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Biophysical Sciences Institute
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Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience

Our interdisciplinary approach brings fresh insights into the mechanisms and neural subrates involved in cognition and perception.

Our multidisciplinary community of neurosciences academics work collaboratively using tools and expertise from across the physical sciences, from proteomics to the development of new computational and mathematical approaches.
Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience Academics
Microscopy image of a nerve cell, or neuron, from the cortex of the cerebellum, courtesy of Dr R W Banks.

Research Highlights

  • A team of interdisciplinary academics, led by Dr Ulrik Beierholm (Durham Psychology), are exploring Bayesian approaches to understand how the nervous system deals with uncertainty. Find out more here.

  • Dr Lore Thaler (Durham Psychology) is working with human echolocators (people who can produce and use clicks to judge distance) to determine where the processing of this sensory input takes place in the brain. The collaborative team work with those that have pre-existing echolocation skills as well as those who are learning the skills for the first time. Find out more here.

  • A multidisciplinary team, led by Professor Marko Nardini (Durham Psychology) are investigating how novel sensory data, such as inputs from vibrating distance monitors or echo-based distance measurement systems, are combined with other, pre-existing sensory data. Systems such as these have potential applications in sports and leisure, as well as possible uses in workplace safety equipment. Find out more here. 

  • Understanding Human Echolocation

    Dr Lore Thaler and an international team of colleagues are revealing new detail about human echolocation. A study published in Nature Scientific Reports shows for the first time, that increased intensity of clicks combats the competing background noise present in real-world situations.
    Echolocation

  • Detecting Facial Recognition

    Further evidence in support of human facial recognition being an involuntary process has been found by a team of academics led by Prof. Holger Wiese (Durham Psychology). The research has interesting potential applications, particularly in forensic settings.

Understanding Human Echolocation

Dr Lore Thaler and an international team of colleagues are revealing new detail about human echolocation. A study published in Nature Scientific Reports shows for the first time, that increased intensity of clicks combats the competing background noise present in real-world situations.
Echolocation

Detecting Facial Recognition

Further evidence in support of human facial recognition being an involuntary process has been found by a team of academics led by Prof. Holger Wiese (Durham Psychology). The research has interesting potential applications, particularly in forensic settings.
Highlight Publications

Case Study: Forging New Collaborations

A Cross-Disciplinary Special Interest Group 

A cross-departmental research group in Mathematical and Computational Biology was launched in 2018. This brought together researchers from across the Faculty of Science, and the guest speaker Professor Netta Cohen (University of Leeds) to share research through a series of discussions and talks. This continued with a pot-lockdown refresh in 2022.

For more information about the Mathematical and Computational Biology Special Interest Group please see the launch meeting report and email bsi.manager@durham.ac.uk to find out how to get involved.

A group of people at the Computational Biology Special Interest Group launch in 2018

Attendees gather at the Mathematical and Computational Biology Special Interest Group launch in 2018

Highlight Publications

Aston, S., Beierholm, U., & Nardini, M., 2022. Newly Learned Novel Cues to Location Are Combined With Familiar Cues but Not Always With Each Other. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 48, 6.

Aston, S., Negen, J., Nardini, M. & Beierholm, U., 2022 . Central tendency biases must be accounted for to consistently capture Bayesian cue combination in continuous response data. Behavior Research Methods, 54(1), pp. 508-521.

Aston, S., Pattie, C., Graham, R., Slater, H., Beierholm, U., & Nardini, M., 2022. Newly learned shape-color associations show signatures of reliability-weighted averaging without forced fusion or a memory color effect. Journal of vision, 22, 13. 

English, E.A., & Chazot, P.L., 2022. Sports Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS) Model in Drosophila melanogaster. Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association, 17. 

McPhetres, J., & Shtulman, A., 2021. Piloerection is not a reliable physiological correlate of awe
(2021) International Journal of Psychophysiology, 159. 

Musa, A., Lane, A.R., & Ellison, A., 2022. The effects of induced optical blur on visual search performance and training. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 75, 2.

Negen, J., Bird, L.-A., Slater, H., Thaler, L., & Nardini, M., 2023. Multisensory perception and decision-making with a new sensory skill. Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance, 49, 5. 

Norman L.J., Thaler L., 2023. The Occipital Place Area Is Recruited for Echo-Acoustically Guided Navigation in Blind Human Echolocators, Journal of Neuroscience, 43(24), 24.

Prew, W., Breckon, T., Bordewich, M., & Beierholm, U., 2022. Evaluating Gaussian Grasp Maps for Generative Grasping Models. Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks.

Scheller M., Nardini M., 2023. Correctly establishing evidence for cue combination via gains in sensory precision: Why the choice of comparator matters. Behavior Research Methods,10.3758/s13428-023-02227-w. 

Thaler L., Castillo-Serrano J.G., Kish D., Norman L.J., 2024. Effects of type of emission and masking sound, and their spatial correspondence, on blind and sighted people's ability to echolocate. Neuropsychologia, 196.

A purple dividing line

People

Dr Ulrik Beierholm, Department of Psychology 

Areas of Expertise: Computational Neuroscience             

Research Interests: How the nervous system deals with uncertainty, whether in perception, decision making or learning.

 

Dr Vincent Croset, Department of Biosciences   

Areas of Expertise: Neurobiology, (Single-cell) Transcriptomics, Behaviour 

Research Interests: Effects of nutritional state and drugs of abuse on neuronal physiology, gene expression and behaviour.

 

Dr Paul Chazot, Department of Biosciences & Nevrargenics

Areas of Expertise: Neuroscience, Chronic Pain, Pharmacology 

Research Interests: Identifying and validating novel drug targets and prodromal bio- and behavioural-markers for a range of common chronic neurological and metabolic pathologies. 

 

Dr Alison Lane, Department of Psychology          

Areas of Expertise: Clinical Neuropsychology 

Research Interests

  • Concussion / sub-concussive head impacts 
  • Neurorehabilitation 
  • Visuospatial attention 

 

Dr Jonathon McPhetres, Department of Psychology

Areas of Expertise: Psychophysiology, Systems Biology 

Research Interests: Using biological models to understand social behaviours and higher levels cognitions.

 

Professor Marko Nardini, Department of Psychology     

Areas of Expertise: Visual and multisensory perception 

Research Interests

  • Perceptual and Cognitive development
  • Perception with New Sensory Signals

 

Dr Lore Thaler, Department of Psychology           

Areas of Expertise: Human Psychophysics, Psychoacoustics, Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) 

Research Interests

  • Sensory neuroplasticity 
  • Blindness 
  • Human echolocation