Perception, learning and memory

Our research

Our research covers many cognitive and perceptual domains, including vision (Bosten, Franklin), attention (Forster), time perception (Baykova, Roseboom), interoception (Rae, Critchley), ongoing experience (Karapanagiotidis), metacognition (Sherman) and episodic memory (Morcom, Roseboom). We use a combination of neuroimaging, psychophysics and cognitive behavioural methods to investigate the neural underpinnings of perceptual and cognitive process. We seek to understand the influence of environment and experience on perception (Bosten, Franklin), applying Bayesian models and predictive coding frameworks (Baykova, Roseboom, Seth). Another research stream focuses on the boundary between conscious and unconscious cognition (Dienes, Scott).

Our work on individual differences encompasses many domains of perception and memory, including Simner and Ward’s work on synesthesia, sensory sensitivity and misophonia, Bosten’s work on individual differences in colour perception, and Forster and Simner’s work on individual differences in mental imagery. Our research investigates cognitive and perceptual processes through the lifespan from infancy (Franklin) to old age (Morcom). Our Perception Census was the largest study to date aiming to characterise individual differences in perception: over 30,000 people were tested on an extensive battery of perceptual measures in different perceptual domains, including time perception, vision, hearing and more.

Open and robust science principles guide our research practice, and are a research focus of Dienes who has developed tools for Bayesian statistics to improve statistical robsustness, and Baykova who tests the computational reproducibility of research in the centre before publication.