Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Psychology Office: 332A Baker Hall
Psychology Phone: 412-268-6113
Email: shaigh@andrew.cmu.edu
Faculty Mentor: Marlene Behrmann

Research Interests:

My main research interests focus on the differences in physiological responses to basic sensory stimuli from individuals with autism, migraine or photosensitive epilepsy compared to healthy controls. Specifically, I am interested on what this can reveal 1) about the condition itself, and 2) about our early sensory processing.
I received my BSc from the University of Bristol, UK, in 2009, and my PhD from the University of Essex, UK, in 2012. My PhD thesis, titled 'Visual discomfort and cortical hyperexcitability', reports the physiological and behavioural responses from various grating patterns, comparing the responses from migraineurs to patients with photosensitive epilepsy and healthy controls. To measure the physiological response, I used an autorefractor (to measure ocular accommodation), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS - to measure the cortical haemodynamic response), and the electroencephalogram (EEG - to measure the cortical electrophysiological response).
Currently I am working in Marlene Behrmann's lab, in collaboration with David Heeger's lab (NYU) on the neurological basis of autism. We are using neuroimaging (mainly fMRI) and psychophysical methods to investigate basic sensory-evoked responses in individuals with autism.

Publications:

Haigh, S. M., Barningham, L., Berntsen, M., Coutts, L. V., Lever, E. M., Hobbs, E. S., Tang, P., & Wilkins, A.J. (submitted). Aversion to coloured gratings.

Haigh, S. M., Jaschinski, W., Allen, P.M., & Wilkins, A. J. (2013). Accommodative response to uncomfortable patterns. Perception, 42(2), 208-222.

Haigh, S. M., Karanovic, O., Wilkinson, F., & Wilkins, A. J. (2012). Cortical hyperexcitability in migraine and aversion to patterns. Cephalalgia, 32(3), 236-240.

Haigh, S. M. (2011). Haigh on Purves: Brains: How they seem to work. Perception, 40 (4), 507-508.

Printed abstracts:

Haigh, S. M. & Wilkins, A. J. (2012). Visual discomfort and the photoparoxysmal response. Perception, 41(12), 1517-1518. (AVA Christmas meeting.)

Haigh, S. M., Karanovic, O., Wilkinson, F., Cooper, N., Wilkins, A. J. (2012). Cortical mechanisms of discomfort in migraine. Perception, 41 (ECVP Abstract Supplement), 152.

Haigh, S. M., Tang, P., Barningham, L., Coutts, L., Allen, P. M., & Wilkins, A. J. (2012). Colour separation and aversion. i-Perception, 3(4), 232. (AVA Christmas meeting.)

Haigh, S. M., Allen, P. M., & Wilkins, A. J. (2011). Accommodation to chromatic gratings. Perception, 40 (ECVP Abstract Supplement), 80. Full poster online at: http://posters.f1000.com/P2209.

Duensing, S. J., Heard, P. F., Perks, L., Haigh, S., Etchells, P., Leonards, U., (2009). Eye movements of science centre visitors. Perception, 38 (ECVP Abstract Supplement), pg167.

Selected presentations:

Wilkins, A. J. & Haigh, S. M. (2012, September). Uncomfortable visual stimulation and the shape of the haemodynamic response. Poster presented at the functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy conference, London, UK.

Wilkins, A. J. & Haigh, S. M. (2012, May). Image discomfort: its biological basis and utility. Poster presented at the Joint AVA/BMVA meeting, Cambridge, UK.

Haigh, S. M., Karanovic, O., Wilkinson, F., Allen, P. M., & Wilkins, A. J. (2012, April). Visual discomfort and migraine - peripheral vs. cortical mechanisms. Poster presented at the British Association for Cognitive Neuroscience, Newcastle, UK.

Haigh, S. M., Karanovic, O., Wilkinson, F., Allen, P. M., Jaschinski, W., & Wilkins, A. J. (2011, September). Cortical hyperexcitability in migraine and aversion to patterns. Talk presented at the Smith Kettlewell Eye Research Institute hosted by Chris Tyler, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Haigh, S. M., Karanovic, O., Wilkinson, F., Allen, P. M., Jaschinski, W., & Wilkins, A. J. (2011, September). Cortical hyperexcitability in migraine and aversion to patterns. Talk presented at the University of Nevada hosted by Mike Webster, Reno, NV, USA.

Haigh, S. M., Karanovic, O., Wilkinson, F., Allen, P. M., & Wilkins, A. J. (2011, September). Cortical hyperexcitability in migraine and aversion to patterns. Talk presented at the conference for Visual IMage Safety, Las Vegas, NV, USA.

Haigh, S. M., Karanovic, O., Wilkinson, F., & Wilkins, A. J. (2010, July). Aversion thresholds to achromatic gratings. Presented at York University, Toronto, Canada hosted by Frances Wilkinson.

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