Research
Find out more about our research which spans the full spectrum of human sensory and perceptual experience.
Research themes
Each theme reflects an area of expertise within the centre, from how we sense our internal bodies to how we perceive colour, time, sound, flavour, or multisensory combinations.
Together, these themes showcase the breadth of methods, populations and perspectives we use to understand sensory diversity in all its forms.
- Interoception and internal sensing
Interoception is the sense of the internal state of the body. We study how people perceive signals like heartbeat, hunger, and breath, and how these internal cues relate to emotion, mental health, and altered states of consciousness.
Our research explores how interoceptive awareness varies across individuals and how it contributes to experiences such as anxiety, depersonalisation, and emotional regulation. We also investigate interoception in the context of neurodivergence, including autism and sensory sensitivities, using both behavioural and physiological methods.
Researchers: Giulia Poerio, Sophie Forster, Dominique Makowski, Jamie Ward, Julia Simner, Louisa Rinaldi
- Sound sensitivities, misophonia and hyperacusis
Misophonia is a sound-sensitivity condition in which everyday sounds such as chewing or tapping trigger strong emotional reactions such as anxiety, anger, or disgust.
Our research explores its neural basis, developmental trajectory, and impact on mental health, especially in children. We are developing diagnostic tools, conducting experience-sampling studies, and creating school-based interventions to support misophonic children in educational settings.
We also study hyperacusis, a condition involving extreme sensitivity to sound, and investigate how auditory sensitivities relate to emotion regulation, interoception, and brain-body interventions such as vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS).
Our work includes both lab-based studies and real-world applications, and we are beginning to explore how animals respond to human-generated sounds, which may offer insights into cross-species sensory sensitivities.
Researchers: Julia Simner, Giulia Poerio, Ediz Sohoglu, Jamie Ward, Louisa Rinaldi, Sophie Forster
- Sensory and perceptual development
From infancy to adolescence, we study how sensory systems develop and how early experiences shape perception.
Our work includes research on visual perception in infants, individual differences in sensory sensitivity, and the development of synaesthesia, misophonia, and other sensory traits in children.
We explore how autistic children experience and respond to sensory environments, and how sensory reactivity influences learning, well-being, and social participation. We also explore how early multisensory experiences shape later perceptual development.
We use a range of methods, including longitudinal studies, parent-child interviews, and co-created approaches such as video storytelling.
Our research is grounded in strong partnerships with local communities, schools, and clinical services, ensuring that our findings translate into practical support for children with sensory differences.
Researchers: Alice Skelton, Anna Franklin, Nicola Yuill, Sophie Anns, Julia Simner, Louisa Rinaldi, Jane Oakhill & Peter Cheng
- Time and temporal intergration
How do we perceive time? Our research explores how the brain constructs a sense of duration, sequence, simultaneity, and temporal flow, and how these perceptions are shaped by sensory input and cognitive processes. We investigate how different sensory modalities, such as vision and audition, contribute to our experience of time, and how the brain integrates these signals to form a coherent timeline of events.
Our researchers use psychophysical methods to study how people judge the timing of sensory events, and how these judgments vary across individuals and contexts. We also explore how temporal perception interacts with attention, memory, and decision-making, and how it may differ in neurodivergent populations.
This work is grounded in a commitment to open science and reproducibility, using rigorous experimental designs and transparent methodologies to advance our understanding of one of the most elusive aspects of human experience.
Researchers: Reny Baykova, Warrick Roseboom
- Synaesthsia and multisensory intergration in humans and animals
Our researchers explore how the brain combines information from multiple senses to create a coherent experience of the world. This includes studies of cross-modal correspondences (why high pitch seems to fit with bright lights – rather than dark ones), sensory substitution (using sound to depict visual scenes), and the neural mechanisms that support integration. Multisensory integration is not unique to humans, and we also study how animals, including familiar companions like pet dogs, combine sights, sounds, and smells to navigate their environments, and even communicate with humans.
We also study synaesthesia which is the blending of senses, such as seeing colours when hearing sounds, to understand how sensory systems interact and how individual differences shape perception. We hold the world’s largest database of active synaesthete participants, and our work also explores the links between synaesthesia, creativity, and neurodivergence.
Researchers: Chris Racey, Ediz Sohoglu, Sophie Anns, Sophie Forster, Zoltan Dienes, Jamie Ward, Jamie Ward, Julia Simner, Louisa Rinaldi, Jennifer Mankin
- Visual perception of colour, light and other visual properties
We investigate the neural and perceptual mechanisms of visual perception of colour, light and other visual properties. Our work includes psychophysics, neuroimaging, altered-reality and cross-cultural fieldwork. We study colour vision deficiencies, individual differences in visual perception, how visual processing develops from infancy through childhood, and how visual perception is shaped by language, culture, and environment.
Researchers: Ana Rozman, Chris Racey, Ian Pennock, Jenny Bosten, Alice Skelton, Anna Franklin
- Neurodiversity
We explore how sensory experiences differ across individuals and populations, including those with autism, ADHD, aphantasia, synaesthesia, misophonia, hyperacusis, sensory phobias and sensory manias as well as other forms of sensory diversity such as colour vision deficiency.
Our research aims to understand and support diverse sensory profiles in education, healthcare, and everyday life. Much of our research takes a participatory approach, involving stakeholders in the framing of our research questions, design and dissemination of the research.
For example, the SPeD research draws on the School of Psychology’s Lived Experience of Autism Panel (LEAP) which helps ensure that the voices of autistic adults are heard in our research.
