About

James Gordon, EdD, PT, FAPTA, is a professor at the USC Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy. His research focuses on the neural control of arm movements, particularly the roles of proprioceptive information in the control of reaching movements. His work in neurorehabilitation and motor control has been extensively published, and he is recognized as one of the foremost thinkers in motor learning and its application to individuals with neurological conditions. Dr. Gordon's primary teaching areas include neurosciences, motor learning and motor control, and the application of these fields to neurologic physical therapy. He has also taught courses in professional practice and documentation in physical therapy, contributing to the development of better treatment methods and establishing links between biokinesiology and physical therapy practice and research.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Psychology
• Political Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Sociology
• Economics
• Biology
• Neuroscience
• Business
• Cognitive science
• Cognitive psychology
• Environmental science
• Environmental planning
• Ecology
• Anthropology
• Social psychology
• Environmental resource management
• Natural resource economics
• Environmental economics
• Medicine

Selected publications

• Transient visual evoked potential abnormalities in ADNP syndrome

  Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders · 2026-04-01

  articleOpen access

  ADNP syndrome is a rare genetic disorder associated with global developmental delay/intellectual disability, autism, aberrant behavior, and medical comorbidities. Sensory symptoms represent a core clinical feature, even in those without autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Differences in visual evoked potentials (VEPs), an objective measure of excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic activity, have been reported in other genetic neurodevelopmental disorders and have yet to be examined in ADNP syndrome. Transient VEPs (tVEP) were collected from 12 children with ADNP syndrome, 46 autistic children without a known genetic cause, and 19 typically developing children. Time- and frequency-domain variables were compared between groups. Significant differences were found between the ADNP and TD groups in amplitude (P60-N75, N75-P100), latency (P60, N75), and magnitude-squared coherence (MSC). Significant differences were also found between the ADNP and ASD group in latency (P60, N75) and MSC (Band 2, 14–28 Hz). VEP abnormalities in children with ADNP syndrome compared to an ASD group and controls were identified. Weaker amplitudes in the ADNP group are consistent with prior research in other genetic neurodevelopmental syndromes. Longer latencies and diminished 14–28 Hz band activity, however, are distinct findings and represent an important area of continued study to explore the presence of syndrome-specific VEP profiles. Establishing VEP biomarkers for ADNP syndrome is a critical direction for future clinical trials in the syndrome.

  PublisherDOI

• From One-Size-Fits-All to Every Learner: Leveraging AI for Inclusive and Adaptive Lesson Planning

  2025-12-04

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Neural Mechanisms of color saturation

  Journal of Vision · 2025-07-15

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Color saturation is a quantitative estimate of how colorful something looks. In an attempt to understand the neural mechanisms of color appearance, we measured perceived color saturation in human observers with hue and saturation scaling, as used by Gordon et al. (1994). The color targets were equiluminant color-gray checkerboards (spatial frequency 2-3 c/deg) presented on a calibrated OLED monitor. The colors lay along the two cardinal axes of DKL color space: “Red/Green” (L-M/M-L) and “Blue/Yellow” (+S/-S). Five or six cone contrasts were used for each stimulus ranging from 0-10% for the L-M/M-L stimuli and from 0-50% for the +S/-S stimuli. The observers estimated saturation as the percentage of the entire sensation, chromatic and achromatic, that was chromatic. To compare color perception with activity in early visual cortex, we also measured the chromatic visual evoked potential (cVEP) over the same range of cone contrast and for stimulus patterns similar to those used in the behavioral experiments. The main results are: 1) saturation varies with the magnitude of cone contrast, and therefore equiluminant complementary colors appear equally saturated; 2) the slope of the saturation vs cone contrast line is 6-8 X shallower for the +S/-S stimuli than for L-M/M-L; 3) cVEP amplitude's dependence on cone contrast resembled the scaling data. It was interesting that, for many observers, cVEPs to +S and -S were approximately equal in amplitude when stimuli were equated for cone contrast magnitude. This result is somewhat surprising because the neurons that carry -S (“Yellow”) signals in the LGN might be expected to respond weakly to the checkerboard stimuli. It raises the possibility that there is a cortical contribution to -S signals. The results also suggest that saturation is likely to be a result of integration of color-evoked responses over the entire population of neurons in early visual cortex.

