Dennis M. Levi

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Dennis M. Levi is a South African optometrist. He is professor of optometry and vision science and a professor of neuroscience at the School of Optometry of the University of California at Berkeley, in California in the United States.^[2] He is a former dean of the same school, an appointment he took up in 2001.^[1] He was previously the Cullen Distinguished Professor of Optometry on the faculty of the University of Houston, in Houston, Texas, where he also did his PhD.^[1] He is a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry.^[3]

Levi has conducted significant research into amblyopia.^[1]

Education:

Levi was born on 27 March 1947 in East London, South Africa.  There he attended Selborne Primary School and Selborne College. He received his diploma in Optometry in 1967 from the Witwatersrand School of Optometry, in Johannesburg, South Africa. After practicing Optometry in Johannesburg and Vereeniging in Gauteng Province, South Africa, he and his new bride, Marilyn moved to Houston, Texas where he earned the O.D. (Doctor of Optometry) in 1971, M.S. (Physiol. Optics) in 1973, and Ph.D. (Physiol. Optics) in 1977 from the University of Houston.

Professional career:

Levi started his academic career at the University of Houston in 1972 as an Instructor in Optometry and progressed through the ranks becoming Full Professor in 1982.  He served as the Associate Dean for Research from 1990-2001 and was awarded the University’s highest honor, Cullen Distinguished Professor  in 1996.  In 2001, he joined the University of California, Berkeley serving as the Dean of the School of Optometry until 2014.

Awards and Honors:

• American Optometry Foundation Research Fellowship – 1972
• Garland W. Clay Award (2) from the American Academy of Optometry -1982,1983.
• Sigma Xi Faculty Research Award, University of Houston - 1986
• Glenn Fry Award from the American Academy of Optometry – 1987
• Fellow Optical Society of America - 1995
• Distinguished Cullen Professorship - 1996 (lifetime)- University of Houston
• Charles F. Prentice Medal Award from the American Academy of Optometry - 2011
• Edgar D. Tillyer Award from the Optical Society of America - 2016
• A.R.V.O. (Association for Research n Vision & Ophthalmology) – Gold Fellow – 2018
• A.R.V.O. – Distinguished Service Award – 2018

Guinness World Record:

Dr. Levi holds the Guinness World Record for the Highest Hyperacuity. In April 1984, he repeatedly identified the relative position of a thin bright green line with a precision of  0.85 seconds of arc seconds,  equivalent to a displacement of some 6 mm at a distance of 1.6 km.

Publications:

As of July 2021, Levi has published approximately 300 scientific papers and two books. His work has been cited more than 22,000 times and he has an h-index of 79 (Google Scholar):  His publications include:

Godinez, A., Martin-Gonzalez, S., Ibarrondo, O. and Levi, D.M. Scaffolding depth cues and perceptual learning in VR to train stereovision: A proof of concept pilot study, Scientific Reports, 11, 1-16, 2021.

Levi, D.M., Harwerth, R.S. and Smith, E.L.  Humans Deprived of Normal Binocular Vision Have Binocular Interactions Tuned to Size and Orientation, Science, 206, 852-854, 1979.

Levi, D.M., and Klein, S.  Hyperacuity and Amblyopia.  Nature, 298, 268-270, 1982.

Levi, D.M., Manny, R.E., Klein, S.A., and Steinman, S.B. Electrophysiological correlates of hyperacuity in the human visual cortex.  Nature, 306, 468-470, 1983.

Levi, D.M., and Klein, S.A.  Sampling in Spatial Vision.  Nature, 320, 360-362, 1986.

Levi, D.M. & Polat U. Neural plasticity in adults with amblyopia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 93, 6830-6834, 1996.

Levi, D.M.  Pattern perception at high velocities. Current Biology, 6, 1020-1024, 1996.

Levi, D.M., Sharma, V. and Klein, S.A. Feature integration in pattern perception. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 94:11742-11746, 1997.

