PhD Studentship: Comparison Processes in Visual Short-term Memory

Faculty of Health and Life Sciences

3 Year, full-time PhD studentship

Eligibility: Home UK/EU applicants who must be permanently resident in UK (settled or pre-settled status)

Bursary p.a.: Bursary equivalent to UKRI national minimum stipend plus fees (current 2022/23 bursary rate is £17,668)

University fees and bench fees: University fees and bench fees will be met by the University for the 3 years of the funded Studentship.

Closing date: 14 April 2023

Interviews: tbc 

Start date: September 2023

Project Title: Comparison processes in visual short-term memory

Director of Studies: Dr Michael Pilling

Other Supervisors: Dr Olivia Afonso

Requirements:

Applicants should have a first or upper second-class honours degree from a Higher Education Institution in the UK or acceptable equivalent qualification. EU Applicants must have a valid IELTS Academic test certificate (or equivalent) with an overall minimum score of 7.0 and no score below 6.0 issued in the last 2 years by an approved test centre.

Project Description:

Visual short-term memory (VSTM) is a limited capacity store of recently viewed visual information. VSTM plays a number of roles in vision, including the maintenance of object correspondences and the detection of change (Luck, 2006). To perform these roles, a core aspect of VSTM function requires comparison of current-input (from the eyes) with VSTM-held representations of previously viewed material (Hyun et al., 2009; Pilling et al. 2020). The main project-aim is to understand the mechanics of this internal comparison process. A core issue is the frames-of-reference used, specifically the circumstances in which retinotopic (eye-centred) or spatiotopic (external) coordinate-frames are utilised in comparisons (e.g. Zerr et al., 2017; Sheremata et al., 2023). The project will use modified versions of the change-detection paradigm combined with other methods, such as eyetracking and EEG, to investigate this and related issues.

Please direct any questions about the project to Dr Michael Pilling: mpilling@brookes.ac.uk. 

There is an additional requirement to undertake up to 6 hours undergraduate teaching/week during semesters and to participate in a teaching skills course without further remuneration.

This project is advertised on a competitive basis alongside other current Nigel Groome PhD studentship advertisements for Psychology, Health and Professional Development projects.

How to apply:

Applicants should visit the project webpage to download instructions on how to submit an online application. Complete applications should include a project proposal (max 1000 words) including background, aims and an outline of how those aims will be addressed. Applicants can liaise with Dr Michael Pilling (mpilling@brookes.ac.uk) when developing their proposal'. For application enquiries contact hls-applications@brookes.ac.uk.

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