I am investigating human visual cognition. At the core of my interest is the question of object recognition: how the brain distills out of the stream of photons hitting the retina a percept of the world consisting of meaningful objects?

I take a broad theoretical approach to address this question. Object recognition shows complex interactions with other core cognitive function of such as attention and language. I thus investigate the neural basis of these interactions. I further wonder how object perception comes about in development, and how plastic its underlying machinery is in individuals with blindness.

To gain a new perspective on the brain I strive for methodological and analytical innovation. In particular, I use a combination of methods (fMRI, M/EEG, deep neural networks, behavioral assessment), and analyze data in an integrated framework using machine learning techniques and multivariate analysis methods.

In this endeavor I have the pleasure to collaborate with a great set of scientist towards this goal in my lab.

Schwarze SA, Bonati S, Cichy RM Linderberger U, Bunge SA, Fandakova Y (2023) Task-Switch Related Reductions in Neural Distinctiveness in Children and Adults: Commonalities and Differences. bioRxiv; doi: 10.1101/2023.12.22.572358 bioRxiv

Doostani N, Hossein-Zadeh GA, Cichy RM, Vaziri-Pashkam M (2023) Attention Modulates Human Visual Responses to Objects by Tuning Sharpening. bioRxiv; doi: 10.1101/2023.06.01.543205. bioRxiv

Haeberle G, Celikkol AP, Cichy RM (2023) The influence of the bullseye versus standard fixation cross on eye movements and classifying natural images from EEG. bioRxiv; doi: 10.1101/2023.03.21.532944. bioRxiv

Foxwell MJ*, Wang G*, Cichy RM, Pitcher D, Kaiser D (2023) Individual differences in internal models explain idiosyncrasies in scene perception. PsyArXiv; 10.31234/osf.io/98wt7. PsyArXiv

Lahner B, Dwivedi K, Iamshchinina P, Graumann M, Lascelles A, Roig G, Gifford AT, Pan B, Jin S, Murtz NAR, Kay K, Oliva A*, Cichy RM* (2023) BOLD Moments: modeling short visual events through a video fMRI dataset and metadata. bioRxiv; doi: 10.1101/2023.03.12.530887. bioRxiv

Gifford AT, Labner B, Saba-Sadiqa S, Vilas MG, Lascelles A, Oliva A, Kay K, Roig G, Cichy RM, (2023) The Algonauts Project 2023 Challenge: How the Human Brain Makes Sense of Natural Scenes. arXiv; doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2301.03198. arXiv

Bersch D, Dwivedi K, Vilas M, Cichy RM, Roig G (2022) Net2Brain: A Toolbox to compare artificial vision models with human brain responses. arXiv; doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2208.09677 arXiv code&examples

Iamshchinina P, Haenelt D, Trampel R, Weiskopf N, Kaiser D*, Cichy RM* (2022) Benchmarking GE-BOLD, SE-BOLD, and SS-SI-VASO sequences for depth-dependent separation of feedforward and feedback signals in high-field MRI. bioRxiv; doi:10.1101/2021.12.10.472064. article

Cichy RM, Dwivedi K, Lahner B, Lascelles A, Iamshchinina P, Graumann M, Andonian A, Murty NAR, Kay K, Roig G, Oliva A (2021) The Algonauts Project 2021 Challenge: How the Human Brain Makes Sense of a World in Motion. arXiv; doi: arXiv:2104.13714. arXiv

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Chen L, Cichy RM*, Kaiser D* (2023) Alpha-frequency feedback to early visual cortex orchestrates coherent natural vision. Sci Adv 9(45): eadi2321; doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adi2321. article bioRxiv

Karapetian A, Boyanova A, Pandaram N, Obermayer K, Kietzmann TC*, Cichy RM*(2023) Empirically identifying and computationally modelling the brain-behavior relationship for human scene categorization. J Cog Neuro; doi: 10.1101/2023.01.22.525084. article bioRxiv

Graumann M, Wallenwein LA, Cichy RM (2023) Independent spatiotemporal effects of spatial attention and background clutter on human object location representations. Neuroimage 15;272:120053. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120053. article bioRxiv

Jozwik KM, Kietzmann TC, Cichy RM, Kriegeskorte N, Mur M (2023) Deep neural networks and visuo-semantic models explain complementary components of human ventral-stream representational dynamics. J Neurosci 43(10):1731-1741; doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1424-22.2022. article bioRxiv

Singer JD, Cichy RM, Hebart MN (2022) The spatiotemporal neural dynamics of object recognition for natural images and line drawings. JNeurosci 43(3):488-500; doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1546-22.2022. article bioRxiv

