Goal
At BioMotionLab, our main research interest is focused on questions concerning the nature of perceptual representations. How can a stream of noisy nerve cell excitations possibly be turned into the coherent and predictable perception of a “reality”? We work on questions involving the processing of sensory information, perception, cognition, and communication. In particular, we study how the brain integrates signals from multiple senses to form stable interpretations of the environment, how motion and biological cues are recognized, and how biases or ambiguities influence perception. Our research extends into areas such as visual recognition, multi-sensory integration, and the mechanisms that support social interaction and communication. By combining behavioural experiments, computational modeling, and immersive technologies such as virtual reality, BioMotionLab aims to uncover fundamental principles of how humans and animals perceive, understand, and act upon the world around them
Topics
People perception:
The biology and psychology of social recognition
- detection of animate agents
- conspecific recognition
- gender recognition
- individual recognition
- action recognition
- recognition of emotions, personality traits and intentionality
- recognition of bodies, faces, and biological motion
Vision in virtual reality
- pictorial vs physical spaces
- space perception
- simulator sickness
- perception of self-motion (vection)
- multisensory integration
- perception of the own body
- the nature of presence
Visual ambiguities and perceptual biases
- depth ambiguities
- the “facing-the-viewer” bias
Network
Since moving to York University in 2018, the Biomotion Lab has become an integral part of the multi-departmental Centre for Vision Research. Its main affiliation is with the Department of Biology in the Faculty of Science.
Funding Sources
Dr. Troje is a core member of the CFREF funded program “Vision: Science to Application” (VISTA). Other funding comes from