation and facilitation in multi-stable perception. Learning & Memory,5(2): 101–118.

[53] A Pastukhov, V Vonau, S Stonkute, J Braun (2013) Spatial and temporal attention revealed by microsaccades. Vision Research, 85(0), 45–57.

[54] A Pastukhov, J Braun (2013) Structure-from-motion: dissociating perception, neural persistence, and sensory memory of illusory depth and illusory rotation. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 75(2): 322-40.

[55] A Pastukhov, P Garcia-Rodriguez, J Haenicke, T Guillamon, G Deco, J Braun (2013) Multi-stable perception balances stability and sensitivity. Front. Comput. Neurosci, 7: 17.

[56] Pastukhov, A., Lissner, A., Füllekrug, J., & Braun, J. (2013). Sensory memory of illusory depth in structure-from-motion. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 76(1), 123-32.

[57] A Pastukhov, J Füllekrug, J Braun (2014) Sensory memory of structure-from-motion is shape-specific. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 75(6), 1215–1229.

[58] Pastukhov, A., Lissner, A., & Braun, J. (2014). Perceptual adaptation to structure-from-motion depends on the size of adaptor and probe objects, but not on the similarity of their shapes. Attention, perception & psychophysics, 76(2), 473-88.

[60] Cao, R., Braun, J., & Mattia, M. (2014) Stochastic accumulation by cortical columns may explain the scalar property of multi-stable perception. Physics Review Letters, 113, 098103.

[61] Pastukhov, A., Stonkute, S., & Braun, J. (2015) Transformation priming helpts to disambiguate sudden changes of sensory inputs. Vision Research, 116, 36—44.

[62] Cao, R., Pastukhov, A., Mattia, M., Braun, J. (2016) Collective activity of many bistable assemblies reproduces characteristic dynamics of multistable perception. J. Neurosci.,36(26): 6957–72.

[63] Dornas, J. V., Braun, J. (2018) Finer parcellation reveals intricate correlational structure of resting-state fMRI signals. J. Neurosci. Meth., 294, 15—33.

[64] Pastukhov, A., Zaus, C.R., Aleshin, S., Braun, J., Carbon, C.-C. (2018) Perceptual coupling induces co-rotation and speeds up alternations in adjacent bi-stable structure-from-motion objects. Journal of Vision, 18(4): 21.

[65] Aleshin, S., Zimaon, G., Kovacs, I., Braun, J. (2019) Perceptual reversals in binocular rivalry: improved detection from OKN. Journal of Vision, 19 (3) 5-5.

[66] Bauermeister, C., Keren, H., Braun, J. (2020) Broadly heterogeneous network topology begets order-based representation by privileged neurons. Biological Cybernetics, 114(1), 1134-135.

[67] Cao, R., Pastukhov, A., Aleschin, S., Mattia, A., Braun, J. (2020) Instability with a purpose: how the visual brain makes decisions in a volatile world. eLife (in revision) and bioRxiv (https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.09.142497).

[68] Kakei, E., Aleshin, S., Braun, J. (2021) Visual object recognition is facilitated by temporal community structure. Learning & Memory, in press.

[69] Ziman, G., Aleshin, S., Unoka, Z., Braun, J., Kovacs, I. (2021) Alternative female and male developmental strategies in the dynamical balance of human visual perception. bioRxiv (https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.11.430816)

 

Book chapters

[1] J Braun (1997) Divided attention: narrowing the gap between brain and behavior. In: The Attentive Brain, Parasuraman, R., ed., MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

[2] C Koch & J Braun(1996) On the functional anatomy of visual awareness. In: Cold Spring Harbor Symp Quant Biol Vol. LXI, 49--57.

[3] J Braun, C Koch, D K Lee, L Itti (2001) Perceptual consequences of visual attention. In: Visual attention and cortical circuits. J Braun, C Koch, and J Davis, eds, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

[4] H-U Bauer and J Braun (2000) Is there parallel binding of distributed objects? In: Preparational Intelligence: Adaptive Behavior and Intelligent Systems Without

Symbols and Logic. H Cruse et al, eds, Kluwer.

[5] J Braun (2009) Attention and consciousness. In: The Oxford Companion to Consciousness. T Bayne, A Cleeremans, and P Wilken, eds, Oxford University Press.

[6] S Glüge, O Hamid, J Braun, A Wendemuth (2011) A Markov model of conditional associative learning in a cognitive behavioral scenario. In: Foundations of Natural and Artificial Computation. J M Ferrandez, J R A Sanchez, F de la Paz, J Toledo, eds, Springer Press.

 

Books

Visual attention and cortical circuits. J Braun, C Koch, and J Davis, eds, MIT Press, 2001.

 

Commentary

[1] J Braun (2000) Targeting visual motion (News&Views). Nature Neuroscience 3, 9-11.

[2] J Braun (2000) The emperor has some clothes (Book review). Nature Neuroscience 3, 975

[3] J Braun (2000) Intimate attention. (News & Views). Nature 408, 154-5.

[4] J Braun (2001) It's great but not necessarily about attention. (Commentary). Psyche 7(06).

[5] J Braun (2002) Visual attention: light enters the jungle. (Dispatch). Current Biology 12, R599.

[6] J Braun (2003) Natural scenes upset the visual applecart. (Research News). Trends Cogn Sci, 7: 7-9.

[7] J Braun (2007) Attending the invisible. (Dispatch) Current Biology, 17: R202-3.

[8] J Braun (2007) Attention and awareness. In: Oxford Companion to Consciousness, P. Wilken, T. Bayne, A. Cleeremens, eds., OUP, in press.

[9] J Braun, A Schönfeld (2008) Vision: attention makes the cup flow over. (Dispatch) Current Biology, 18: R713-5.

[10] R Blake, J Braun (2009) Footprints of perception: now you see them, now you don’t. (Dispatch) Current Biology, 13: R30-2.

 

 

 

• 103L Integrative & Comparative Neuroanatomy ( Link zur LV im LSF )
• 105L Theoretical Neuroscience I ( Link zur LV im LSF )
• 105T Theoretical Neuroscience I (INS) ( Link zur LV im LSF )
• 211L Cognitive Neurobiology ( Link zur LV im LSF )
• Computational Neuroscience I / Biological Neuroscience I ( Link zur LV im LSF )