Cheryl Olman, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Psychology

E-MAIL: [email protected] 
Advising Statement: Link
LAB WEBSITE: oliv.psych.umn.edu

Research Interests:

Employing a combination of visual psychophysics and fMRI, I want to determine how detection of local image features interacts with scene perception. How are local features in an image selected and grouped to construct a mental representation of a scene or object? To what extent do internal templates determine feature selection and shape perception?

I also spend time investigating the linkage between what BOLD fMRI measures (changes in blood oxygenation) and what we want to know (the underlying neural activity). Is it the input or the output of a visual area that drives the blood flow response? Are excitation and inhibition always balanced, or can inhibition drive the BOLD response as well as excitation? How do spatial characteristics of vascular regulation distort our view of spatially distributed neural activity?

Selected Publications:

(For a comprehensive list of recent publications, refer to PubMed, a service provided by the National Library of Medicine.)

  • Pokorny, V. J., Klein, S. D., Teich, C., Sponheim, S. R., Olman, C. A., Wilson, S. (2024). Atypical Use of Visuospatial Context in Psychotic Psychopathology: a Meta-Analysis. Schizophrenia Bulletin, sbae081. 
  • Pokorny, V. J., Schallmo, M.-P., Sponheim, S. R., *Olman, C. A. (2023). Weakened untuned gain control is associated with schizophrenia while atypical orientation-tuned suppression depends on visual acuity. Journal of Vision, 23(2). https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.23.2.2 
  • Pokorny, V., Lano, T., Schallmo, M.-P., Olman, C. A., Sponheim, S. R. (2021). Reduced Influence of Perceptual Context in Schizophrenia: Behavioral and Neurophysiological Evidence. Psychological Medicine, 51(5):786-794. doi:10.1017/S0033291719003751. 
  • Navarro, K. T., Sanchez, M. J., Engel, S. A., *Olman, C. A., +Weldon, K. B. (2021). Depth-dependent functional MRI responses to chromatic and achromatic stimuli throughout V1 and V2. NeuroImage, 226:117520. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117520.
  • Grant, A. N., Metzger, G., Van de Moortele, P.-F., Adriany, G., Olman, C. A., Zhang, L., Koopmeiners, J., Eryaman, Y., Koeritzer, K., Adams, M., Henry, T., Uğurbil, K. (2020). 10.5T MRI static field effects on human cognitive, vestibular, and physiological function. Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 73:163-176. doi:10.1016/j.mri.2020.08.004. 
  • Olman, C. A., Bao, P, Engel, S. A., Grant, A. N., Purington, C., Qiu, C., Schallmo, M.-P., Tjan, B. S. (2018). Hemifield columns co-opt ocular dominance column structure in human achiasma. Neuroimage, 164:59-66. PMC5481499. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.12.063 
  • Schallmo, M.-P., Sponheim, S. R., *Olman, C. A., (2015). Reduced contextual effects on visual contrast perception in schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder. Psychological Medicine, 45(16):3527-37. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291715001439 
  • Thompson, S. K., Engel, S. A., Olman, C. A. (2014). Larger neural responses produce BOLD signals that begin earlier in time. Frontiers in Neuroscience 8:159. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2014.00159. 
  • Qiu, C., Kersten, D. J., Olman, C. A. (2013). Segmentation decreases the magnitude of the tilt illusion. Journal of Vision 13(13):19. https://doi.org/10.1167/13.13.19. 
  • Olman, C. A., Harel, N., Feinberg, D., He, S., Zhang, P., Ugurbil, K., & Yacoub, E. (2012). Layer-specific fMRI reflects different neuronal computations at different depths in human V1. PLoS ONE 7(3):e32536. PMC3308958. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0032536. 
  • Schumacher, J. F. & Olman, C. A. (2010). High-resolution BOLD fMRI measurements of local orientation-dependent contextual modulation show a mismatch between predicted V1 output and local BOLD response. Vision Research, 50(13), 1214-1224. PMC2904084. doi: 10.1016/j.visres.2010.04.005 
  • Olman, C. A., Inati, S., & Davachi, L. (2009). Distortion and signal loss in medial temporal lobe. PLoS One, 4(12), e8160. PMC2780716. 
  • Olman, C. A., Inati, S., & Heeger, D. J. (2007). The effect of large veins on spatial localization with GE BOLD at 3 T: displacement, not blurring. NeuroImage, 34, 1126-1135. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.08.045. 
  • Olman, C. A. & Kersten, D. J. (2004). Classification objects, ideal observers & generative models. Cognitive Science, 28, 227-239.
  • Olman, C. A., Schrater, P., Ugurbil, K., & Kersten, D. J. (2004). BOLD fMRI and psychophysical measurements of contrast response to broadband images. Vision Research, 44, 669-683. doi: 10.1016/j.visres.2003.10.022 
  • Olman, C. A., Ronen, I., Ugurbil, K., & Kim, D.-S. (2003). Retinotopic mapping in cat visual cortex using high field functional magnetic resonance imaging. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 131, 161-170.

Current Students:

Joseph Emerson, Graduate Program in Neuroscience

Former Graduate Students:

Michael Paul Schallmo (Ph.D. 2014, Neuroscience, University of Minnesota).

Jennifer Schumacher (Ph.D. 2010, Neuroscience, University of Minnesota).

Serena Thompson (Ph.D. 2009, Neuroscience, University of Minnesota)

Picture of Cheryl Olman