The role of prior expectations in auditory and visual processing

Perception is not exclusively driven by sensory input but is shaped by expectation, knowledge, and experience (so-called priors). Priors can lead to systematic biases in perception, such as distortions in where things are and how fast they are moving. Working with Tom Freeman and Christoph Teufel, the PhD will examine the degree to which priors are shared across vision and hearing. The project will make use of a state-of-the-art laboratory comprising arrays of speakers, LEDs, Virtual Reality headsets as well as eye- and head-trackers. Current projects in the lab include audiovisual cue combination and motion perception in active perceivers, funded by the Leverhulme Trust (go here for recent abstracts https://journals.sagepub.com/page/pec/collections/ecvp-abstracts/index/ecvp-2021). 

Freeman and Teufel have published widely on the interaction between sensory encoding and prior expectations e.g. Powell, G.et al. 2016. Bayesian models of individual differences: combining autistic traits and sensory thresholds to predict motion perception. Psychological Science 27(12), pp. 1562-1572. (10.1177/0956797616665351). Teufel, C. and Fletcher, P. C. 2020. Forms of prediction in the nervous system. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 21, pp. 231-242. (10.1038/s41583-020-0275-5). 

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