Visual Cognition Group

Description of Research
The research in this group is concerned with detection, discrimination and short-term memory of visual stimuli. A key part of the approach to the work is to study interactions between different regions of visual cortex, and interactions between visual and non-visual areas by using transcranial magnetic stimulation, psychophysics, eye movements and electrophysiological recording methods. Human vision is a dominant force in our behaviour and the study of vision therefore takes research questions into many different areas of perception outside of our more obviously visual work on visual search, the functions of the parietal cortex, the frontal eye fields and how the brain changes with learning. These include the perception of time, visuomotor learning, music, and mathematics - apparently different functions which often draw upon the same brain resources. The group is engaged in extending the use of TMS in combination with other methodologies, in particular electrophysiological recording and work with neuropsychological patients.