{{short description|Chinese scientist}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Li Zhaoping | honorific_suffix = | native_name = 李兆平 | native_name_lang = Chinese | image = Zhaoping in the ground of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA (cropped).jpg | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth year and age |1964}} | birth_place = | death_date = <!--{{death date and age |YYYY|MM|DD |YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date)--> | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = <!--{{coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}--> | other_names = | pronounce = | residence = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = Computational and Experimental Neuroscience <br/> Experimental Psychology | workplaces = Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory <br/> Institute for Advanced Study <br/>Rockefeller University <br/> Hong Kong University of Science and Technology <br/>University College London <br/> University of Tuebingen<br/>Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics | patrons = | thesis_title = A model of the olfactory bulb and beyond | thesis_url = https://thesis.library.caltech.edu/8083/ | education = Fudan University (BS)<br/> California Institute of Technology (PhD) | thesis_year = 1989 | doctoral_advisor = John J. Hopfield | notable_students = | known_for = V1 Saliency Hypothesis(V1SH).<ref name="Li 9–16">{{Cite journal|last=Li|first=Zhaoping|date=2002-01-01|title=A saliency map in primary visual cortex|journal=Trends in Cognitive Sciences|volume=6|issue=1|pages=9–16|doi=10.1016/S1364-6613(00)01817-9|pmid=11849610|s2cid=13411369|issn=1364-6613}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/understanding-vision-9780199564668?cc=de&lang=en&|title=Understanding Vision: Theory, Models, and Data|last=Zhaoping|first=Li|date=2014-05-08|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-956466-8|location=Oxford, New York|access-date=2019-12-02|archive-date=2024-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008144551/https://global.oup.com/academic/product/understanding-vision-9780199564668?cc=de&lang=en&|url-status=live}}</ref> | awards = | spouse = Peter Dayan | partner = <!--(or | partners = )--> | children = | signature = <!--(filename only)--> | signature_alt = | website = {{URL|https://www.lizhaoping.org|lizhaoping.org}} | footnotes = }}
'''Li Zhaoping''' (Chinese: 李兆平)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=V3sgCS0AAAAJ&hl=en|title=Li Zhaoping 李兆平|access-date=2019-12-10|archive-date=2024-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008144546/https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=V3sgCS0AAAAJ&hl=en|url-status=live}}</ref> is a Chinese neuroscientist at the University of Tübingen in Germany.<ref name="kyb.tuebingen.mpg.de">{{Cite web|url=https://www.kyb.tuebingen.mpg.de/sensory-and-sensorimotor-systems|title=Department for Sensory and Sensorimotor Systems|website=www.kyb.tuebingen.mpg.de|language=en|access-date=2019-12-02|archive-date=2024-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008144550/https://www.kyb.tuebingen.mpg.de/sensory-and-sensorimotor-systems|url-status=live}}</ref> She is the only woman to win the first place in CUSPEA, a 1980s annual national physics admission examination<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cuspea.pku.edu.cn/introduc/list1.php?year=84|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070720233940/http://cuspea.pku.edu.cn/introduc/list1.php?year=84|archive-date=2007-07-20|title=CUSPEA 84|date=July 2007|publisher=CUSPEA 10 Years|quote=Li Zhaoping is the first in the list}}</ref> in China, during CUSPEA's 10-year history (1979–1989). She proposed V1 Saliency Hypothesis (V1SH), and is the author of ''Understanding vision: theory, models, and data''<ref>{{Cite book|last=Zhaoping|first=Li|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/understanding-vision-9780199564668?cc=de&lang=en&|title=Understanding Vision: Theory, Models, and Data|date=2014-05-08|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-956466-8|location=Oxford, New York|access-date=2019-12-02|archive-date=2020-07-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715201446/https://global.oup.com/academic/product/understanding-vision-9780199564668?cc=de&lang=en&|url-status=live}}</ref> published by Oxford University Press.
