Doug Crawford

Canadian neuroscientist

For the American tennis player, see Doug Crawford (tennis).

Profile picture of John Douglas (Doug) Crawford

John Douglas (Doug) Crawford is a Canadian neuroscientist and the Scientific Director of the Connected Minds program. He is a professor at York University where he holds the York Research Chair in Visuomotor Neuroscience and the title of Distinguished Research Professor in Neuroscience.

## Biography

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Crawford grew up in London Ontario, where he attended the University of Western Ontario. He completed his BSc in physiology and psychology in 1987, studying electrophysiology with Stanley Caveney and Gordon Mogenson. He then studied three-dimensional eye movements with Tutis Vilis at Western, where he held a Medical Research Council (MRC) Studentship (1989-1992) and earned his PhD in physiology in 1993. Following that, he spent two years (1993-1994) studying head-unrestrained gaze control as an MRC post-doctoral fellow with Daniel Guitton at the Montreal Neurological Institute. in 1995 he joined York University's Department of Psychology and York Centre for Vision Research in Toronto as an assistant professor, later attaining cross appointments to the department of Biology, School of Kinesiology & Health Sciences, and the Neuroscience Graduate Diploma Program. During this period he held a MRC Faculty Scholarship (1996-2001), Tier II Canada Research Chair (2001-2007) and Tier I Canada Research Chair (2007-2021)[1] and Now York Research Chair. He became an associate professor in 1999, full professor in 2005, and distinguished research professor in 2013.[2]

## Leadership

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Crawford was the founding National Coordinator of the Canadian Action and Perception Network (CAPnet),[3] the founding Canadian director of the Brain in Action International Research Training Program,[4] and the founding coordinator of the York Neuroscience Graduate Diploma Program.[5] He founded York's neurophysiology laboratories,[6] was a founding member of Melvyn A. Goodale's CIHR Group for Action and Perception [7] and founding co-principal investigator for the CIHR Strategic Training Program in Vision Health Research.[7] He Founded the VSS Canadian Vision Social[8] and is a member of the Canadian Brain Research Strategy Neuroscience Leaders Group.[9] He has the distinction of being the principal investigator and founding Scientific Director of two Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF)-funded programs: 'Vision: Science to Applications' (VISTA),[10] (2016-2023) and then 'Connected Minds: Neural and Machine Systems for a Healthy, Just Society' (2023-).

## Training

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Crawford has supervised over 60 graduate students and post-doctorals, many graduating to successful careers in academia, medicine, and industry.[11] Among his noteworthy former trainees are Pieter Medendorp, Director of the Donders Centre for Cognition in Nijmegen,[12] Julio Martinez-Trujillo, Provincial Endowed Academic Chair in Autism at Western University,[13] Gunnar Blohm, Queens Professor and Founding Co-Director of the International Summer School in Computational Sensory-Motor Neuroscience[14] and Neuromatch Academy,[15] Aarlenne Khan, Canada Research Chair in Vision and Action at Université de Montréal,[16] and Denise Henriques, York Professor and principal investigator of York University's Sensorimotor Control Lab.[17] For these activities Crawford received York University's 2003 Faculty of Graduate Studies Teaching Award[18] and 2019 Post-Doctoral Supervisor of the Year Award.[19]

## Research

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Crawford's research investigates the neural mechanisms of visuospatial memory and sensorimotor transformations for eye, head, and hand motion.[20][21] Recurrent themes in his work include 1) the idea that early representations of movement goals are stored in visual coordinates, updated during self-motion, and then transformed into three-dimensional (3D) commands for different body parts, 2) the use of theory-driven, multimodal neuroscience techniques, and 3) the use of 3D measurements and analysis of eye and body orientation.[22] His specific contributions can be grouped into three areas:

Physiology of the Primate Gaze System Crawford and colleagues performed the first recordings of 3D Vestibulo-ocular reflex axes and Listing's law during head rotation,[23] and identified the midbrain neural integrators for holding vertical and torsional orientation of both the eye [24] and head.[25] They used brain stimulation neurophysiological recordings to investigate the role of the superior colliculus[26] and frontal cortex [27] in eye-head coordination and reference frame coding, and track their egocentric[28] and allocentric[29] coding mechanisms through time. They also showed that remembered visual stimuli are continuously updated across the superior colliculus during smooth pursuit eye movements.[30]

Human Vision and Eye Movements Crawford and colleagues showed that ocular dominance reverses for left and right visual stimuli,[31] how Listing's law of two eyes interacts with stereopsis[32] and that optimal integration theory can explain perisaccadic change blindness.[33] His lab has used TMS [34] and neuroimaging [35] to show the roles of occipital, parietal, and frontal cortex in Transsaccadic memory of visual features.

