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Andrew E. Silva, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Experimental Psychology
Office: Garrison Rm 419
B.A. (2012) University of California, Irvine
M.A. (2013) University of California, Los Angeles
Ph.D. (2018) University of California, Los Angeles
Postdoctoral Fellow & Course Instructor (2018-2025) University of Waterloo
Dr. Silva will be accepting up to two experimental graduate students for admission in fall 2026.
Research Interests
I use neuroimaging (fNIRS, fMRI), non-invasive brain stimulation (tDCS, TMS), and psychophysical methods to explore how sensory and perceptual mechanisms influence, and are influenced by, broader human traits and behaviors. For example, I examine the role of visual processing in human neurodiversity. I also investigate ways of harnessing brain plasticity to improve the visual experiences of people living with eye and vision disorders.
Selected Publications
A full list of peer-reviewed publications is available here:
See Google Scholar for a broader list of mixed research outputs:
Poppe, Tottman, Gamble, Jiang, Silva, Nguyen, Harding, Alsweiler, Thompson (2025). Neonatal nutrition is associated with brain volumes and white matter microstructure at seven years of age in infants born very preterm. JAMA Network Open, 8(1):e2456080.
Silva, Lehmann, Perikleous, Thompson (2023). The temporal dynamics of visual crowding in letter recognition: Modulating crowding with alternating flicker presentations. Journal of Vision, 23(10):18, 1-10.
Silva, Harding, Chakraborty, Dai, Gamble, McKinlay, Nivins, Shah, Thompson (2023). Associations between autism spectrum quotient and in visual integration in 9-year-old children: preliminary evidence of sex differences. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
Silva, Lyu, Leat, Khan, Labreche, Chan, Li, Woo, Woo, Cheong, Thompson (2022). A differential effect of visual cortex tDCS on reading of English and Chinese in patients with central vision loss. Brain Stimulation. 15(5), 1215-1217
Deeb, Silva, Liu (2022). Causality modulates perceptual discrimination of apparent motion stimuli. Vision Research, 201(108120).
Silva, Thompson, Liu (2021). Motion opponency examined throughout visual cortex with multivariate pattern analyses of fMRI data. Human Brain Mapping, 42(1), 5-13.
Chakraborty, Tran, Silva, Giaschi, Thompson (2021). Continuous theta burst TMS of area MT+ impairs attentive motion tracking. European Journal of Neuroscience, 54(9).
Silva, Barakat, Jimenez, Shams (2017). Multisensory congruency enhances explicit awareness in a sequence learning task. Multisensory Research, 30(7-8), 681-689.
Chubb, Dickson, Dean, Fagan, Mann, Wright, Guan, Silva, Gregersen, Kowalsky (2013). Bimodal distribution of performance in discriminating major/minor modes. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 134(4), 3067-3078.