==Education== Li Zhaoping graduated from Fudan University in Shanghai in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in physics.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.shanghaiforum.fudan.edu.cn/en/index.php?c=news&a=detail&aid=1405|title=Shanghai FORUM - Li Zhaoping|website=www.shanghaiforum.fudan.edu.cn|access-date=2019-12-02|archive-date=2019-12-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217115605/http://www.shanghaiforum.fudan.edu.cn/en/index.php?c=news&a=detail&aid=1405}}</ref> During 1984 to 1989, she did her Ph.D. study in physics in California Institute of Technology.<ref name=":0">{{Cite thesis|title=A model of the olfactory bulb and beyond|url=https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:02192014-080819270|publisher=California Institute of Technology|date=1990|degree=phd|first=Zhaoping|last=Li|access-date=2019-12-02|archive-date=2024-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008144550/https://thesis.library.caltech.edu/8083/|url-status=live}}</ref> Her Ph.D. supervisor was John Hopfield.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://academictree.org/physics/peopleinfo.php?pid=80|title=Physics Tree - John J. Hopfield|website=academictree.org|access-date=2019-12-02|archive-date=2024-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008144542/https://academictree.org/physics/peopleinfo.php?pid=80|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Career== After a brief stay in Fermilab, Zhaoping was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in 1990–1992,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ias.edu/scholars/zhaoping-li|title=Zhaoping Li|website=Institute for Advanced Study|language=en|access-date=2019-12-03|archive-date=2024-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008144548/https://www.ias.edu/scholars/zhaoping-li|url-status=live}}</ref> and then was a postdoctoral fellow in Rockefeller University in 1992–1994.
In 1998, Li Zhaoping, together with Geoffrey Hinton and Peter Dayan, co-founded the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit in University College London.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mpg.de/12300126/appointment-dayan-li|title=Peter Dayan and Li Zhaoping appointed to the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics|website=www.mpg.de|language=en|access-date=2019-12-15|archive-date=2019-04-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403042224/https://www.mpg.de/12300126/appointment-dayan-li|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/pounds-10m-centre-to-unlock-brains-secrets/105421.article|title=Pounds 10m centre to unlock brain's secrets|date=1998-01-16|website=Times Higher Education (THE)|language=en|access-date=2020-01-26|archive-date=2024-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008144555/https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/pounds-10m-centre-to-unlock-brains-secrets/105421.article|url-status=live}}</ref>
Currently, Li Zhaoping is a professor at the University of Tübingen.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/faculties/faculty-of-science/departments/computer-science/research-groups/|title=Research Groups {{!}} University of Tübingen|website=uni-tuebingen.de|access-date=2019-12-03|archive-date=2019-12-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203113904/https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/faculties/faculty-of-science/departments/computer-science/research-groups/|url-status=live}}</ref> She is also the head of the department of Sensory and Sensorimotor Systems<ref name="kyb.tuebingen.mpg.de"/> in the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics.
== Personal life == She is married to Prof. Peter Dayan, the director of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics.
== Research and theory == Li Zhaoping is known as the creator of the V1 Saliency Hypothesis, V1SH (pronounced 'vish'), that the primary visual cortex (V1) in primates creates a saliency map of the visual field to guide visual attention or gaze shifts exogenously.<ref name="Li 9–16"/><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Li|first=Zhaoping|date=1999-08-31|title=Contextual influences in V1 as a basis for pop out and asymmetry in visual search|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|language=en|volume=96|issue=18|pages=10530–10535|doi=10.1073/pnas.96.18.10530|issn=0027-8424|pmid=10468643|pmc=17923|bibcode=1999PNAS...9610530L|doi-access=free}}</ref>
