PhD in Cognitive Psychology: Dynamics of visual working memory (1.0 FTE)

There is an opening for a fully-funded PhD position to work on the dynamics of visual working memory at Utrecht University. The PhD student will work in the Attentionlab of Stefan Van der Stigchel, principal investigator of the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator project HOMEOSTASIS and Professor in Cognitive Psychology at Utrecht University.

The HOMEOSTASIS project is motivated by the idea that visual working memory (VWM) should be studied in interaction with the world that is still within view. The known limitation of VWM may not be a problem in daily life, because the external world typically remains available and can be accessed relatively easily using an eye movement. It’s currently unknown how the brain balances between internal storage and external sampling of the world.

HOMEOSTASIS will develop a new theoretical model of WM based on an internal mental economy in which VWM maintains a perceptual homeostasis by dynamically trading the costs of accurate internal storage against external sampling of the external visual world.

For one of the work packages, we are looking for a PhD student with a background in cognitive psychology/neuroscience or artificial intelligence. Using eye tracking, we will investigate the costs of making an eye movement and how these costs influence the trade-off between internal storage and external sampling. You will become a part of our Attentionlab in which a group of post-docs and PhD students are working on the same project. The PhD student will participate in the education program of the Helmholtz research school.