Projects

Visual scotomas

We use functional MRI and population receptive field analysis to map the extend of visual scotomas and better understand the processes of filling-in and experience-dependent plasticity. This work is a collaboration with Derek Arnold and Alex Puckett at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, and is funded by a FRDF New Staff grant.

Interplay of perception & behaviour

In collaboration with our School’s virtual reality expert, we use VR and psychophysics to study how perception influences cognition and behaivour. For instance, we are interested in how motorists perceive their driving speed and how we can use visual processing principles to make driving safer. In the same vein, we also conduct real-world experiments to test how visual processing (especially perceptual illusions) affect things like dart-throwing performance.

 

Mapping connections

We use recent advances in neuroimaging analysis techniques to map the fine-grained spatial organisation of functional connectivity between brain areas.

Awareness & Grouping

We use functional MRI and population receptive field analysis to understand how the brain organised visual inputs in the absence of awareness. This research is funded by a PBRF allocation.

Visual object size

This project uses psychophysical methods and functional MRI to better understand how we infer the size of visual objects.

Spatial tuning

We use functional MRI and to better study the potential links between receptive field sizes in visual cortex and spatial vision. This project is part of the larger research program The cortical limit on visual acuity supported by the RSNZ Marsden Fund (PI: Steven Dakin).

Our lab has developed the SamSrf Matlab toolbox for analysing functional maps in the brain: https://osf.io/2rgsm/