Richard Ivry

Research Interests

Neural mechanisms for sensorimotor control and learning.   Lab uses various methods of cognitive neuroscience including fMRI, TMS, and behavioral studies of people with neurological disorders.

Research Summary

My research explores the neural basis of sensorimotor control and learning. Our experiments involve neurologically healthy and impaired individuals, use behavioral and neuroimaging methods to characterize the functional role of different parts of the motor pathways.  We also conduct research with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), using this as a tool to evaluate physiological changes in the motor pathways during response planning and execution, as well as to induce transient disruptions in neural activity.     One major focus in the lab is to understand how the cerebellum contributes to the control and acquisition of skilled movements.   We are using a variety of motor learning tasks to identify the functional domain of the cerebellum in motor learning.  In particular, is the cerebellum essential for all forms of motor learning or are there particular types of tasks that are dependent on the cerebellum?  This research involves the combined use of patient studies, using patients with cerebellar ataxia, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).  A second focus area is to understand the neural processes involved in selecting and preparing responses.  We are looking at very simple decisions in this work; for example, how do people decide which hand to use when picking up a coffee cup?  We are using fMRI to identify neural regions engaged during these decisions and TMS to study physiological changes that occur during the decision and preparation stages that precede the movement.

Selected Publications

Spencer, R.C.M., Zelaznik, H.N., Diedrichsen, J., and Ivry, R.B. (2003).  Disrupted timing of discontinuous but not continuous movements by cerebellar lesions.  Science, 300, 1437-1439.  
Diedrichsen, J., Grafton, S., Albert, N., Hazeltine, E., and Ivry, R.B. (2006).  Goal-selection and movement-related conflict during bimanual reaching movements.  Cerebral Cortex., 16, 1729-1738.  
Verstynen, T., Spencer, R., Stinear, C., Konkle, T., Diedrichsen, J., Byblow, W., and Ivry, R.B. (2007).  Ipsilateral Corticospinal Projections Do Not Predict Congenital Mirror Movements: A Case Report.  Neuropsychologia, 45, 844-852. 
Ivry, R.B. and Schlerf, J.E. (2008).  Dedicated and intrinsic models of time perception.  Trends in Cognitive Science., 12, 273-280.  
Spencer RM, Ivry RB. (2009). Sequence learning is preserved in individuals with cerebellar degeneration when the movements are directly cued.  Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21, 1302-1310.