Current research
Dr. Wurtz’s research explores the organization of the brain underlying visual perception and the control of eye movement. He developed methods now widely used to study the visual system in awake, behaving monkeys, the best animal model available for the human visual system. This method makes possible the analysis of the brain’s integration of visual input from the eye with information about movement of the eye that is essential for the active vision of all primates. His subsequent experiments have concentrated on the organization of visual and occulomotor circuits in the brain that underlie this active vision, including the mechanisms of visual motion, visual attention, and the generation of eye movements. His work has centered on study of both the cerebral cortex and subcortical structures including the superior colliculus and the thalamus. The recent work of Dr. Wurtz and his colleagues has revealed circuits within the brain that convey information (a corollary discharge) that is used to produce stable visual perception in spite of frequent eye movements.