About Us

Dr. Matthew Tata

Name: Matthew Tata

Phone: 403.394.3994

Fax: 403.329.2775

E-mail: matthew.tata@uleth.ca

Office: SA8238

Lab Website: www.tatalab.ca

Degrees:
PhD University of British Columbia
MSc University of British Columbia
BSc Cornell University

Research Interests:
Sensory and Perceptual Systems
Neural Mechanisms of Attention
Disorders of Attention

Biography:
Matt was born in Boston and grew up in northern New York State. He spent most of his early years studying classical guitar and cross-country skiing, but began to take school seriously as an undergraduate student at Cornell University. Matt was initially interested in biological and environmental engineering, and received a BSc in Environmental Systems Technology, but quickly turned his attention to other pursuits. After finishing his undergraduate degree, he attended a semester at Berklee College of Music in what he refers to as a futile attempt to learn to play jazz. From music school in Boston Matt headed out west to work as a ski guide and instructor near Lake Tahoe, CA. Then inspiration struck. He decided to make a clean break from the world of fast-food and moved to Canada.

Matt completed MSc and PhD degrees at UBC in Vancouver, BC, with most if his efforts focused on auditory and visual perception and the neuroscience of attention. While at UBC, he coached the varsity cross-country ski team and met a nice Canadian girl who, against all odds, decided he was OK enough to marry. Matt is the principal investigator of the Human Cognitive Neuroscience Lab. His group studies visual and auditory sensory systems, perception, attention and disorders of attention, and the neurobiological basis of reward processing. They make extensive use of the Dense-Array EEG system at the CCBN Imaging Centre as well as a multi-speaker "virtual" auditory presentation system.
Recent
Publications:

Ponjavic - Conte, K., Dowdall, J., Hambrook, D. Luczak, A. & Tata, M. S. (2011) Neural Correlates of Auditory Distraction Revealed in Theta-Band EEG. Submitted to NeuroReport (2011 in press)

Oberg, S., Christie, G. J & Tata, M.S. (2011) Problem Gamblers Exhibit Reward Hypersensitivity in Medial Frontal Cortex During Gambling. Neuropsychologia. 49(13), 3768 – 3775.

Butcher, A., Govenlock, S. & Tata, M.S. (2010) A lateralized auditory evoked potential elicited when auditory objects are defined by spatial motion. Hearing Research. 272, 58 – 68.

Tata, M.S., Alam, N., Mason, A.L.O, Christie, G.J. & Butcher, A. (2010) Selective Attention and Optic Flow Interact in Human MT/MST. Vision Research. 50, 750 – 760.

Christie, G. J. , & Tata, M.S. (2009) Risk-Taking in a Gambling Task Increases Theta-Band Oscillatory Activity in Right Frontal Cortex. Neuroimage.48, 415 - 422.

Tata, M. S., Mason, A. O. & Sutherland, R. J. (2007) Attention Modulates Responses to Motion Reversals in the Human Visual Cortex. Neuroreport, 18 (13), 1361 - 1365.

Tata, M. S. & Ward, L. M. (2005). Deviations in Sound Location Elicit a Biphasic Mis-match Negativity in a Posterior “Where” Auditory Pathway. Experimental Brain Re-search, 167(3), 481 – 486.

Tata, M. S. & Ward, L. M. (2005). Spatial Attention Modulates Activity in a Posterior “Where” Auditory Pathway. Neuropsychologia, 43(4), 509 – 516.

Tata, M. S. & Giaschi, D. E. (2004). Warning: Attending to a mask may be hazardous to your perception. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 11(2), 262 – 268.

Prime, D. J., Tata, M. S., & Ward, L. M. (2003) Event-related potential evidence for at-tentional inhibition of return in audition. Neuroreport, 14(3), 393 – 397.

Giaschi, D. E., Jan J. E., Bjornson, B., Young, S. A., Tata, M. S., Lyons, C. J., Good, W. V., Wong, P. K. H. (2003). Conscious visual abilities in a patient with early bilateral oc-cipital damage. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology. 45, 772-781

Tata, M. S. (2002). Attend to it now or lose it forever: Selective attention, metacontrast masking, and object substitution. Perception & Psychophysics, 64(7), 1028-1038.

Tata, M. S., Prime, D. J., McDonald, J. J., & Ward, L. M. (2001). Transient spatial atten-tion modulates distinct components of the auditory ERP. Neuroreport. 12(17), 3679-3682.