Our lab’s research is primarily focused on elucidating the underlying mechanisms of neuroplastic changes in the visual brain, both in typical and abnormal development resulting from alterations in sensory input (such as sensory deprivation) or brain injuries.
We employ a combination of behavioral (i.e., psychophysics) and functional neuroimaging techniques (i.e., fMRI) to gain a deeper insight into the perceptual and neural correlates of neuroplastic changes in the brain.
News
Former Undergraduate Assistants Begin Master’s Studies at Tübingen University
Our former undergraduate assistants Bahar Canbolat, Deniz Kurt, and Nilsu Sağlam have started their Master’s studies at the University of Tübingen, Germany. Each of them contributed greatly to our lab during their time as student assistants, and we are excited to see them continue their academic journey. We wish them every success in this new chapter!
September, 2025:FNL at Experimental-Cognitive Psychology Symposium
At the IX. Experimental-Cognitive Psychology Symposium (Deneysel-Bilişsel Psikoloji Sempozyumu) held at Koç University, Zahide Pamir delivered an oral presentation on the lab’s recent work investigating plasticity and reorganization in the visual system, titled “Topografik Yeniden Yapılanmanın Davranışsal Sonuçları: Kısa Süreli Görsel Yoksunluk Sonrasında Algısal Öğrenmenin Komşu Görme Alanlara Transferi”.
Bahar Canbolat presented a poster titled “AIM ve FiND’ın Güvenilirliğinin Değerlendirilmesi: Görsel Fonksiyonların Değerlendirilmesi için Psikofiziksel Araçlar.” Her project examined the reliability of AIM and FiND as tools for assessing visual functions.
September, 2025:FNL at National Neuroimaging Congress
At the 2nd National Neuroimaging Congress (Ulusal Nörogörüntüleme Kongresi), organized by Başkent University in Ankara, Tutku Karahan, together with Berk Yüce, presented a poster titled “Topographic reorganization in the primary visual cortex following short-term deprivation and perceptual learning.”
August, 2025:FNL at ECVP’25
Berk Yüce and Nilsu Sağlam represented our lab at the 47th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP 2025), held in Mainz, Germany.
Berk Yüce, in collaboration with Tutku Karahan, presented his work titled “Enhanced Behavior Through Perceptual Learning in an Untrained Visual Location via Topographic Reorganization.” His talk addressed the functional benefits of topographic reorganization in the adult visual cortex and offered novel insights into perceptual learning mechanisms.
Nilsu Sağlam presented her work titled “Characterizing Gaze Patterns in Cerebral Visual Impairment: Insights from Visual Search and Exploration Tasks.” She shared new findings on gaze behavior in individuals with cerebral visual impairment, emphasizing how eye-tracking can inform both clinical and cognitive models of visual exploration.
June, 2025:FNL at ISBCS’25
Members of our lab attended the 11th International Symposium on Brain and Cognitive Science (ISBCS) hosted by Bahçeşehir University, İstanbul.
Graduate students Berk Yüce and Tutku Karahan presented their poster titled “Enhanced Behavior Through Perceptual Learning in an Untrained Visual Location via Topographic Reorganization.”
May, 2025: Our undergraduate assistants at Senior Project Poster Presentations
Our senior undergraduate research assistants Nilsu Sağlam and Deniz Kurt have successfully completed their individual senior thesis projects and presented their work at Senior Project Poster Presentations.
July, 2024: Our lab’s first TÜBİTAK 1001 grant
We are happy to announce that our project proposal titled “Behavioral and Neural Correlates of Selective Attention in Adults Born Preterm” has been selected for support through TÜBİTAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye)’s prestigious 1001 program. This project is also our graduate student Hilal Çimen’s Master’s thesis project. Congratulations Hilal!
June, 2024:FNL at ISBCS’24
Members of our team attended the 10th International Symposium on Brain and Cognitive Science (ISBCS) held at Middle East Technical University this year. Nilsu Sağlam, our undergraduate research assistant, presented her poster titled “Characterization Of Gaze Patterns in Cerebral Visual Impairment Through a Visual Search Task.”
Zahide Pamir, our Principal Investigator (PI), gave an invited talk at the symposium’s panel session.
April 2024: Zahide Pamir gave an invited talk at METU (Middle East Technical University) Neuroscience Days.
December 2023: Zahide Pamir gave an invited talk titled “How does the visual system cope with early brain injury?” at Bilkent Neuroscience Days.
October 2023: Zahide Pamir gave an invited talk at 4th Multidisciplinary Neuroscience Congress organized by Ankara University Neuroscience Society.
September 2023: Dr. Pamir received the best oral presentation award at the National Neuroimaging Congress with her talk titled “Behavioral and neural correlates of visual search in Cerebral Visual Impairment.”.
April 2023: Dr. Pamir Awarded TÜBİTAK 2232-B Grant
Zahide Pamir has received a fellowship within the scope of the 2232-B International Young Researchers Program by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK) for three years for her project titled “Behavioral and functional correlates of topographic reorganization in the primary visual cortex.” The Project started in April 2023.
The 2232-B Program aims to encourage and provide financial support for young researchers under the age of 40, who have been working at top international research institutes, to conduct their research in Türkiye.
Dr. Pamir’s project focuses on neuroplasticity, the ability of the brain to adapt to new sensory experiences, physiological changes, and injury. The brain’s potential to change is drastic early in life, during the so-called critical period when the brain is still developing and maximally responsive to exposure to stimuli and experiences. A growing body of neural and behavioral evidence shows that neuroplasticity is also preserved in adults. However, despite a growing body of functional and structural neural evidence for adult plasticity from both human and animal studies, the nature and underlying neural mechanisms are still under debate. Additionally, the functional relevance and behavioral correlates of neuroplasticity are not well understood. Therefore, this project aims to systematically investigate the behavioral and functional correlates of neuroplastic reorganization in neurotypical (healthy) adults by employing advanced behavioral measurements and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
