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Department: Psychology More Information An Interview with Dr. Barbara FinlayWhy does Dr. Barbara Finlay do research? It seems it was almost a calling. Dr. Finlay started out as a high school student trying to get away from home for a summer, unsuspectingly placing herself on a rigorous and enjoyable track of professorship. She was a student interested in many different fields, and a voracious reader of them all. Dr. Finlay entered an NSF summer program while in high school, knowing little about vision research, her choice of study. While studying vision that summer, Dr. Finlay realized she could incorporate her varied interests among sciences and humanities into the study of vision and the perception of vision. Dr. Finlay entered her undergraduate career with a plan of courses encompassing the field of cognitive vision.Dr. Finlay’s current research centers on the evolutionary development of brain structures and visual system studies. Ironically, a look through Dr. Finlay’s publications will allow an entirely different study of evolution: the evolution of a person’s interests. She began her research career in developmental biology, and then tried to apply evolution to development. Later research focused on how systems are coordinated in neurogenesis, in an attempt to look at a larger system. Dr. Finlay found that developmental conservation plays an important role in brain structure size. She distilled her results by saying bigger structures imply later temporal development, independent of selection. The cortex allows specialization through genetic (intrinsic) and epigenetic factors (extrinsic). Dr. Finlay’s newest project involves studying a nocturnal owl monkey in Brazil which has been found to have a very fast evolving visual system. This species diverged from its ancestors fairly recently, and its visual system allows Dr. Finlay to study theories of gene expression and cell proliferation. Dr. Finlay also maintains the Cornell Brain Collection. The brain collection began as a failed experiment in phrenology, which involves studying head bumps as indicators of personality traits. However, Dr. Finlay suggests that the Cornell Brain Collection is not just a novelty. It catalogs the idea that differences in brain anatomy lead to differences between individuals. The brain collection places emphasis on the fact that the power of the brain has only begun to be understood. Dr. Finlay’s research has also had several medical applications. Her research into human vision and findings on cortical development gave insights into treatments for dyslexia. Her research has also had applications in the care of premature infants. While studying cat hypoxia, lack of oxygen in tissues, Dr. Finlay found that too much oxygen led to poor angiogenesis in the retina. By placing premature infants in too much oxygen, many underwent poor development and became blind. Lowering the pressure of oxygen circulation led for better visual development in premature infants, while increasing oxygen levels too much removed normal regulation of retinal development. Other than her research, Dr. Finlay still enjoys reading about various subjects and learning languages. She’s also an equestrian, specializing in English hunter/jumper with her daughter. |