[Eeglablist] phd studentship at the university of aberdeen

[Jasna Martinovic]

*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 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.

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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>).

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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/