Proposed in the late-1990s, V1SH was unpopular initially, since it was contrary to the main and popular idea that the frontal and parietal areas of the brain are responsible for the saliency map.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Itti|first1=Laurent|last2=Koch|first2=Christof|date=March 2001|title=Computational modelling of visual attention|journal=Nature Reviews Neuroscience|language=en|volume=2|issue=3|pages=194–203|doi=10.1038/35058500|pmid=11256080|s2cid=2329233|issn=1471-0048|url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/40408/1/391.pdf|access-date=2024-10-08|archive-date=2023-03-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314153854/https://authors.library.caltech.edu/40408/1/391.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> As V1SH gathered more experimental support,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Zhaoping|first=Li|date=2008-05-01|title=Attention capture by eye of origin singletons even without awareness—A hallmark of a bottom-up saliency map in the primary visual cortex|journal=Journal of Vision|language=en|volume=8|issue=5|pages=1.1–18|doi=10.1167/8.5.1|pmid=18842072|issn=1534-7362|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Yan|first1=Yin|last2=Zhaoping|first2=Li|last3=Li|first3=Wu|date=2018-10-09|title=Bottom-up saliency and top-down learning in the primary visual cortex of monkeys|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|language=en|volume=115|issue=41|pages=10499–10504|doi=10.1073/pnas.1803854115|issn=0027-8424|pmid=30254154|pmc=6187116|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=January 12, 2012|title=Neural Activities in V1 Create a Bottom-Up Saliency Map|url=https://www.cell.com/neuron/pdf/S0896-6273(11)00999-8.pdf|journal=Neuron|volume=73|pages=183–192|doi=10.1016/j.neuron.2011.10.035|pmid=22243756|last1=Zhang|first1=X.|last2=Zhaoping|first2=L.|last3=Zhou|first3=T.|last4=Fang|first4=F.|issue=1|s2cid=9767861|doi-access=free|access-date=December 10, 2019|archive-date=October 8, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008131616/https://www.cell.com/neuron/pdf/S0896-6273(11)00999-8.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Zhaoping became more sought after for keynote or invited speeches in international conferences,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cosyne.org/c/index.php?title=Cosyne_07|title=Cosyne 07 - COSYNE|website=www.cosyne.org|access-date=2019-12-10|archive-date=2019-12-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217123514/http://www.cosyne.org/c/index.php?title=Cosyne_07}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnsorg.org/cns-2020-quick|title=CNS 2020|website=www.cnsorg.org|access-date=2019-12-10|archive-date=2019-12-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191210125217/https://www.cnsorg.org/cns-2020-quick}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ecvp.uni-bremen.de/node/29.html|title=Visual Perception meets Computational Neuroscience {{!}} www.ecvp.uni-bremen.de|website=www.ecvp.uni-bremen.de|access-date=2019-12-10|archive-date=2019-03-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322234917/http://www.ecvp.uni-bremen.de/node/29.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://q-bio.org/wiki/Q-bio_2015:_Confirmed_Invited_Speakers|title=Q-bio 2015: Confirmed Invited Speakers - Q-bio|website=q-bio.org|access-date=2019-12-10|archive-date=2024-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008144944/http://q-bio.org/wiki/Q-bio_2015:_Confirmed_Invited_Speakers|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hk14888.com/psychen/2018/0928/c27683a1082758/page.htm|title=Welcome to the 14th annual APCV and the 3rd CVSC|website=www.hk14888.com|language=en|access-date=2019-12-10|archive-date=2019-12-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191210125420/https://www.hk14888.com/psychen/2018/0928/c27683a1082758/page.htm}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cibf.edu.au/events/scindu-systems-and-computational-neuroscience-down-under|title=SCiNDU: Systems and Computational Neuroscience Down Under|date=2015-06-10|website=The Brain Dialogue|access-date=2019-12-10|archive-date=2019-12-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191210125214/https://www.cibf.edu.au/events/scindu-systems-and-computational-neuroscience-down-under}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.esi-frankfurt.de/esisync/|title=ESI Systems Neuroscience Conference 2019|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-date=2024-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008144949/https://www.esi-frankfurt.de/esisync/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.shanghaiforum.fudan.edu.cn/en/index.php?c=news&a=detail&aid=1405|title=Shanghai FORUM - Li Zhaoping|website=www.shanghaiforum.fudan.edu.cn|access-date=2019-12-10|archive-date=2019-12-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217115605/http://www.shanghaiforum.fudan.edu.cn/en/index.php?c=news&a=detail&aid=1405}}</ref> and V1SH rises from being unpopular to being controversial. Some report experimental data for the theory,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Theeuwes|first=Jan|date=2010-10-01|title=Top–down and bottom–up control of visual selection|journal=Acta Psychologica|volume=135|issue=2|pages=77–99|doi=10.1016/j.actpsy.2010.02.006|pmid=20507828|issn=0001-6918|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Bisley|first1=James W.|last2=Goldberg|first2=Michael E.