Inference Lab

Attentional phenomena have often been used to derive general properties of the brain. I am evaluating the notion that attentional phenomena are the result of inference processes. Empirical support for this could potentially show that basic inferential processes are at work, and these could potentially form the basis of attentive phenomena in the real world.

Vincent, B. (2011) Covert visual search: Prior beliefs are optimally combined with sensory evidence, Journal of Vision, 11(13):25, 1-15.

Vincent, B. (2011) Search asymmetries: parallel processing of uncertain sensory information, Vision Research, 51(15), 1741-1750.

Vincent, B. T. (2009). Optimal visual search: combining what you expect with what you see Perception 38 ECVP Abstract Supplement, page 20.

Vincent, B. T., Baddeley, R. J., Troscianko, T., & Gilchrist, I. D. (2009). Optimal feature integration in visual search. Journal of Vision, 9(5):15, 1-11.

I am interested in applying basic inferential processes to attention in the real world, to see if we can gain insight into how we deploy attention in natural settings. Much of this work has involved collaboration with Dr Ben Tatler (active vision lab).

Vincent, B.T., Baddeley, R.J., Correani, A., Troscianko, T., Leonards, U. (in press) Do we look at lights? Using mixture modelling to distinguish between low- and high-level factors in natural image viewing, Visual Cognition

Tatler, B., Vincent, B.T. (in press) The prominence of behavioural biases in eye guidance. Visual Cognition.

Tatler, B., Vincent, B.T. (2008) Systematic tendencies in scene viewing, Journal of Eye Movement Research. 2(2):5, 1-18 (Special Issue: Perception of natural scenes)

Vincent B, Troscianko T, Gilchrist I, (2007) Investigating a space-variant weighted salience account of visual selection, Vision Research, 47(13): 1809-1820

Tatler B, Baddeley R, Vincent B, (2006) The long and the short of it: spatial statistics at fixation vary with saccade amplitude and task. Vision Research, 46, 1857–1862

Cognitive psychology broadly sees the brain as an information processor, but is the brain really just an abstract computational device? Brains are physical entities that are under the same physical constraints as everything else and one of these is energy consumption. Perhaps it is the case that being efficient in the use of energy within the brain has formed a powerful evolutionary selection pressure? My investigations have focussed on how energy efficiency shapes the neural organisation of the early visual system and its representations of the world. So far we have show that if one takes this approach, then considerable insight can be gained into the aeitiology of the early visual system (Vincent & Baddeley, 2003; Vincent et al, 2005).

Vincent B, Baddeley R, Troscianko T, Gilchrist I, (2005) Is the early visual system optimised to be energy efficient, Network: Computation in Neural Systems, special issue on Sensory Coding and the Natural Environment, 16(2/3): 175-190

Vincent B & Baddeley R, (2003) Synaptic energy efficiency in retinal processing, Vision Research 43:1283-1290

This was a very exciting collaboration with myself and biologists in the USA. We used knowledge from human visual processing and 'active contours' to help analyse 3D cell cultures to advance the study of breast cancer.

Agne Taraseviciute, Benjamin T. Vincent, Pepper Schedin, and Peter Lloyd Jones. Quantitative Analysis of Three-Dimensional Human Mammary Epithelial Tissue Architecture Reveals a Role for Tenascin-C in Regulating c-Met Function. Am. J. Pathol. published online December 30, 2009, doi:10.2353/ajpath.2010.090006