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Centre for Vision Research

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The Centre for Vision Research

The Centre for Vision Research (CVR) at York University pursues world-class, interdisciplinary research and training in visual science and its applications. The CVR brings together researchers from psychology, electrical engineering & computer science, biology, physics, digital media, philosophy, kinesiology & health science, and other disciplines in a highly interdisciplinary and collaborative centre. Fundamental research that merges techniques in human psychophysics, visual neuroscience, computer vision and computational theory is supported by leading-edge facilities including a 3T fMRI scanner, neurophysiological and neural stimulation suites, immersive projection virtual reality displays, and a wide array of visuo-robotic platforms. 

The Centre for Vision Research is the foundation for York’s Vision Science to Applications (VISTA) program funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF, 2016-2023). VISTA is an ambitious collaborative program that builds on and extends York’s world-leading interdisciplinary expertise in biological and computer vision. Most CVR members are associated with VISTA and the project provides significant resources and opportunities for CVR faculty, researchers, students, and partners.

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CVR Events


Dr. Shayna Rosenbaum recognized with Faculty of Health Dean’s Award


New, renewed Canada Research Chairs advance neuroscience, disability studies at York U


York study explores movement in space


When Computer Vision Works More Like a Brain, It Sees More Like People Do


Lassonde research advancing astronaut training


New research supports York professor’s theory about visual attention


Research shows video platforms can disrupt visual communication cues


Babies Are Born with an Innate Number Sense.
Plato was right: newborns do math


New and renewed Canada Research Chairs at forefront of important, future-defining research


Research Chair in Philosophy earns fellowship from National Endowment for the Humanities


Brain ‘prototypes’ help us navigate new environments, study shows


York University professors create device that could revolutionize assessing plant health


Tenure-stream faculty position in Computational Neuroscience and Quantitative Methods, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health, York University


Even smartest AI models don’t match human visual processing


Adults don’t get better at recognizing masked faces as time goes on, study finds


Watch Graham Wakefield’s fascinating presentation on Computational Worldmaking at Virtual Reality Toronto (2021)


CVR post-doc Paria Mehrani wins 2021 Colour Research Society of Canada Student Award


Research reveals tadpoles develop into frogs, experience remarkable amount of visual alterations


Congratulations to CVR’s Dr. Jennifer Steeves on her appointment to the position of associate vice-president research!


York University endowed with US$250,000 prestigious fellowship from Meta


Ozzy Mermut is advancing the use of biophotonics to gain a better understanding of age-related disorders of the eye and brain. Biophotonics uses light technology, including lasers, and is a burgeoning field of research and discovery.


Kids find it more difficult than adults to recognize faces behind masks


Lassonde researcher aims to make VR a reality


Number sense exists for rational numbers, say York researchers


Research conducted by CVR members John Kim, Meaghan McManus, and Dr. Laurence Harris shows that objects appear closer when we’re lying down. Link to article here



York’s Vision science program receives continued funding through Canada First Research Excellence Fund


New paper co-authored by CVR member Peter J. Kohler makes the cover of Journal of Vision – shows that observers use centroids to judge the size of a grouped array


CVR member Nikolaus Troje talks to Research2Reality about what drives his curiosity about the nature of perceptual representation


Dr. Patrick Cavanagh featured in Psychology Today: The Pursuit of Illusory Motion


New study by Dr. Jennifer Steeves examines how COVID language relates to feelings of risk in young adults


Research collaboration with Justus Liebig University Giessen shows that the brains of hockey spectators follow the advice of the Great Wayne Gretzky

From the article: "Participant in the study that captured their brain activity and realized a network of connectivity"


Novel research by CVR members Doug Crawford and Bianca Baltaretu connects how different parts of the brain work together in eye-hand coordination

Face of a person wearing a blue face mask, jacket, and hat looking straight at the camera. A recognition lens is placed on their eye.


Professor and CVR Member, Dr. Erez Freud, explains his team’s recent research on the effect of masks on face perception

John Tsotsos.


Dr. John Tsotsos, VISTA and CVR member was named as a 2020 winner of CS-Can/Info-Can Lifetime Achievement Award! It recognizes faculty members who have made outstanding contributions to computing throughout their careers


Creative Minds Will Take VR to the ‘Next Level: Virtual reality is a new way to watch, but technology isn’t enough, says one expert.

Dr. Shayna Rosenbaum


Hear CVR member, Dr. Shayna Rosenbaum, discuss cognitive psychology as it relates to COVID-19 on Dec. 9

Illustration of the coronavirus, shown as a grey ball with many red spikes


CVR member, Dr. James Elder, investigates the use of AI in surface disinfection at hospitals and care facilities

Illustration demonstrating simulated motion affecting a person's perception


Future of virtual reality technology may lie in understanding how older people perceive motion

Faces are shown which were similar to ones used in experiment. The three faces at top have different facial expressions. The three faces at bottom are same faces, but with masks on.


Feel like you’re suffering from face blindness? Research shows masks change the way we process faces

Subject conducts visual experiment with PESAO, wearing the eye-tracker, which has motion tracking installed


PESAO: An experimental setup to evaluate the perceptions of freely moving humans

Dr. Erez Freud


Psychology Professor Erez Freud is quoted in the New York Times article “In an Era of Face Masks, We’re All a Little More Face Blind”

Binary numbers appear on a person's eye


Research investigates brain stimulation treatment for visual disorders

Noisy image on left in dim environment. Clean image to the right shows same image on left, but without noise.


VISTA-Lassonde team first to tackle grainy image issue with machine learning


New research supports York professor’s theory about visual attention

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Training Opportunities
Explore how you can join the CVR as a postdoc, graduate student or undergraduate student

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CVR Members
Get familiar with the CVR researchers, their research areas, laboratories and interests

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Resources
Learn about the unique set of research resources that we use to study vision