Research Interests:

My research in the area of Visual Perception covers three main areas

1. The interaction between separate visual aspects of the scene

• How separate visual modalities might be combined to form the complete percept,
• The implications of the relative time course of neural response for the final visual percept,
• The problem of local sign – i.e. how position can be signalled by a population of neurons,
• The possible role of feedback connections in conscious awareness.

In particular I have examined the interaction between spatial localisation and motion detection. 

This work has been done during the course of my PhD at UCL and has produced an integrated model

of spatial localisation and motion perception, which I would like to continue to build on and eventually link in with my other areas of research. 

2. How a population of neurons codes for the overall percepts of orientation and direction of motion

• Which mathematical population coding models can best fit physiological data as well as provide a functionally plausible argument,
• The link between individual neuron response and the final population response responsible for the percept,
• How orientation and motion information is coded in neuronal spike trains.

In particular I am currently investigating the role of speed and direction in motion contour localisation in the lab of Prof. Johannes Zanker at Royal Holloway University of London.

3. The mechanisms involved and the role of adaptation in neurons

• The dynamics of adaptation of single units as part of a population code,
• How the coding of the stimulus attributes of contrast and orientation depend upon spatial and temporal context,
• A functional explanation of adaptation in the visual cortex.

The last two areas form the basis of my work in collaboration with Dr. Colin Clifford at the University of Sydney

funded by the Royal Society.  I also collaborated with Dr. Michael Ibbotson, at the Research School of Biological Sciences at the Australian National University, Canberra.