Dr Li Su BSc MSc PhD
Honorary Research Fellow
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| contact this person | |
| address | (External Postal Address) MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EF United Kingdom |
| departments | Psychological Medicine |
| also | Cognitive Neuropsychiatry |
biography
BSc in Computer Science, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications.
MSc in Distributed Systems and Networks, University of Kent, funded by Sun Micro System Student Bursary and University of Kent Overseas Studentship.
PhD in Computer Science, University of Kent, funded by Computing Lab, University of Kent.
Research Assistant at Computing Lab, University of Kent.
Postdoctoral Researcher at Section of Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London.
I am now an Investigator Scientist at MRC Cognition and Brain Science Unit, Cambridge. (My email is Li.Su@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk)
activities and interests
Dr Li Su is a computational neuroscientist investigating a wide range of neurocognitive systems that support attention, emotion and language processing. He has BSc and MSc in computer science, and was awarded a prestigious Sun Micro System Student Bursary and University of Kent Overseas Studentship to study at the University of Kent. His early research involves theoretical computer science, in particular formal methods and modelling of concurrent systems. His PhD focused on the interface between computer science and life/social science, including cognitive neuroscience and human-computer interaction (HCI). He has published in a number of conferences (CogSci, ART, NeSy and FMIS) and journals (Formal Aspects of Computing). Major parts of his PhD thesis have been published as an invited book chapter by Cambridge University Press.
Collaborating with Prof Philip Barnard at the CBU and Prof Howard Bowman at University of Kent, he develops computational models of attention and emotion. These models provide a firm basis from which to explore many fundamental questions in cognitive neuroscience. For instance, how can complex human behaviours be tested in the laboratory, and how can detailed neuroscientific theories be generated, and supported by experimental evidence directly measured from the brain? This approach also has important implications for clinical groups in which normal cognitive and affective processing has gone awry. Li Su also has a long-term research interest in building formal cognitive architecture, which enables the generalisation of experimental findings and theories from different areas of cognition. Using such broad cognitive frameworks is advantageous to emerging fields, such as cognitive and affective neuroscience, that need to integrate data, theories and methods from various disciplines, e.g. experimental psychology, cognitive science, computational science and etc.
Li Su’s research also involves expanding and applying computational and affective neuroscience to brain-computer interfaces within a clinical framework. For instance, he has developed real-time functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rt-fMRI) at the IOP with Dr Emma Lawrence, Prof Antony David and Prof Gareth Barker. He plays a key role in designing, implementing and validating this groundbreaking technology. This makes the IOP one of the few sites in the UK that have successfully developed rt-fMRI. While at the IOP, he applied rt-fMRI to modulate the anterior insula, a brain region key in affective and social processing and is associated with a number of psychiatric conditions including depression, psychopathy, schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder.
skills
fMRI, MEG/EEG, SCR, computational cognitive modelling, neural networks, formal methods, SPSS, C, Java, Matlab and Linux
publications
Su, L., H. Bowman, P.J. Barnard. (in prep) Toward Refinement Trajectories in Computational Models: A Case Study in the Distributed Control of Attention to Meaning. Manuscript submitted to the Journal Cognitive Science
Su, L, Gomez, R.S., and Bowman, H. (in prep) Analysing Neurobiological Learning Using Communicating Automata. Formal Aspects of Computing, Springer
Bowman, H. L. Su, B. Wyble, and P.J. Barnard (in press). Salience sensitive control, temporal attention and stimulus-rich reactive interfaces. Human Attention in Digital Environments. Cambridge University Press.
Su, L., H. Bowman, P.J. Barnard, and B. Wyble (2009). Process Algebraic Modelling of Attentional Capture and Human Electrophysiology in Reactive Systems. Formal Aspects of Computing, Springer
Su, L., Giampietro, V., Barker, G., Medford, N., Dalton, J., Birbaumer, N., Veit, R., Sitaram, R., Brammer, M., David, A.S., & Lawrence, E.J. (2009). Modulation of the Anterior Insula using Real-time Functional MRI Neural Feedback. 18th British Chapter ISMRM Annual Symposium, Imperial College London
Lawrence, E.J., Su, L. Giampietro, V., Medford, N., Dalton, J, Birbaumer, N., Veit, R., Sitaram, R., Brammer, M., Barker, G., & David, A.S. (2009). Self-Regulation of the Anterior Insula using Neural Feedback: Pilot Data and Future Directions. 2009 Mind and Life Summer Research Institute.
Su, L., H. Bowman, and P.J. Barnard (2008). Performance of reactive interfaces in stimulus rich environments, applying formal methods and cognitive frameworks, Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science, 208, 95-111, Elsevier
Su, L., H. Bowman, and P.J. Barnard (2007). Attentional capture by meaning: A multi-level modelling study. In Proceedings of the 29th Annual Cognitive Science Society, 1521-1526, Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society
Su, L., H. Bowman, and B. Wyble (2005). Symbolic encoding of neural networks using communicating automata with applications to verification of neural network based controllers. In Proceedings of the IJCAI-05 Workshop on Neural-Symbolic Learning and Reasoning, NeSy’05, Edinburgh, UK
Bowman, H., R. Gomez, and L. Su (2005). A tool for the syntactic detection of zeno-timelocks in timed automata, In Proceedings of the 6th AMAST Workshop on Real-time Systems (ARTS 2004), Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science, 139(1):25-47, Elsevier
last updated: Sunday, October 04, 2009