Eye-Hand Coordination During Reach. Crawford and colleagues used psychophysics and fMRI to show that human parietal lobe retains and updates saccade and reach goals in gaze-centered coordinates,[36][37] fMRI and TMS to map saccade vs. reach function in human posterior parietal cortex,[38] fMRI and MEG[39] to track the visuomotor transformations forr reach, and psychophysics,[40] neuroimaging,[41] to determine how allocentric and egocentric representations are stored and integrated for goal-directed reaches.

Crawford has also collaborated with clinician scientists to investigate how these various sensorimotor mechanisms fail during disorders such as amblyopia,[42] cervical dystonia[43] and optic ataxia.[44]

## Research Awards

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Crawford has been listed amongst the world's top 2% researchers.[45] In addition to the research fellowships, research chairs and teaching awards cited above, Crawford has received various research awards. In 1993, he was awarded the Governor General's Academic Gold medal[46] for his PhD work with Tutis Vilis. Since then, he has won various research prizes, including the 1995 Polanyi Prize in Physiology/Medicine,[47] an Alfred P Sloan Fellowship,[48] the 2000 Ontario Premier's Research Excellence Award, the 2002 CIFAR Young Explorer Award (awarded to the "top 20 young investigators in Canada"), the 2004 Steacie Prize (awarded to "a scientist or engineer of 40 years of age or less for outstanding scientific research carried out in Canada."),[49] the 2016 Canadian Physiological Society Sarrazin Award,[50] and the 2018 York President's Research Excellence Award.[51]

