UCL-CS IS: Prof. Li Zhaoping

Academic Bio of Prof. Li Zhaoping

I obtained my B.S. in Physics in 1984 from Fudan University, Shanghai, and Ph.D. in Physics in 1989 from California Institute of Technology. I was a postdoctoral researcher in Fermi National Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois USA, Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton New Jersey, USA, and Rockefeller University in New York USA. I have been a faculty member in Computer Science in Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and was a visiting scientist at various academic institutions. In 1998, I helped to found the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit in University College London. Currently, I am a Professor of computational neuroscience in the Department of Computer Science in University College London. My research experience throughout the years ranges from areas in high energy physics to neurophysiology and marine biology, with most experience in understanding the brain functions in vision, olfaction, and in nonlinear neural dynamics. In late 90s and early 2000s, I proposed a theory (which is being extensively tested) that the primary visual cortex in the primate brain creates a saliency map to automatically attract visual attention to salient visual locations.

My CV

Selected Publications: (under author name "Zhaoping L." after late 2002, and under name "Li Z" before).

Zhaoping L. (2008) Attention capture by eye of origin singletons even without awareness --- a hallmark of a bottom-up saliency map in the primary visual cortex. Journal of Vision, 8(5):1, 1-18, http://journalofvision.org/8/5/1/, doi:10.1167/8.5.1

Zhaoping L. Theoretical Understanding of the early visual processes by data compression and data selection in Network: Computation in neural systems 17(4):301-334 (2006).

Zhaoping L. (2005) Border Ownership from Intracortical Interactions in Visual Area V2 , in NEURON, Vol. 47, 143-153

Li Z. (2002) A saliency map in primary visual cortex in Trends in Cognitive Sciences Vol 6. No.1. Jan. 2002, page 9-16

Li Z.(1999) Contextual influences in V1 as a basis for pop out and asymmetry in visual search In Proceedings of National Academy of Science, USA Volume 96, 1999. Page 10530-10535.

Li Z. (1999) Visual segmentation by contextual influences via intracortical interactions in primary visual cortex. In Network: Computation in Neural Systems Volume 10, Number 2, May 1999. Page 187-212

Li Z. and Dayan P. (1999) Computational differences between asymmetrical and symmetrical networks Network: Computation in Neural Systems 10. 1 59-77, 1999

Li Z.(1998) A neural model of contour integration in the primary visual cortex In Neural Computation. 10. 903-940, 1998

Li Z. and Atick J. J. (1994) Towards a theory of striate cortex Published in Neural Computation Vol.6, p. 127-146.

Li Z. (1992) Different retinal ganglion cells have different functional goals, International Journal of Neural Systems, Vol. 3, No. 3, (1992) 237-248

Atick, J.J., Li, Z. and Redlich A. N. (1992) Understanding retinal color coding from first principles. Neural Computation 4 559-572.

Li, Z., Hopfield, J.J. (1989) Modeling the Olfactory Bulb and Its Neural Oscillatory Processings. Biol. Cybern. 61 (5) 379-392.

Li, Z. (1990) A model of olfactory adaptation and sensitivity enhancement in the olfactory bulb. Biol. Cybern. 62 (4) 349-361.