Xie S, Hoehl S, Moeskops M, Kayhan E, Klliesch C, Turtleton B, Köster M*, Cichy RM* (2022) Visual category representations in the infant brain. Curr Biol 32(24):5422-5432.e6; doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.11.016. article bioRxiv

Gifford A, Dwivedi K, Roig G, Cichy RM (2022) A large and rich dataset for modelling human visual object recognition. Neuroimage 264:119754; doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119754. article bioRxiv data

Jozwik KM, Najarro E, van dern Bosch JJF, Charest I, Cichy RM*, Kriegeskorte N* (2022) Disentangling five dimensions of animacy in human brain and behaviour. Commun Biol 5(1):1247; doi: 10.1038/s42003-022-04194-y. article bioRxiv

Ebrahiminia F, Cichy RM*, Khaligh-Razavi SM* (2022) A multivariate comparison of electroencephalogram and functional magnetic resonance imaging to electrocorticogram using visual object representations in humans. Front Neurosci 2022 16:983602; doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.983602. article bioRxiv

Iamshchinina D, Karapetian A, Kaiser D*, Cichy RM* (2022) Resolving the time course of visual and auditory object categorization. J Neurophysiol 127(6):1622-1628; doi: 10.1152/jn.00515.2021. article bioRxiv

Ashton K, Zinszer BD, Cichy RM, Nelson III CA, Aslin RN, Bayet L (2022) Time resolved multivariate pattern analysis of infant EEG data: a practical tutorial. Devel Cogn Neurosci 54:101094; doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101094. article bioRxiv

Graumann M, Ciuffi C, Dwivedi K, Roig G, Cichy RM (2022) The spatiotemporal neural dynamics of object location representations in the human brain. Nat Human Behav 6: 796–811; doi 10.1038/s41562-022-01302-0. article

Kaiser D, Jacobs AM, Cichy RM (2022) Modelling brain representations of abstract concepts. PLoS Comput Biol 18(2):e1009837. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009837. article bioRxiv

Chen L, Cichy RM*, Kaiser D* (2022) Semantic scene-object consistency modulates N300/400 EEG components, but does not automatically facilitate object representations. Cereb Cortex 32(16):3553-3567; doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhab433. article bioRxiv

Kaiser D, Cichy RM (2021) Parts and wholes in scene processing. J Cogn Neurosci; 34(1):4-15; doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_01788. article PsyArXiv

Vidaurre D, Cichy RM*, Woolrich MW* (2021) Dissociable components of oscillatory activity underly information encoding in human perception. Cereb Cortex 31(12): 5664-5675; doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhab189 article bioRxiv

Iamshchinina P, Kaiser D, Yakupov R, Haenelt D, Sciarra A, Mattern H, Luesebrink F, Duezel E, Speck O, Weiskopf N, Cichy RM (2021) Perceived and mentally rotated contents are differentially represented in cortical depth of V1. Commun Biol, 4(1):1069. doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-02582-4.. article bioRxiv data

Dwivedi K, Bonner MF, Cichy RM*, Roig G* (2021) Unveiling functions of the visual cortex using task-specific deep neural networks. PLoS Comput Biol 17(8):e1009267. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009267. article bioRxiv project_page

Kaiser D, Haeberle G, Cichy RM (2021) Coherent natural scene structure facilitates the extraction of task-relevant object information in visual cortex. Neuroimage 240: 118365; doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118365. article bioRxiv data

Nara S, Lizarazu M, Richter CG, Dima DC, Cichy RM, Bourguignon M, Molinaro N (2021) Temporal uncertainty enhances suppression of neural responses to predictable visual stimuli. Neuroimage 240:118365, doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118314. article bioRxiv

Reddy L, Cichy RM, VanRullen R (2021) Representational content of oscillatory brain activity during object recognition: contrasting cortical and deep neural network hierarchies. eNeuro 8(3); doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0362-20.2021 biorXiv article

Bayet L, Zinszer D, Reilly E, Cataldo JK, Pruitt Z, Cichy RM, Nelson III CA, Aslin RN (2020) Temporal dynamics of visual representations in the infant brain. Devel Cogn Neurosci 45:100860; doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100860. biorXiv article

Kaiser D, Inciuraite G, Cichy RM (2020) Rapid contextualization of fragmented scene information in the human visual system. Neuroimage 219: 117045. article bioRxiv data

