Contact
About James Lewis
https://medicine.hsc.wvu.edu/neuroscience/faculty-labs/james-w-lewis-phd/
Positions
Professor & Vice-Chair for Education
- Organization:
- West Virginia University School of Medicine
- Department:
- Department of Neuroscience
- Classification:
- Faculty
Professor
- Organization:
- West Virginia University School of Medicine
- Department:
- Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute (SOM)
- Classification:
- Faculty
Education
- PhD, California Institute of Technology
Publications
[2023]
- Lewis JW, Lama A, Hogg JP, Boo S, Tucker ES, Brown CM, Zdilla MJ, Petrone A, Lambert HW, Agmon A, Billings H, Roth L, Patterson B, Palmer B (2023) Online interactive medical neuroimaging exercise to identify human brain structures. Annals of Anatomy 249:152101
[2021]
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Lama AM, Murray AM, Frey J, Neeley B & Lewis JW. (2021). Using a Mock Rounds Model and Neurology Patients to Teach Neurological Exam Skills in a Medical Neurobiology Course. Med Sci Educ. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-021-01345-4.
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Frey J, Neeley B, Umer A, Lewis JW, Lama A, Pawar G, Murray A. (2021). Training in Neurology: Neuro Day: An Innovative Curriculum Connecting Medical Students With Patients. Neurology, 96(10), e1482–e1486.
- Valenciaa GN, Khooa s, Wonga T, Taa J, Houd B, Barsalouf LW, Hazenb K, Linc HH, Wang S, Brefczynski-Lewis JA, Fruma CA, & Lewis JW. Chinese-English bilinguals show linguistic-perceptual links in the brain associating short spoken phrases with corresponding real-world natural action sounds by semantic category. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience.
- Csonka M, Mardmomen N, Webster PJ, Brefczynski-Lewis JA, Frum C, & Lewis JW. Meta-analyses support a taxonomic model for representations of different categories of audio-visual interaction events in the human brain. Cerebral Cortex Communications
[2020]
- Talkington WJ, Dona J, Kadner AS, Layne ML, Forino A, Wen S, Gao S, Gray MM, Ashraf AJ, Valencia GN, Smith BD, Khoo SK, Gray SJ, Lass N, Brefczynski-Lewis JA, Engdahl S, Graham D, Frum CA, Lewis JW. (2020). Electrophysiological Evidence of Early Cortical Sensitivity to Human Conspecific Mimic Voice as a Distinct Category of Natural Sound. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.
- Lewis JW., Lama, A.M., Hurst, P.D., Paserba, B.A. Interactive Large Group Lecture Demonstrations: Dramatization of Medical Neurobiology Concepts to Improve Student Perception of Understanding Fluid Mechanisms of the Central Nervous System. Med.Sci.Educ. (2020).
- Klichowski M, Nowik A, Kroliczak G, Lewis JW (in press, 2020). Functional lateralization of tool-sound and action-word processing in a bilingual brain. Health Psychology Report HPR-00318-2019-02.
- Webster PJ, Frum C, Kurowski-Burt A, Wen S, Bauer C, Ramadan J, Baker K, Lewis JW (in press 2020). Processing of real-world, dynamic natural stimuli in autism is linked to corticobasal function. Autism Research
- Nolan R, Brandmeir N, Tucker E, Magruder J, Lee M, Chen G, Lewis JW (Special Issue Feb 2020). Functional and resting-state characterizations of a periventricular heterotopic nodule associated with epileptogenic activity. J. Neurosurgical FOCUS.
[2019]
- Bauer CE, Lewis JW, Brefczynski-Lewis JA, Frum C, Schade-Gray M, Haut M, Montgomery-Downs H (in press, 2019). Breastfeeding Duration is Associated with Regional, but not Global, Differences in White Matter Tracts. Brain Sciences.
[2018]
- Lewis JW, Silberman MJ, Donai JJ, Frum CA, Brefczynski-Lewis JA. (2018) Hearing and orally mimicking different acoustic-semantic categories of natural sound engage distinct left hemisphere cortical regions. Brain & Language 183:64-78 doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2018.05.00
- Mariella Pazzaglia, Giulia Galli, Giorgio Scivoletto, Lewis JW, Anna Maria Giannini, and Marco Molinari (2018). Embodying functionally relevant action sounds in patients with spinal cord injury. Scienctific Reports. 8(1):15641.
[2017]
- Brefczynski-Lewis JA, Lewis JW. (2017) Auditory object perception: A neurobiological model and prospective review. Neuropsychologia, 105:223-242.
- Webster PJ, Skipper-Kallal LM, Frum CA, Still HN, Ward BD, Lewis JW. (2011) Divergent human cortical regions for processing distinct acoustic-semantic categories of natural sounds: Animal action sounds vs. vocalizations. Frontiers in Neuroscience 10:579
[2016]
- Bauer CE, Brefczynski-Lewis JA, Marano G, Mandich MB, Stolin A, Martone P,Lewis JW, Jaliparthi G, Raylmann RR, Majewski S. (2016) Concept of an Upright Wearable Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Imager in Humans. Brain Behavior.
