Profile of Peter H. Schiller

Abstract

In a windowless laboratory on the sixth floor of the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), neuroscientist Peter Schiller lines up visual stimuli on a computer screen. The stimuli are pairs of cues flashed side-by-side, such as horizontal and vertical lines, upright and inverted triangles, and the words “car” and “his.” As Schiller flashes the stimuli on his monitor, a volunteer observes them through a stereoscope, which presents one cue in a pair to one eye and the other cue to the other eye. The volunteer identifies the stimuli in order: a cross, the Star of David, and the word “chairs.” Then, the stereoscope displays groups of dots, some of which are shifted in position. To the volunteer, the shifting dots appear deeper than the rest. Through such experiments aimed at identifying people's ability to combine visual cues and perceive depth, Schiller, who was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2007, hopes to determine the brain regions involved in binocular integration and depth perception. The findings from those studies could help pinpoint the precise time frame when corrective interventions can best help stereoblind people perceive depth. Beyond uncovering the neurobiological basis of vision, Schiller's goal is to help restore sight to the blind someday. Peter H. Schiller uses random-dot stereograms (on wall) to study depth perception. Born in Berlin shortly before World War II, Schiller moved to Budapest, Hungary in 1934, when his father, a research psychologist, returned to his homeland after a postdoctoral stint at the University of Berlin. A German-speaking transplant in Budapest, Schiller at first struggled to memorize Hungarian poems in grammar school but soon mastered his mother tongue, devouring Hungarian translations of Jules Verne's science-fiction books. Schiller's boyhood years bear testimony to his budding scientific temperament. At the age …