Prof Daniel T. Smith
Dan is a professor in Durham University’s Department of Psychology. His research examines the interaction between the motor system, specifically the oculomotor system, and cognitive processes such as attention and working memory, with the goal to understand how activity in the motor system helps resolve competition between different representations in the visual system. The Motor Bias project distilled ideas he has developed over several years into a coherent framework we can use to predict how and when motor activity can influence perception. Dan now applies these findings to better understanding the cognitive problems in movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.
eMail: daniel.smith2@durham.ac.uk; webpage
Dr Soazig Casteau
Soazig is Assistant Professor in Psychology at Durham University since 2021. Her research uses behavioural psychophysics, eye tracking, and TMS to investigate how covert and overt attention, working memory, and oculomotor constraints shape where we look and what we perceive. Her work spans saccade control and the superior colliculus, attentional selection, and museum-based studies of how context shapes aesthetic engagement with art. She previously held postdoctoral positions at Durham, Royal Holloway, and Nice-Sophia Antipolis, and completed her PhD at Aix-Marseille University.
Keywords: visual attention, eye movements, active vision, eye tracking, TMS, aesthetic experience
eMail: soazig.casteau@durham.ac.uk; webpage
Dr Alison Lane (PI)
Ali is an Associate Professor in Durham University’s Psychology Department and fellow of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing. As a neuropsychological researcher they have conducted experiments exploring the brain areas involved in visuospatial attention, primarily using visual search tasks and neural stimulation techniques. They are also an experienced applied psychologist, having developed rehabilitation tools to assist people with visual / attentional impairments and conducted clinical trials exploring the efficacy of such technology. This is really their driving motivation – to do research with the aim of making a difference to clinical practice and the wellbeing of people living with neurological conditions.
eMail: a.r.lane@durham.ac.uk