[2015]
- Geangu E, Quadrelli E, Lewis JW, Macchi Cassia V, & Turati, C. (2015). By the sound of it. An ERP investigation of human action sound processing in 7-month-old infants Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. 12(2015):134-144
[2013]
- Talkington WJ, Taglialatela JP, Lewis JW(2013) Using naturalistic utterances to investigate cortical pathways for processing communication sounds in humans and non-human primates Hearing Research.
- Juan E, Frum C, Bianchi-Demicheli F, Want Y, LEWIS JW, Cacioppo S (2013) Beyond Human Intentions and Emotions. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 7(99)1-14. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00099
- Cacioppo S, Couto B, Bolmont M, Sedeno L, Frum C, LEWIS JW, Manes F, Ibanez A, Cacioppo JT (2013)Selective decision-making deficit in love following damage to the anterior insula. Current Trends in Neurology.
- Cacioppo S, Frum C, LEWIS JW, Manes F, Ibanez A, Cacioppo JT (2013) A quantitative meta-analysis of functional imaging studies of social rejection. Scientific Reports. 3(2027):1-3
[2012]
- Lewis JW, Talkington WJ, Tallaksen KC, Frum CA. (2012) Auditory object salience: human cortical processing of non-biological action sounds and their acoustic signal attributes. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience
- Talkington WJ, Rapuano KM, Hitt L, Frum CA, Lewis JW. (2012) Humans mimicking animals: A cortical hierarchy for human vocal communication sounds. J. Neuroscience. 32(23):8084-93.
- Cacioppo S, Bianchi-Demicheli F, Frum C, Pfaus JG, LEWIS JW (2012) The common neural bases between sexual desire and love: a multilevel kernel density fMRI analysis. J. Sexual Med. 9(4):1048-54 doi: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2012.02651.x. Epub 2012 Feb 21
[2011]
- Lewis JW, Talkington WJ, Puce A, Engel LR, Frum C. Cortical networks representing object categories and high-level attributes of familiar real-world action sounds. J. Cog. Neuroscience 23(8):2079-2101
- LEWIS JW, Frum C, Brefczynski-Lewis JA, Talkington WJ, Walker NA, Rapuano KM, Kovach AL (2011) Cortical network differences in the sighted versus early blind for recognition of human-produced action sounds. Human Brain Mapping. 32:2241-2255.
[2010]
- Ortigue S, Bianchi-Demicheli F, Patel N, Frum C, LEWIS JW (2010) Neuroimaging of Love: fMRI meta-analysis evidence towards new perspectives in sexual medicine. J. Sexual Med. 11:3541-3552 doi: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.01999.x.
[2009]
- Lewis JW, Frum C, Brefczynski-Lewis JA, Talkington WJ, Walker NA, Rapuano KM, Kovach AL. (2011) Different categories of living and non-living sound-sources activate distinct cortical networks. Neuro Image 47:1778-1791.
- Lewis JW, Talkington WJ, Walker NA, Spirou GA, Jajosky A, Frum C, Brefczynski-Lewis, JA. (2009) Human cortical organization for processing vocalizations indicates representation of harmonic structure as a signal attribute. J. Neuroscience 29(7):2283-2296.
- Brefczynski-Lewis JA, Datta R, Lewis JW, DeYoe EA. (2008) The topography of visuospatial attention as revealed by a novel visual field mapping technique.Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
[2008]
- Huddleston WE,Lewis JW, Phinney RE, DeYoe EA. (2008) Auditory and visual attention-based apparent motion share functional parallels. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 70(7):1207-1216.
Additional Info
Autism Brain-Study Underway at WVU - West Virginia Public Broadcasting:
http://wvpublic.org/post/autism-brain-study-underway-wvu
Department of Physiology & Pharmacology home page:
http://www.hsc.wvu.edu/som/physio/index.htm
For related fMRI studies of sensory perception, please visit the DeYoe Lab home page:
http://www.mcw.edu/cellbio/visionlab/
For information on generating cortical flat maps and maps of monkey cortex, please visit the Van Essen home page:
http://stp.wustl.edu/
Other cool websites:
Audio demo’s: http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/demos.html
Visual illusion demo’s: http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/index.html
American Museum of Natural History (2006 - present) has been showcasing work from the 2006 review article on human tool use, entitled, "Cortical networks related to human use of tools," as part of the Human Origins exhibit: http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/humanorigins/human/tools4.php
Scientific American Magazine (February 2011 issue) featured a "last page" graphic and blurb, "Your Brain in Love," created in my laboratory. This image and results were based on a recent publication (Ortigue et al, 2011, cited on "Recent Publications" page): http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=your-brain-in-love-graphsci
Scientific American Web Exclusive Graphic (Feb 14, 2011): http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=graphic-science-passionate-love-in-the-brain
Research Program
Neuroscience
Research Interests
Our neuroimaging research interests include:
- Systems-level visual, auditory, and multisensory processing using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
- Cognitive models of how the brain is organized to make sense of the everyday sounds we hear.