SPeD also connect with the Autism Community Research Network Sussex (ACoRNS) who works with local stakeholders to support better local services for autistic children in education, health and social care.
Researchers: Ana Rozman, Anna Franklin, Jenny Bosten, Chris Racey, Ediz Sohoglu, Giulia Poerio, Jamie Ward, Julia Simner, Louisa Rinaldi, Martin Yeomans, Nicola Yuill, Sophie Anns, Sophie Forster, Zoltan Dienes, John Maule, Jennifer Mankin
- Sensory loss
We study how the brain adapts to sensory loss, such as hearing or vision impairment, and how other senses may compensate. This work has implications for cochlear implant users, sensory substitution, and the neural plasticity that supports adaptation.
Our research has also led to the development of tools to diagnose or support sensory loss.
Researchers: Anna Franklin, Jenny Bosten, Ediz Sohoglu, Jamie Ward, Jane Oakhill
- Visual preferences and aversions
This research explores the individual’s visual preferences, aversions and discomfort. For example, what makes certain colours, lighting or scenes pleasing or uncomfortable, how these preferences and aversions develop, and how these insights can inform inclusive design.
The work encompasses cross-cultural studies, neurodiversity, and brain imaging to examine variations in preference, discomfort, and perception across different environments and populations.
Researchers: John Maule, Alice Skelton, Julia Simner, Louisa Rinaldi, Anna Franklin, Jenny Bosten
- Sensory interventions and applications
We develop and test a range of interventions to support people with sensory and perceptual differences, including those with misophonia, autism, and sensory processing differences. These include brain/body techniques like transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS), which targets the nervous system to reduce sensory reactivity, or scent-based methods to help regulate emotion and well-being.
Our work also includes community-led approaches, such as co-created video storytelling and research into sensory reactivity in autistic students and parents, aiming to better understand and support sensory needs in real-world contexts.
Researchers: Giulia Poerio, Julia Simner, Sophie Anns, Nicola Yuill
- Imagery, suggestibility, depersonalisation and phenomenological control
We study how people experience, or cannot experience, mental imagery: the ability to generate sensory experiences in the mind. Some individuals report a complete absence of voluntary visual imagery, a condition known as aphantasia, while others experience highly vivid internal scenes. Our research explores how these differences affect memory, attention, emotion, and sensory processing.
We also investigate phenomenological control - the capacity to voluntarily influence one’s own sensory experiences, such as imagining sensations or responding to hypnotic suggestion. This work examines how suggestibility and mental imagery interact, and how these traits vary across individuals. We also look at the associations between depersonalisation/derealisation, sleep, and well-being, Together, these studies offer insights into the boundaries of conscious experience, and how internal representations shape our perception of the world.
Researchers: Zoltan Dienes, Peter Lush, Ryan Scott, Julia Simner, Sophie Forster, Louisa Rinaldi, Jamie Ward, Giulia Poerio
- Attention, awareness and distraction
We investigate how attention shapes sensory experience, particularly in contexts where individuals must navigate distraction, mind-wandering, and sensory overload. Our research explores how attentional control mechanisms operate across different sensory modalities, and how these processes vary across individuals.
This work is especially relevant for understanding neurodivergent populations, including those with ADHD and anxiety, who may experience heightened sensitivity to sensory input or difficulty sustaining focus. We examine how attentional differences influence the way people perceive, filter, and prioritise sensory information, and how this relates to mental imagery, sensory awareness, and cognitive load.
Our studies use a range of methods, including behavioural tasks and self-report measures, to investigate how attention fluctuates over time, how it is influenced by internal states such as fatigue or stress, and how it contributes to the subjective experience of the sensory world.
Researchers: Sophie Forster, Jamie Ward, Dominique Makowski, Ediz Sohoglu
- Taste, smell and hedonic experience
Our research explores how people perceive and respond to flavours and smells, with a strong focus on individual differences in sensory preferences and sensitivities. For example, we investigate why some people are extreme sweet-likers, while others are sweet-dislikers, and how these preferences relate to genetics, body composition, and habitual consumption of foods, drinks, and even commonly used drugs.
We also study the emotional and physiological impact of scent, including how smells can influence mood, memory, and well-being. This includes collaborations with industry to measure emotional responses to fragrances and the development of brain/body interventions to reduce sensory sensitivity.
Researchers: Giulia Poerio, Julia Simner, Martin Yeomans, Sophie Anns, Sophie Forster, Zoltan Dienes
- Diagnostics, research toolkits and open science
We are committed to transparency, reproducibility, and open methods in sensory and perceptual science. Our researchers actively develop and promote open science practices, including the use of psychophysics toolkits, data-sharing protocols, and reproducible analysis pipelines that ensure findings can be verified and built upon by others.
This work includes developing and disseminating diagnostic tools for sensory differences — including conditions like misophonia, aphantasia, and synaesthesia — through freely accessible online platforms like the Misophonia Hub.
We also create standardised experimental frameworks, open-access datasets, and training resources to support best practices in data collection, analysis, and reporting. We also contribute to the broader scientific community by advocating for replication studies, pre-registration, and open peer review. Our goal is to foster a culture of rigorous, collaborative, helpful and transparent research, ensuring that sensory science remains robust, cumulative, and accessible to all.
Researchers: Dominique Makowski, Reny Baykova, Zoltan Dienes, Julia Simner, Jamie Ward, Louisa Rinaldi