## References

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1. ^ "York U. Psychologist Doug Crawford wins Canada Research Chair in visual functions of the brain". news.yorku.ca. 25 April 2001. Retrieved 2018-04-03.
2. ^ "Two profs awarded 2013 Distinguished Research Professor title". yfile.news.yorku.ca. 7 May 2013.
3. ^ "Western, York and Queens joint neuroscience initiative". Robarts Research. 1 December 2008. Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
4. ^ "A spotlight on: 'Brain in Action'". DFG, German Research Foundation. Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
5. ^ "SIGNAL/NOISE newsletter" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-04-04. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
6. ^ "Faculty of Health: John Douglas Crawford". YorkU. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
7. ^ a b "Unknown". [permanent dead link]
8. ^ "Vision Sciences Society Program" (PDF). visionsciences.org. 2018. p. 22. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
9. ^ "Who We Are". Canadian Brain Research Strategy. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
10. ^ sandramc (8 September 2016). "World Leading Vision Research Program Receives Canada's Premiere Grant". news.yorku.ca. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
11. ^ "Alumni". The Visuomotor Neuroscience Lab. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
12. ^ "Prof. W.P. Medendorp (Pieter)". Radboud Universiteit.
13. ^ "Dr. Julio Martinez-Trujillo appointed Academic Chair in Autism | Robarts Research". Archived from the original on 2018-08-08. Retrieved 2018-08-08.
14. ^ "Dr Gunnar BLOHM - CV".
15. ^ "Team". neuromatch academy.
16. ^ "Chaire de recherche du Canada sur la vision et l'action". Université de Montréal: École d'optométrie (in French).
17. ^ "People". Sensorimotor Control Lab.
18. ^ "Faculty Teaching Award".
19. ^ "Postdoctoral Supervisor of the Year Award".
20. ^ Crawford, JD; Martinez-Trujillo, JC; Klier, EM (2003). "Neural control of three-dimensional eye and head movements". Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 13 (6): 655–662\. doi:10.1016/j.conb.2003.10.009. ISSN 0959-4388. PMID 14662365. S2CID 353894.
21. ^ Crawford, J. D.; Medendorp, W. P.; Marotta, J. J. (2004). "Spatial Transformations for Eye–Hand Coordination". Journal of Neurophysiology. 92 (1): 10–19\. doi:10.1152/jn.00117.2004. hdl:2066/64567. ISSN 0022-3077. PMID 15212434.
22. ^ Crawford, J. Douglas; Henriques, Denise Y.P.; Medendorp, W. Pieter (2011). "Three-Dimensional Transformations for Goal-Directed Action". Annual Review of Neuroscience. 34 (1): 309–331\. doi:10.1146/annurev-neuro-061010-113749. ISSN 0147-006X. PMID 21456958.
23. ^ Crawford, J. D.; Vilis, T. (1991). "Axes of eye rotation and Listing's law during rotations of the head". Journal of Neurophysiology. 65 (3): 407–423\. doi:10.1152/jn.1991.65.3.407. ISSN 0022-3077. PMID 2051188. S2CID 18736605.
24. ^ Crawford, J.; Cadera, W.; Vilis, T. (1991). "Generation of torsional and vertical eye position signals by the interstitial nucleus of Cajal". Science. 252 (5012): 1551–1553\. Bibcode:1991Sci...252.1551C. doi:10.1126/science.2047862. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 2047862. S2CID 15724175.
25. ^ Klier, E. M. (2002). "Midbrain Control of Three-Dimensional Head Orientation". Science. 295 (5558): 1314–1316\. Bibcode:2002Sci...295.1314K. doi:10.1126/science.1067300. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 11847347. S2CID 35528598.
26. ^ Klier, Eliana M.; Wang, Hongying; Crawford, J. Douglas (2001). "The superior colliculus encodes gaze goals in retinal coordinates". Nature Neuroscience. 4 (6): 627–632\. doi:10.1038/88450. ISSN 1097-6256. PMID 11369944. S2CID 4930662.
27. ^ Martinez-Trujillo, Julio C.; Medendorp, W.Pieter; Wang, Hongying; Crawford, J.Douglas (2004). "Frames of Reference for Eye-Head Gaze Commands in Primate Supplementary Eye Fields". Neuron. 44 (6): 1057–1066\. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2004.12.004. hdl:2066/64351. ISSN 0896-6273. PMID 15603747.
28. ^ Sajad, Amirsaman; Sadeh, Morteza; Yan, Xiaogang; Wang, Hongying; Crawford, John Douglas (2016). "Transition from Target to Gaze Coding in Primate Frontal Eye Field during Memory Delay and Memory–Motor Transformation". eNeuro. 3 (2). doi:10.1523/ENEURO.0040-16.2016. PMC 4829728. PMID 27092335.
29. ^ Bharmauria, Vishal; Sajad, Amir; Li, Jirui; Yan, Xiaogang; Wang, Hongying; Crawford, John Douglas (2020). "Integration of Eye-Centered and Landmark-Centered Codes in Frontal Eye Field Gaze Responses". Cerebral Cortex. 30 (9): 4995–5013\. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhaa090. PMID 32390052.
30. ^ Dash, Suryadeep; Yan, Xiaogang; Wang, Hongying; Crawford, John Douglas (2015). "Continuous Updating of Visuospatial Memory in Superior Colliculus during Slow Eye Movements". Current Biology. 25 (3): 267–274\. Bibcode:2015CBio...25..267D. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.11.064. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 25601549.
