Medialab Prado

Susana Martinez-Conde completed her PhD in Spain, followed by postdoctoral studies in the Harvard Medical School laboratory of Nobel Laureate David Hubel (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1981). Her research focuses on the neurobiology of visual awareness, perception, illusions and art and her work has been published in top academic journals as well as in popular science magazines, such as Scientific American, Investigación y Ciencia, and Quo.

Dr. Martinez-Conde is a Founding Member and Executive Chair of the Neural Correlate Society, which hosts the Annual “Best Visual Illusion of the Year” contest. The contest is a celebration of the ingenuity and creativity of the world’s premier visual illusion research community.

She has given lectures to several arts organizations and museums. Here she will speak on the intersection of art and science in visual illusions and how artists and magicians have developed visual tricks to fool the eyes and entertain the mind.

Dr. Martinez-Conde was elected to the Board of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC) in 2005 and co-chaired the 11th Annual Meeting of the ASSC in 2007 in Las Vegas. In 2005, she chaired the 25th Annual European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), held in A Coruña. Prior to assuming her current role as Director of the Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience at the Barrow Neurological Institute, she directed laboratories at University College London, UK.