[visionlist] Fully funded PhD studentship: Neurocognitive mechanisms of person perception

[Paul Downing]

Fully-funded PhD position in Neurocognitive mechanisms of social perception

Closing date: June 15th, 2019

Funding amount: Tax-free stipend of approximately £14,800 per annum plus tuition fees and a research allowance

Applications are invited for a three-year fully funded PhD studentship in the School of Psychology, Bangor University.

Supervisor: Prof Paul Downing
Bangor University, School of Psychology

Project rationale and description: My research is in the area of social perception: What are the neurocognitive mechanisms that transform visual signals into reliable, socially-relevant signals about the people around us? With my colleagues I have explored this question by applying psychophysical, fMRI, and TMS methods to study face, body, and action perception. For example, some recent and current studies in the lab examine: how visual, semantic, and motor aspects of actions are represented in the brain; how states and traits such as sex, age, weight, and emotion are inferred from the appearance of the body; how the presence of other people shapes our pattern of attention within a scene; how frontal and temporal brain regions coordinate in perception of human faces; and how body-selective regions of the temporal lobes capture our knowledge of possible human postures.

I seek a skilled and motivated student with shared interests to jointly develop and carry out a series of studies within this exciting and fast-moving area.

Recent relevant papers include the following. More information is available on the lab website<http://pages.bangor.ac.uk/~pss811/>.

Peelen, M. V., & Downing, P. E. (2017). Category selectivity in human visual cortex: Beyond visual object recognition. Neuropsychologia, 105, 177-183.

Johnstone, L. T., & Downing, P. E. (2017). Dissecting the visual perception of body shape with the Garner selective attention paradigm. Visual Cognition, 25(4-6), 507-523.

Harry, B. B., Umla-Runge, K., Lawrence, A. D., Graham, K. S., & Downing, P. E. (2016). Evidence for integrated visual face and body representations in the anterior temporal lobes. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 28(8), 1178-1193.

Downing, P. E., & Peelen, M. V. (2016). Body selectivity in occipitotemporal cortex: Causal evidence. Neuropsychologia, 83, 138-148.

Lingnau, A., & Downing, P. E. (2015). The lateral occipitotemporal cortex in action. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 19(5), 268-277.

Facilities: The student will be a member of the School’s thriving Social Neuroscience research group, which meets regularly to present and discuss planned and ongoing projects as well as important developments in the field. More widely, the School benefits from an excellent research environment, with a large community of PhD students and research-active faculty, regular lab meetings, seminars, and visiting speakers, and extensive facilities for behavioural and neuroscientific studies, including a research-dedicated 3T MRI centre and associated TMS suite.

Requirements: Prof Downing seeks excellent candidates with shared interests and some relevant experience in social perception. Essential criteria include excellent communication skills, a strong grasp of experimental psychology and/or social-cognitive neuroscience, and a good MSc degree in Psychology or a related discipline. Some programming skills are highly desirable, especially if your interests are in fMRI.

In your application, please include your CV and a brief (1-2 pages) description of your research interests related to social perception: what general research questions in this area attract you? What kinds of approaches might you want to take to answer them?

Further information: Informal enquiries about the studentship should be directed to p.downing at bangor.ac.uk<mailto:p.downing at bangor.ac.uk>

General enquiries: For general advice about how to apply and eligibility please contact psychology at bangor.ac.uk<mailto:psychology at bangor.ac.uk>
Apply Now: The online application form is available here https://apps.bangor.ac.uk/applicant/

Bangor Doctoral School website: https://www.bangor.ac.uk/doctoral-school/



Mae croeso i chi gysylltu gyda'r Brifysgol yn Gymraeg neu Saesneg

You are welcome to contact the University in Welsh or English

Rhif Elusen Gofrestredig 1141565 - Registered Charity No. 1141565

Gall y neges e-bost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau a anfonwyd gyda hi, gynnwys deunydd cyfrinachol ac wedi eu bwriadu i'w defnyddio'n unig gan y sawl y cawsant eu cyfeirio ato (atynt). Os ydych wedi derbyn y neges e-bost hon trwy gamgymeriad, rhowch wybod i'r anfonwr ar unwaith a dilewch y neges. Os na fwriadwyd anfon y neges atoch chi, rhaid i chi beidio a defnyddio, cadw neu ddatgelu unrhyw wybodaeth a gynhwysir ynddi. Mae unrhyw farn neu safbwynt yn eiddo i'r sawl a'i hanfonodd yn unig ac nid yw o anghenraid yn cynrychioli barn Prifysgol Bangor. Nid yw Prifysgol Bangor yn gwarantu bod y neges e-bost hon neu unrhyw atodiadau yn rhydd rhag firysau neu 100% yn ddiogel. Oni bai fod hyn wedi ei ddatgan yn uniongyrchol yn nhestun yr e-bost, nid bwriad y neges e-bost hon yw ffurfio contract rhwymol - mae rhestr o lofnodwyr awdurdodedig ar gael o Swyddfa Cyllid Prifysgol Bangor.

This email and any attachments may contain confidential material and is solely for the use of the intended recipient(s). If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this email. If you are not the intended recipient(s), you must not use, retain or disclose any information contained in this email. Any views or opinions are solely those of the sender and do not necessarily represent those of Bangor University. Bangor University does not guarantee that this email or any attachments are free from viruses or 100% secure. Unless expressly stated in the body of the text of the email, this email is not intended to form a binding contract - a list of authorised signatories is available from the Bangor University Finance Office.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://visionscience.com/pipermail/visionlist_visionscience.com/attachments/20190430/4eb18577/attachment-0001.html>