Conway's research originally set out to explore the principle of double opponency in the primate visual system, showing that color cells in the first stage of cortical processing compute local ratios of cone activity, making them both color-opponent and spatially opponent, pinning them down as the likely basis for color constancy and the brain's building blocks for constructing hue. Subsequent work has focused on the representation of color in extrastriate areas of the brain that receive input from V1. In collaboration with Doris Tsao, he used fMRI to identify such functionally defined regions and coined the term "globs" to describe them. In 2007 he used targeted single-unit recording techniques to characterise the behaviour of cells in these color areas, showing that individual neurons in these areas respond selectively to specific hues. The behaviour of these cells and the networks they are involved in are the current focus of his work. By comparing the responses to colors, faces, bodies, places, and objects, Conway's work uncovered the multi-stage parallel processing organization of inferior temporal cortex. This work suggests that IT implements a set of canonical operations in parallel: , the face-patch network is simply one manifestation of the operations carried out by IT. Conway's has become the of . by Conway and Ted Gibson on provided evidence that reconciled relativist and universalist accounts, connecting color perception to behavior.
Art
Much of Conway's research is guided by the underlying thought that visual art can be used to reveal insights about how visual information is processed. An ongoing research project examines the idea that poor stereopsis may be an asset to artists. His interest in the dove-tailing of science and art has also spawned an interdisciplinary upper level course at Wellesley, Vision and Art: Physics, Physiology, Perception, and Practice. Conway has promoted , serving as an advisor to the in the . As an artist Conway is active in visual media, predominantly watercolors, oils, and prints. He is regularly a at the . A larger, ongoing project is a series of sculptures in the . His interest is driven by fundamental questions of art making: How do brain and visual apparatus co-operate in making an art object? What is the role of muscle memory in making marks on paper and, more broadly, in the creative process? How do artists challenge the constraints and limitations of our visual system? His works are in the collection of the Fogg Art Museum, private collections in Europe, North America and Africa, and have been featured in books and commercials.