Cichy RM, Oliva A (2020) A M/EEG-fMRI Fusion Primer: Resolving Human Brain Responses in Space and Time. Neuron 107(5): 772-781; doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.07.001. article

Xie S, Kaiser D, Cichy RM (2020) Visual Imagery and perception share neural representations in the alpha frequency band. Curr Biol 30(13): 2621-2627; doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.04.074. article data

Dwivedi K, Juang J, Cichy RM*, Roig G* (accepted). Duality Diagram Similarity: a generic framework for initialization selection in task transfer learning. In: Vedaldi A., Bischof H., Brox T., Frahm JM. (eds) Computer Vision – ECCV 2020. ECCV 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 12371. Springer, Cham. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-58574-7_30. arXiv article

Dwivedi K, Cichy RM*, Roig G* (2020). Unravelling Representations in Scene-selective Brain Regions Using Scene Parsing Deep Neural Networks. J Cog Neuro 8: 1-20; doi: 10.1101/2020.03.10.985309. bioRxiv article

Kaiser D, Haberle G, Cichy RM (2020) Real-world structure facilitates the rapid emergence of scene category information in visual brain signals. J Neurophysiol 124(1):145-151; doi: 10.1152/jn.00164.2020. biorXiv article data

Kaiser D, Häberle G, Cichy RM (2020) Cortical sensitivity to natural scene structure. Hum Brain Map 41:1286-1295; doi: 10.1002/hbm.24875. data bioRxiv

Cichy RM, Roig G, Oliva A (2019) The Algonauts Project. Nat Machin Intel 1: 630.

Kietzmann T,Courtney JS, Sörensen L, Cichy RM, Hauk O, Kriegeskorte N (2019). Recurrence required to capture the dynamic computations of the human ventral visual stream. PNAS 116(43): 21854-21863; doi: 10.1073/pnas.1905544116. article arXiv

Kaiser D, Turini J, Cichy RM (2019) A neural mechanism for contextualizing fragmented inputs during naturalistic vision. eLife 2019;8: e48182, doi: 10.7554/eLife.48182. article data arXiv

Kaiser D, Quek GL, Cichy RM, Peelen MV (2019) Object vision in a structured world. TrendsCognSci 23(8): 672-685; doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2019.04.013. pdf

Cichy RM, Kriegeskorte N, Jozwik K, van den Bosch JJF, Charest I (2019) The spatiotemporal neural dynamics underlying perceived similarity for real-world objects. Neuroimage 194: 12-24. bioRxiv pdf

Cichy RM, Kaiser D (2019) Deep neural networks as scientific models. TrendsCognSci 4: 305-317; doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2019.01.009. article

Ambrus GG*, Kaiser D*, Cichy RM, Kovács G (2019) The neural dynamics of familiar face recognition. CerebCortex bhz010; doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhz010. article bioRxiv

Mohsenzadeh Y, Mullin C, Lahner B, Cichy RM, Oliva A (2019) Reliability and Generalizability of Similarity-Based Fusion of MEG and fMRI Data in Human Ventral and Dorsal Visual Streams. Vision 3(1), 8; doi: 10.3390/vision30100081526. article biorXiv

Mohr H, Cichy RM, Ruge H (2019) Deep neural networks can predict human behavior in arcade games. CCN, doi: 10.32470/CCN.2019.1043-0. article

Cichy RM, Roig G, Andonian A, Dwivedi K, Lahner B, Lascelles A, Mohsenzadeh Y, Ramakrishnan K, Oliva A (2019) The Algonauts Project: A Platform for Communication between the Sciences of Biological and Artificial Intelligence. arXiv: 1905.05675. article arXiv

Kaiser D, Cichy RM (2018) Typical visual-field locations facilitate access to awareness for everyday objects. Cognition 180: 118-122; doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.07.009. article bioRxiv data

Khaligh-Razavi SM, Cichy RM, Pantazis D, Oliva A (2018) Tracking the spatiotemporal neural dynamics of real-world object size and animacy in the human brain. JCognNeurosci 30(11): 1559-1576; doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_01290.

