[visionlist] phd studentship at the university of aberdeen

[Martinovic, Jasna]

Interactions between bottom-up and top-down biases in the processing of colour
PhD studentship from the College of Life Sciences and Medicine of the University of Aberdeen, UK
Supervisors: Dr Jasna Martinovic and Professor Arash Sahraie
Starting date: October 2010

The efficiency of attentional selection depends on two factors: the saliency of the stimulus (bottom-up processing) and the adopted perceptual set (top-down processing). Relations between these stimulus and task-driven factors are still poorly understood. Most studies describe additive and independent effects of top-down and bottom-up factors. However, it seems that in difficult tasks, whith stimuli competing for limited perceptual resources, top-down and bottom-up processes may interact.  In real-life situations, the visual system is habitually presented with the difficult task of selecting stimuli from diverse and dynamic scenes. Therefore it is reasonable to assume that interactions between bottom-up and top-down biases could be the norm, rather than an exception. The project will be focused on determining the relations between bottom-up and top-down factors when attending to different features in complex dynamic scenes, focusing on luminance and colour. The main methods will be psychophysics and electroencephalography (EEG), with both event-related and steady-state evoked potentials being examined.

The project is based at the School of Psychology of the University of Aberdeen. The school o has state-of-the-art EEG facilities, including two 64-electrode Biosemi ActiveTwo EEG systems. One of these systems will soon be upgraded to 128 electrodes. Vision Research Laboratories within the School are equipped with multiple psychophysical workstations and a high-resolution eye tracking system (EyeLink 1000). The successful candidate will join an ambitious group of vision scientists comprising of academic and research staff and students.

Interested candidates should have a background in psychology, engineering, mathematics or a related field. Candidates must be eligible for UK/EU fee status and should hold a First or Upper Second Class Honours degree, a Masters degree or an equivalent qualification. Programming skills (e.g. Matlab, C) and previous experience with electrophysiology, psychophysics and signal processing methods would be beneficial, but are not essential since training in these methods will be provided.

The student will receive an annual stipend - in 2010/2011, this will be £13,590. £1000 to cover the costs of attending scientific meetings and training workshops will also be made available.


Aberdeen is the third biggest city in Scotland, situated in the scenic North East area. It has a vibrant and large student community and is home to dynamic, home-grown music and art scenes. The city is graced by the Aberdeen Art Gallery, His Majesty's Theatre, Maritime Museum and several local history museums. Aberdeen lies in an area of great natural beauty, with the Royal Deeside being about an hour's drive away.



To apply, send an application form with a covering letter, an up-to-date CV (no longer than 2 sides of A4) and names of two referees by email to m.pignotti at abdn.ac.uk.<mailto:m.pignotti at abdn.ac.uk.> The application form can be downloaded from http://www.abdn.ac.uk/sras/word_docs/pgapp.doc  The deadline for applications is 20 June 2010. If you are interested in the project and have any questions please contact Dr Jasna Martinovic (j.martinovic at abdn.ac.uk<mailto:j.martinovic at abdn.ac.uk>).


Dr Jasna Martinovic
School of Psychology
University of Aberdeen
William Guild Building
Aberdeen
AB24 2UB

tel: 01224 272240
email: j.martinovic @ abdn.ac.uk
web: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/~psy527/dept/



The University of Aberdeen is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013683.
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