31. ^ Khan, Aarlenne Z; Crawford, J.Douglas (2001). "Ocular dominance reverses as a function of horizontal gaze angle". Vision Research. 41 (14): 1743–1748\. doi:10.1016/S0042-6989(01)00079-7. ISSN 0042-6989. PMID 11369037.
32. ^ Schreiber, Kai; Crawford, J. Douglas; Fetter, Michael; Tweed, Douglas (2001). "The motor side of depth vision". Nature. 410 (6830): 819–822\. Bibcode:2001Natur.410..819S. doi:10.1038/35071081. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 11298450. S2CID 25404329.
33. ^ Niemeier, Matthias; Crawford, J. Douglas; Tweed, Douglas B. (2003). "Optimal transsaccadic integration explains distorted spatial perception". Nature. 422 (6927): 76–80\. Bibcode:2003Natur.422...76N. doi:10.1038/nature01439. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 12621435. S2CID 1239586.
34. ^ Prime, S. L.; Vesia, M.; Crawford, J. D. (2011). "Cortical mechanisms for trans-saccadic memory and integration of multiple object features". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 366 (1564): 540–553\. doi:10.1098/rstb.2010.0184. ISSN 0962-8436. PMC 3030828. PMID 21242142.
35. ^ Baltaretu, Binaca R; Monaco, Simona; Velji-Ibrahim, Jena; Luabeya, Gaelle N; Crawford, John Douglas (2020). "Parietal Cortex Integrates Saccade and Object Orientation Signals to Update Grasp Plans". Journal of Neuroscience. 40 (23): 4525–4535\. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0300-20.2020. PMC 7275863. PMID 32354854.
36. ^ Henriques, D. Y.; Klier, E. M.; Smith, M. A.; Lowy, D.; Crawford, J. D. (1998-02-15). "Gaze-centered remapping of remembered visual space in an open-loop pointing task". The Journal of Neuroscience. 18 (4): 1583–1594\. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.18-04-01583.1998. ISSN 0270-6474. PMC 6792733. PMID 9454863.
37. ^ Medendorp, W. Pieter; Goltz, Herbert C.; Vilis, Tutis; Crawford, J. Douglas (2003-07-16). "Gaze-centered updating of visual space in human parietal cortex". The Journal of Neuroscience. 23 (15): 6209–6214\. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.23-15-06209.2003. ISSN 1529-2401. PMC 6740538. PMID 12867504.
38. ^ Vesia, M.; Prime, S. L.; Yan, X.; Sergio, L. E.; Crawford, J. D. (2010). "Specificity of Human Parietal Saccade and Reach Regions during Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation". Journal of Neuroscience. 30 (39): 13053–13065\. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1644-10.2010. ISSN 0270-6474. PMC 6633525. PMID 20881123.
39. ^ Blohm, G; Alikhanianac, H; Gaetz, W; Goltz, H.C.; DeSouzabce, J.F.X.; Cheyne, D.O.; Crawford, J.D. (2019). "Neuromagnetic signatures of the spatiotemporal transformation for manual pointing". NeuroImage. 197: 306–319\. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.04.074. PMID 31051295. S2CID 140255761.
40. ^ Byrne, Patrick; Crawford, John Douglas (2010). "Cue reliability and a landmark stability heuristic determine relative weighting between egocentric and allocentric visual information in memory-guided reach". Journal of Neurophysiology. 103 (6): 3054–3069\. doi:10.1152/jn.01008.2009. PMID 20457858.
41. ^ Chen, Ying; Monaco, Simona; Byrne, Byrne; Yan, Xiaogang; Henriques, Denise Y.P.; Crawford, John Douglas (2014). "Allocentric versus egocentric representation of remembered reach targets in human cortex". Journal of Neuroscience. 10 (37): 12515–12526\. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1445-14.2014. PMC 6615499. PMID 25209289.
42. ^ Niechwiej-Szwedo, Ewa; Goltz, Herbert C; Chandrakumar, Manokaraananthan; Hirji, Zahra; Crawford, John Douglas; Wong, Agnes M. F. (2011). "Effects of Anisometropic Amblyopia on Visuomotor Behavior, Part 2: Visually Guided Reaching". Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. 52 (2): 795–803\. doi:10.1167/iovs.10-6092. PMC 5115912. PMID 21051723.
43. ^ Shaikh, Aasef G.; Zee, David S.; Crawford, J. Douglas; Jinnah, Hyder A. (2016). "Cervical dystonia: a neural integrator disorder". Brain. 139 (10): 2590–2599\. doi:10.1093/brain/aww141. ISSN 0006-8950. PMC 5840887. PMID 27324878.
44. ^ Khan, A Z; Pisella, L; Vighetto, A; Cotton, F; Luauté, J; Boisson, D; Salemme, R; Crawford, J D; Rossetti, Y (2005). "Optic ataxia errors depend on remapped, not viewed, target location". Nature Neuroscience. 8 (4): 418–420\. doi:10.1038/nn1425. ISSN 1097-6256. PMID 15768034. S2CID 24813342.
45. ^ Ioannidis, John P. A.; Boyack, Kevin W.; Baas, Jeroen (2020-10-16). "Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators". PLOS Biology. 18 (10): e3000918. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3000918. ISSN 1545-7885. PMC 7567353. PMID 33064726.
46. ^ "J. Douglas Crawford". Governor General of Canada.
47. ^ "Polanyi Prize Winners". Council of Ontario Universities.
48. ^ "Past Fellows". sloan.org. Archived from the original on 2018-03-14. Retrieved 2018-04-03.
49. ^ "Recipients". The Steacie Prize.
50. ^ "Sarrazin Award Lectureship". Canadian Physiological Society.
51. ^ "Professors Doug Crawford and Sapna Sharma honoured with President's Research Awards". yfile.news.yorku.ca. 16 May 2018.