Grootswager T, Cichy RM, Carlson T (2018) Finding decodable information that is read out in behaviour. Neuroimage 179: 252-262, doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.06.022. article bioRxiv

Chen Y, Cichy RM, Stennat W, Haynes JD (2018) Scale-specific analysis of fMRI data on the irregular cortical surface. Neuroimage 181: 370-381; doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.07.002. article bioRxiv

Pantazis D, Fang M, Qin S, Mohsenzadeh Y, Li Q, Cichy RM (2018) Decoding the orientation of contrast edges from MEG evoked and induced responses. Neuroimage 180:267-279; doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.07.022. article bioRxiv

Hebart MN, Bankson BB, Harel A, Baker CI*, Cichy RM* (2018) The representational dynamics of task and object processing in humans. eLife 2018;7:e32816, doi: 10.7554/eLife.32816. article bioRxiv

Kaiser D, Cichy RM (2018) Typical visual-field locations enhance processing in object-selective channels of human occipital cortex. JNeurophys; doi: 10.1152/jn.00229.2018. article data

Kaiser D, Moeskops MM, Cichy RM (2018) Typical real-world locations impact the time course of object coding. Neuroimage 176: 372:379; doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.05.0066. article bioRxiv data

Guggenmos G, Sterzer P, Cichy RM (2018) Multivariate pattern analysis for MEG: a comprehensive comparison of dissimilarity measures. Neuroimage, 173: 434-447; doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.02.044. matlab&python_tutorial bioRxiv article

Mohsenzadeh Y, Qin S, Cichy RM, Pantazis D (2018) Ultra-Rapid serial visual presentation reveals dynamics of feedforward and feedback processes in the ventral visual pathway. eLife 2018;7:e36329; doi: 10.7554/eLife.36329. article bioRxiv

Cichy RM, Pantazis D (2017) Multivariate pattern analysis of MEG and EEG: a comparison of representational structure in time and space. Neuroimage, 158:441-454. article bioRxiv data

Cichy RM, Teng S (2017) Resolving the neural dynamics of visual and auditory scene processing in the human brain: a methodological approach PhilTransRSocB, doi: 10.1098/rstb.2016.0108. pdf

Cichy RM, Khosla A, Pantazis D , Oliva A (2017) Dynamics of scene representations in the human brain revealed by magnetoencephalography and deep neural networks Neuroimage, 153:346-358, doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.03.063. article project_page biorxiv

Cichy RM, Pantazis D, Oliva A (2016) Similarity-based fusion of MEG and fMRI reveals spatio-temporal dynamics in human cortex during visual object recognition Cereb Cortex, doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhw135. pdf project_page biorxiv

Cichy RM, Khosla A, Pantazis D, Torralba A, Oliva A (2016) Comparison of deep neural networks to spatio-temporal cortical dynamics of human visual object recognition reveals hierarchical correspondence SciReports, 6:27755. doi: 10.1038/srep27755. article project_page arxiv

Cichy RM, Pantazis D (2015) Can visual information encoded in cortical columns be decoded from magnetoencephalography data in humans? Neuroimage 121:193-204, doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.07.011. pdf tics-spotlight arXiv

Guggenmos M, Thoma V, Haynes JD, Richardson-Klavehn A, Cichy RM*, Sterzer P* (2015) Spatial attention enhances object coding in local and distributed representations of the lateral occipital complex. Neuroimage 116:149:157, doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.04.004. pdf

Guggenmos M, Thoma V, Cichy RM, Haynes, JD, Sterzer P, Richardson-Klavehn R (2015) Non-holistic coding of objects in lateral occipital complex with and without attention. Neuroimage 107: 356-363; doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.12.013. article

Christophel TB, Cichy RM, Hebart MN, Haynes JD (2015) Parietal and early visual cortices encodes working memory across mental transformations. Neuroimage 106: 198-206, doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.11.018. article

Cichy RM, Pantazis D, Oliva A (2014) Resolving human object recognition in space and time. Nat Neurosci 17(3):455-62, doi: 10.1038/NN.3635. pdf news&views news project_page

Ramirez F, Cichy RM, Allefeld C, Haynes JD (2014) The neural code for face orientation in the human fusiform face area. J Neurosci 34(36):12155-67, doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3156-13.2014. pdf

Cichy RM, Sterzer P, Heinzle J, Haynes JD (2013) Probing principles of large-scale object representation: category preference and location encoding. Hum Brain Mapp 34(7):1636-51. pdf

Cichy RM, Heinzle J, Haynes JD (2012) Imagery and perception share cortical representations of content and location. Cereb Cortex 22(2):372-80. pdf

Cichy RM, Chen Y, Haynes, JD (2011) Encoding the identity and location of objects in human LOC. Neuroimage 54(3):2297-307. pdf

Schmidt S, Cichy RM, Kraft A, Brocke J, Irlbacher K, Brandt SA. (2009) An initial transient-state and reliable measure of corticospinal excitability in TMS studies. Clin Neurophysiol 120(5):987-93. pdf

* shared authorship