  PublisherDOI

• Measuring Multisensory Integration in Clinical Settings: Comparing an Established Laboratory Method with a Novel Digital Health App

  Brain Sciences · 2025-06-17 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Background/Objectives: Recent research has correlated an inability to integrate sensory information with several adverse clinical outcomes, including slow gait, poor balance, and falls. For this reason, a digital health iPhone app (CatchU® v3.1.2) has been strategically designed to bring the measurement of visual–somatosensory integration into clinical settings. The purpose of this study was to determine whether CatchU could reliably capture the phenomenon of multisensory integration compared to a validated piece of laboratory apparatus (“tristimulator”). Methods: Using both the established tristimulator and CatchU, 50 participants (76.5 ± 6.2 years of age, 60% female) completed a simple reaction time test in response to visual, somatosensory, and combined visual–somatosensory stimulation. A reaction time cumulative distribution frequency (CDF) curve was calculated for each stimulus condition, and together these were used to calculate the CDF difference function (the multisensory visual–somatosensory CDF minus a magnitude-limited sum of the unisensory visual and somatosensory CDFs). From this, the magnitude of visual–somatosensory integration (VSI) was obtained. Results: CatchU captured multisensory integration in both average reaction times and the CDF difference function. It also produced a similar magnitude of VSI and showed no systematic bias compared to the laboratory stimulator. Additionally, CatchU responses were significantly less variable than responses recorded using the tristimulator. Conclusions: Despite using different forms of stimulation and different methods to record responses, these results reveal that CatchU can be used to produce the same inferences as laboratory apparatus. This confirms the ability of CatchU to reliably capture VSI.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Cortical processing of color: Chromatic visual evoked potentials

  Vision Research · 2025-03-02 · 3 citations

  reviewSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Prospects for Circa Situm Tree Conservation in Mesoamerican Dry-Forest Agro-Ecosystems

  2025-03-13

  book-chapter
  PublisherDOI

• The Relationship between Clinical and Psychophysical Assessments of Visual Perceptual Disturbances in Individuals at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis: A Preliminary Study

  Brain Sciences · 2024-08-16 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  This study investigated relations between a measure of early-stage visual function and self-reported visual anomalies in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR-P). Eleven individuals at CHR identified via the Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes (SIPS) were recruited from a CHR-P research program in NYC. The sample was ~36% female, ranging from 16 to 33 years old (M = 23.90, SD = 6.14). Participants completed a contrast sensitivity task on an iPad with five spatial frequencies (0.41–13 cycles/degree) and completed the self-report Audio-Visual Abnormalities Questionnaire. Higher contrast sensitivity (better performance) to low spatial frequencies was associated with higher perceptual (r = 0.616, p = 0.044) and visual disturbances (r = 0.667, p = 0.025); lower contrast sensitivity to a middle spatial frequency was also associated with higher perceptual (r = −0.604, p = 0.049) and visual disturbances (r = −0.606, p = 0.048). This relation between the questionnaire and contrast sensitivity to low spatial frequency may be indicative of a reduction in lateral inhibition and “flooding” of environmental stimuli. The association with middle spatial frequencies, which play a critical role in face processing, may result in a range of perceptual abnormalities. These findings demonstrate that self-reported perceptual anomalies occur in these individuals and are linked to performance on a measure of early visual processing.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society Information

  IEEE Transactions on Systems Man and Cybernetics Systems · 2024-04-16

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Visual remediation of contrast processing impairments in schizophrenia: A preliminary clinical trial

  Schizophrenia Research · 2024-10-31 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society Information

  IEEE Transactions on Systems Man and Cybernetics Systems · 2024-04-16

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Israel Abramov

  Brooklyn College

  88 shared

• Vance Zemon

  Yeshiva University

  80 shared

• Robert Shapley

  42 shared

• Claude Ghez

  Columbia University Irving Medical Center

  37 shared

• Carolee J. Winstein

  31 shared

• Pamela D. Butler

  Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research

  25 shared

• Valerie Nunez

  25 shared

• Hoover Chan

  University of California, San Francisco

  14 shared

Education

• Other, Physical Therapy

  University of Southern California

  2000

• Other, Physical Therapy

  University of Southern California

Awards & honors

• Mary McMillan Lecture Award, American Physical Therapy Assoc…
• Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) from SUNY, Health Scienc…
• Distinguished Alumni Award, Teachers College, Columbia Unive…
• Pauline Cerasoli Lecturer, Education Section, American Physi…
• Leadership in Education Award, Education Section, American P…