Neeraj J. Gandhi, Ph.D.

  • Associate Professor, Otolaryngology, Neuroscience, Bioengineering, Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition

Research Summary:

The nervous system continuously monitors the environment and produces overt or covert orienting behavior in response to relevant sensory stimulation. Research in the lab investigates neural mechanisms involved in the multiple facets of sensory-to-motor transformations, including cognitive processes. Some specific topics explored in the lab include: 

  • Dynamics of population activity
  • Premotor theory of attention
  • Interception of moving stimulus
  • Cortical control of eye and head movements 


These themes are addressed using both experimental (extracellular recording, microstimulation, chemical microinjections, transient blink perturbation) and computational tools. An understanding of the cognitive and motoric processes that produce integrated orienting behavior has diagnostic value for deficits resulting from neuropsychiatric disorders (e.g., ADHD, schizophrenia) and ocular dysmotility (e.g., strabismus).

Representative Publications

Katnani, H.A. and Gandhi, N.J. Time course of motor preparation during visual search with flexible stimulus-response association. Journal of Neuroscience, 33: 10057-65, 2013. 

Katnani, H.A., van Opstal, A.J. and Gandhi, N.J. Blink perturbation effects on saccades evoked by microstimulation of the superior colliculus PLoS One, 7: e51843, 2012 

Katnani, H.A. and Gandhi, N.J. The relative impact of microstimulation parameters on movement generation. Journal of Neurophysiology, 108: 528-38, 2012. 

Katnani, H.A., van Opstal, A.J. and Gandhi, N.J. A test of spatial temporal decoding mechanisms in the superior colliculus. Journal of Neurophysiology, 107: 2242-52, 2012. 

Gandhi, N.J. Interactions between gaze-evoked blinks and gaze shifts in monkeys. Experimental Brain Research, 216: 321-39, 2012. 

Katnani, H.A. and Gandhi, N.J. Order of operations for decoding superior colliculus activity for saccade generation. Journal of Neurophysiology, 106: 1250-59, 2011. 

Gandhi, N.J. and Katnan, H.A. Motor functions of the superior colliculus. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 34: 205-31, 2011

Research Interest Summary

Neural basis of sensorimotor integration and cognition