- Sensori-motor processing networks in the context of cognitive models of object and action knowledge representations.
- Cortical plasticity and adaptations made by the brains of children and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to process real-world multisensory information.
- Studies of acoustic signal processing mechanisms by the human brain that may be amenable to advancing biologically inspired hearing aid algorithm design.
Research Techniques
Our primary research projects use state-of-the-art 3 Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at the Center for Advanced Imaging at WVU. We use a full scale simulation-MRI scanner to train children to be comfortable with neuroimaging environments. Other projects, typically related to hearing perception, utilize evoked response potentials (ERPs) and basic electroencephalography (EEG) techniques.
Description of Research
Our research explores general principles of how the human brain processes auditory information, especially with regard to our ability to combine sound with vision and touch (“multisensory integration”).Thus, the goals of our current research, using fMRI, are threefold. First is to explore brain regions responsible for our ability to recognize and identify sounds (natural or environmental sounds, in contrast to speech sounds which tend to activate specialized language-related brain areas in humans). Second is to explore brain systems responsible for our spatial perception of sound, including localizing sounds in three-dimensional space and/or perceiving a moving sound-source. And the third is to examine where and how the information processed along the auditory pathways becomes integrated with visual and somatosensory/motor processing pathways in the brain, providing us with a unified percept of the “multisensory” objects we experience every day.
Research Topics
Our group investigates the general principles of how the human brain processes auditory information, including studies of multisensory perception and advancing models of cognition. We primarily use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), with the 3T scanner at the Center for Advanced Imaging (http://www.hsc.wvu.edu/cai/), but also use neurophysiological techniques such as collecting evoked response potentials (ERPs). One of our research goals is to understand how the human brain is organized to represent knowledge of sensory events, and be able to gain a sense of meaning behind what we see and hear. A global model of how “all natural sounds” are processed (by category) are depicted in the figure below from Brefczynski-Lewis & Lewis, (2017).
For instance, the rotating 3D model of the human brain (left cortical hemisphere) illustrating cortex that is more responsive to hearing and recognizing environmental sounds (Fig. 1, yellow) in contrast to hearing but not recognizing the same sounds played backwards. N=24 participants, α< 0.05). Below are some of the forward and backward-played sound pairs, which can be heard by clicking on the icons. Can you identify the backward-played sounds?
For over a century, human neuropsychological (brain lesion) studies have indicated that semantic knowledge of “living versus non-living things” are represented in distinct brain regions or networks. Our research has uniquely contributed to our understanding of these models from the perspective of hearing perception. In particular, different colored brain regions (Fig. 2) depict areas of human cerebral cortex (group-averaged data) that are preferentially activated by one category of action sound relative to each of the three other categories indicated. This included a four-fold dissociation of two sub-categories of “living” sound sources (Human versus Animal action sounds) and two sub-categories of “non-living” sound-sources (Mechanical and Environmental). These types of studies have advanced our understanding of grounded cognition models for how acoustic and object knowledge (and our ability to think about objects) are organized or mediated by the brain.
To determine more specific functions of various “activated” regions (colored areas on the brain models in Figure 3 above), one approach we use is to examine “extremes” in cortical organization for representing acoustic knowledge. For example, we found that strongly left-handed listeners more strongly activated the left hemisphere when hearing and recognizing action sounds produced by hand tools (e.g. hammering, sawing, drawing). Red depicts brain regions preferentially activated when hearing and processing hand-manipulated tool sounds, while blue depicts regions more responsive to animal vocalizations. Green shows cortex activated while participants (20 in each group) made dominant hand movements as if manipulating a variety of different tools. Note that the inferior parietal lobule (“IPL”; yellow overlap region) was strongly activated only in the hemisphere opposite the dominant hand, being very responsive when recognizing tool-related sounds.
These findings fit well with clinical studies, in that lesions to the IPL in the hemisphere opposite the dominant hand can lead to a severe disruption in one’s conceptual understanding of how to appropriately use tools or common objects (termed “ideational apraxia”). For instance, when asked to manipulate objects of common use, such patients might produce a hammering gesture with a set of keys, or attempt to use scissors to write.
We have also been able to examine how visual experience might affect brain networks that encode knowledge representations of every-day natural sounds by examining the brain of congenitally blind individuals. For instance, we found that recognizable human action sounds (in contrast to unrecognizable, backward-played versions of those sounds) preferentially activated distinct networks in the blind versus the sighted (Fig. 4). This included the blind group activations in response to human action sounds included significantly different cortical networks
Another focus of our research involves studying “bottom-up” acoustic signal processing using fMRI. Using fMRI, we recently reported that parametric increases in harmonic content, quantified by a harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR value), of both animal vocalizations and artificially created iterated rippled noises (IRNs) led to parametric increases in activation of auditory cortices. These HNR-sensitive foci (Fig. 3, Tier 2; green and blue regions) were situated between tonotopically organized primary auditory cortices (Tier 1, yellow) and regions preferential for human non-verbal vocalizations and speech (Tier 3, purple hues).