Balslev Otto EastBIO studentship 2014

The multimodal estimate of gaze: fixed or flexible ?

 Supervisor 1 (Lead)           Dr Daniela Balslev, Psychology and Neuroscience

Supervisor 2                     Dr Thomas Otto, Psychology and Neuroscience

 Without information of gaze direction, it would be difficult if not impossible to reach to visual objects and one would immediately lose track of them as soon as the eyes have moved. Two main eye position signals exist, the motor command sent to the eye muscles (corollary discharge) and the feedback from these muscles (proprioception). The corollary discharge is faster, whereas proprioception is more accurate. The PhD student will investigate how the brain estimates eye position based on both signals in order to localize objects in behavioral tasks that emphasize either speed or accuracy. Using state of the art tools at the interface between cognitive neuroscience and behavioral modeling, the student will derive predictions from models for sensorimotor integration (ranging from simple race architectures to maximum likelihood integration) and test these by manipulating ocular sensorimotor signals at cortical level with transcranial magnetic stimulation and by measuring the consequent effect on behavior. A central question is to determine whether the combination of eye position signals is either hardwired to match the relative precision of the signals or flexible to fit current task demands. All necessary equipment for the experiments is available in the School of Psychology.

References

1. Balslev et al. (2012) J Neurosci 32:8569–8573.

2. Odoj and Balslev (2013) J Cogn Neurosci 25:1180–1189.

3. Otto and Mamassian (2012) Current Biology 22(15): 1391-1396

For more details, see our PhD studentships pages.