|date=2010|title=Attention, Intention, and Priority in the Parietal Lobe|journal=Annual Review of Neuroscience|volume=33|issue=1|pages=1–21|doi=10.1146/annurev-neuro-060909-152823|pmc=3683564|pmid=20192813}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Schwartz|first1=Odelia|last2=Hsu|first2=Anne|last3=Dayan|first3=Peter|date=July 2007|title=Space and time in visual context|journal=Nature Reviews Neuroscience|language=en|volume=8|issue=7|pages=522–535|doi=10.1038/nrn2155|pmid=17585305|s2cid=42893510|issn=1471-0048}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Zhang|first1=Xilin|last2=Zhaoping|first2=Li|last3=Zhou|first3=Tiangang|last4=Fang|first4=Fang|date=2012-01-12|title=Neural Activities in V1 Create a Bottom-Up Saliency Map|journal=Neuron|volume=73|issue=1|pages=183–192|doi=10.1016/j.neuron.2011.10.035|pmid=22243756|issn=0896-6273|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Donk|first1=Mieke|last2=van Zoest|first2=Wieske|date=July 2008|title=Effects of salience are short-lived|journal=Psychological Science|volume=19|issue=7|pages=733–739|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02149.x|issn=1467-9280|pmid=18727790|s2cid=15304219|url=https://research.vu.nl/ws/files/2326746/Donk%20Psychological%20Science%20%2019(7)%202008%20u.pdf|access-date=2019-12-16|archive-date=2023-01-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110162643/https://research.vu.nl/ws/files/2326746/Donk%20Psychological%20Science%20%2019(7)%202008%20u.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Töllner|first1=Thomas|last2=Zehetleitner|first2=Michael|last3=Gramann|first3=Klaus|last4=Müller|first4=Hermann J.|date=2011-01-21|title=Stimulus Saliency Modulates Pre-Attentive Processing Speed in Human Visual Cortex|journal=PLOS ONE|language=en|volume=6|issue=1|article-number=e16276|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0016276|issn=1932-6203|pmc=3025013|pmid=21283699|bibcode=2011PLoSO...616276T|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Maunsell|first=John H.R.|date=2015|title=Neuronal Mechanisms of Visual Attention|journal=Annual Review of Vision Science|volume=1|issue=1|pages=373–391|doi=10.1146/annurev-vision-082114-035431|pmid=28532368|pmc=8279254}}</ref> while others report evidence against it.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=White|first1=Brian J.|last2=Kan|first2=Janis Y.|last3=Levy|first3=Ron|last4=Itti|first4=Laurent|last5=Munoz|first5=Douglas P.|date=2017-08-29|title=Superior colliculus encodes visual saliency before the primary visual cortex|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|language=en|volume=114|issue=35|pages=9451–9456|doi=10.1073/pnas.1701003114|issn=0027-8424|pmid=28808026|pmc=5584409|doi-access=free}}</ref> It is argued that if V1SH holds, then the framework to understand how our brain solves the vision problem should be substantially changed, as described by the Central-peripheral Dichotomy theory which in turn has its own experimental support.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Zhaoping|first=Li|date=2019-10-01|title=A new framework for understanding vision from the perspective of the primary visual cortex|url=http://psyarxiv.com/ds34j/|journal=Current Opinion in Neurobiology|series=Computational Neuroscience|volume=58|pages=1–10|doi=10.1016/j.conb.2019.06.001|issn=0959-4388|pmid=31271931|s2cid=195806018|access-date=2024-10-08|archive-date=2024-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008144948/https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/ds34j/|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zhaoping |first=Li |date=2024-04-01 |title=Peripheral vision is mainly for looking rather than seeing |journal=Neuroscience Research |volume=201 |pages=18–26 |doi=10.1016/j.neures.2023.11.006 |issn=0168-0102|doi-access=free |pmid=38000447 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zhaoping |first=Li |date=2025-04-18 |title=Testing the top-down feedback in the central visual field using the reversed depth illusion |url=https://www.cell.com/iscience/abstract/S2589-0042(25)00484-5 |journal=iScience |language=English |volume=28 |issue=4 |doi=10.1016/j.isci.2025.112223 |issn=2589-0042 |pmid=40241755|pmc=12003025 }}</ref>
Zhaoping also used a model to propose that feedback from the olfactory cortex to the olfactory bulb serves to segment odors from background for individual odor recognition and carries out other top-down controls,<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|date=2016-10-01|title=Olfactory object recognition, segmentation, adaptation, target seeking, and discrimination by the network of the olfactory bulb and cortex: computational model and experimental data|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352154616300766|journal=Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences|language=en|volume=11|pages=30–39|doi=10.1016/j.cobeha.2016.03.009|issn=2352-1546|last1=Zhaoping|first1=Li|s2cid=27989941|access-date=2024-10-08|archive-date=2022-08-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814094935/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352154616300766|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> this proposal predicts and explains a diversity of behavioral and neural data.<ref name=":1" />
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Zhaoping}} Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:California Institute of Technology alumni Category:Chinese women neuroscientists Category:Fudan University alumni Category:Academic staff of the University of Tübingen Category:Academics of University College London Category:Max Planck Institute directors