1997 - 2001  B.S. in Biology, School of Life Science, University of Science and Technology of China

2001 - 2007  Ph.D. in Biophysics, School of Life Science, University of Science and Technology of China

2007 - 2012  Post-doctoral fellow in vision science, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota

2012 -           Investigator, State key lab of brain and cognitive sciences, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Human visual perception, attention and consciousness; visual plasticity; subcortical visual processing; high-resolution neuroimaging (7T fMRI and EEG/MEG)

• Research summary

Combining behavioral and high-resolution brain imaging methods, my lab investigates the neural mechanisms of consciousness visual perception and attention. We ask several fundamental questions. How does our brain resolve ambiguous retinal input to generate conscious perception? What is the relationship between attention and consciousness? How visual experiences shape the function and wire the circuits of our brain? To better answer these questions, we develop high-resolution fMRI approaches at ultrahigh magnetic field to non-invasively study human brain activity at the microscopic scale of cortical columns and layers and subdivisions of small subcortical nuclei.

1. Ai, H., Lin, W., Liu, C., Chen, N.*, Zhang Peng* (2024) Mesoscale functional organization and connectivity of color, disparity, and naturalistic texture in human second visual area. eLife 13:RP93171 https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.93171.1  

2. Guo, F., Zou, J., Wang, Y., Fang, B., Zhou, H., Wang, D.*, He, S.*, & Zhang, P.* (2024). Human subcortical pathways automatically detect collision trajectory without attention and awareness. PLOS Biology, 22(1), e3002375. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002375

3. Wang, H., Wang, X., Wang, Y., Zhang, D., Yang, Y., Zhou, Y.*, Qiu, B.*, & Zhang, P.* (2023). White matter BOLD signals at 7 Tesla reveal visual field maps in optic radiation and vertical occipital fasciculus. NeuroImage, 269, 119916. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.119916  

4. Chen, Y., Gao, Y., He, Z., Sun, Z., Mao, Y., Hess, R. F.*, Zhang, P.*, & Zhou, J.* (2023). Internal neural states influence the short-term effect of monocular deprivation in human adults. eLife, 12, e83815. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.83815  

5. Wen, W., Wang, Y., Zhou, J., He, S., Sun, X., Liu, H.*, Zhao, C.*, & Zhang, P.* (2021). Loss and enhancement of layer-selective signals in geniculostriate and corticotectal pathways of adult human amblyopia. Cell Reports, 37(11), 110117.

6. Cao, R., Qian, C., Ren, S., He, Z., He, S.*, & Zhang, P.* (2021). Visual adaptation and 7T fMRI reveal facial identity processing in the human brain under shallow interocular suppression. NeuroImage, 244(May), 118622.

7. de Hollander, G.*, van der Zwaag, W., Qian, C., Zhang, P.*, & Knapen, T.* (2021). Ultra-high field fMRI reveals origins of feedforward and feedback activity within laminae of human ocular dominance columns. NeuroImage, 117683.

8. Liu, C., Guo, F., Qian, C., Zhang, Z., Sun, K., Wang, D. J. J., He, S., Zhang, P. * (2020). Layer-dependent multiplicative effects of spatial attention on contrast responses in human early visual cortex. Progress in Neurobiology, August, 101897.

9. Qian, Y., Zou, J., Zhang, Z., An, J., Zuo, Z., Zhuo, Y., Wang, D. J. J., & Zhang, P.* (2020). Robust functional mapping of layer-selective responses in human lateral geniculate nucleus with high-resolution 7T fMRI. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 287(1925).

10. Zou, J., He, S.*, & Zhang, P. * (2016). Binocular rivalry from invisible patterns. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 113(30).

（From Peng Zhang, April 7, 2024）