McGraw, P.V., Levi, D.M.  & Whitaker. Spatial characteristics of the non-linear visual pathway revealed by positional adaptation. Nature Neuroscience, 2, 479-84, 1999.

Sharma, V., Levi, D.M. & Klein, S.A. Under-counting features and missing features: evidence for a high level deficit in strabismic amblyopia. Nature Neuroscience, 3, 496-501, 2000.

Yu, C. & Levi, D.M. Surround modulation in human vision unmasked by masking experiments. Nature Neuroscience, 3, 724-728, 2000.

Popple, A.V. & Levi, D.M. Amblyopes see true alignment where normal observers see illusory tilt. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 97, 11667-72, 2000.

Levi, D.M. & Klein, S.A. Noise provides some new signals about the spatial vision of amblyopes. Journal of Neuroscience, 23, 2522-2566, 2003.

Li, R.W-H., Levi, D.M. & Klein, S.A. Perceptual learning improves efficiency by re-tuning the “template” for position discrimination. Nature Neuroscience, 7, 178-183, 2004.

Kuai, S-G., Zhang, J-Y., Klein, S.A. Levi, D.M. &  Yu, C.,  The essential  role of stimulus temporal patterning for enabling perceptual learning. Nature Neuroscience, 8, 1497-1499, 2005.

Neri, P., Luu J.Y.  & Levi, D.M. Meaningful interactions can enhance visual discrimination of human agents. Nature Neuroscience, 9, 1186-1192, 2006.

Zhang, J.Y., Kuai, S.G., Xiao, L.Q., Klein, S.A., Levi, D.M. and Yu, C. Stimulus coding rules for perceptual learning. PLoS Biology, 6(8): e197, 2008. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060197.

Xiao, L.Q., Zhang, J.Y., Wang, R., Klein, S.A., Levi, D.M. and Yu, C. Complete Transfer of Perceptual Learning across Retinal Locations Enabled by Double Training. Current Biology, 18, 1922–26, 2008.

Li, R.W., Klein, S.A. & Levi, D.M. Prolonged perceptual learning of positional acuity in adult amblyopia: perceptual template retuning dynamics. Journal of Neuroscience, 28, 14223-9. 2008.

Levi, D.M. & Li, R.W. Improving the performance of the amblyopic visual system.   Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 364, 399-407, 2009.

Levi, D.M. & Carney T. Crowding in Peripheral Vision: Why Bigger Is Better. Current Biology, 1988–93, 2009.

Zhang, J.Y., Zhang, G.L., Xiao, L.Q., Klein, S.A., Levi, D.M. and Yu, C. Rule-based learning explains visual perceptual learning and its specificity and generalization. J. Neurosci., 30, 12323-28, 2010.

Bavelier, D., Levi, D.M., Li, R.W., Dan, Y & Hensch, T.K. Removing Brakes on Adult Brain Plasticity.  From Molecular to Behavioral Interventions. Journal of Neuroscience, 30, 14964-71, 2010.  

Whitney, D. & Levi, D.M. Visual crowding: a fundamental limit on conscious perception and object

recognition. Trends In Cognitive Sciences, 15, 160-168, 2011.

Li, R.W., Ngo, C., Nguyen, J. & Levi, D.M. Video game play induces plasticity in the visual system of adults with amblyopia.  PLoS Biology, 9(8): e1001135, 2011.

Ding, J. & Levi, D.M. Recovery of stereopsis through perceptual learning in human adults with abnormal binocular vision. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(37):E733-41, 2011.

Kuai, S-G., Levi, D.M. & Kourtzi, Z. Learning optimizes decision templates in the human visual cortex. Current Biology, 23, 1799-1804, 2013.

Vedamurthy, I., Knill, D., Huang, S. J., Yung, A., Ding, J., Kwon, O., Bavelier, D. & Levi, D.M. Recovering stereo vision by squashing virtual bugs in a virtual reality environment. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 2016. Jun 19; 371(1697). pii: 20150264. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0264.

References[]