PERCEPTUAL INFERENCE
& VISUAL AWARENESS

RESEARCH

Our perceptual system accepts various sensory information that changes from time to time by selecting, interpreting, and inferencing meaningful information. This process is profound to our perception in which certain information will be chosen and consciously perceived. One method we are using to study the process of visual awareness is binocular rivalry, in which the two dissimilar images presented each eye switch between two competing states of awareness (see Dr. Randolph Blake’s website for more information: http://www.psy.vanderbilt.edu/faculty/blake/rivalry/BR.html). From low-level visual information such as contrast, motion, and shape to complex high-level information like music reading and facial stimulation with various social meanings, we aim to figure out how these various types of information relate to human perceptual inference and visual awareness processes.

PUBLISHED WORKS

We have been studying perceptual inference and visual awareness using low-level stimuli and high-level stimuli.

Published works include, 

• Kim, H-W., Kim, C-Y., & Blake, R. (2017) Monocular perceptual deprivation from interocular suppression imbalances ocular dominance. Current Biology, 27, 884-889. 

• Lee, S. A., Kim, C-Y., Shim, M., & Lee, S-H. (2017) Gender Differences in Neural Responses to Perceptually Invisible Fearful Face – an ERP Study. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 11(6). 

• Lee, M., Blake, R., Kim, S., & Kim, C-Y. (2015) Melodic sound enhances visual awareness of congruent musical notes, but only if you can read music. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(27), 8493-8498. 

NEW STUDIES

• Audio-visual interactions in the absence of visual awareness by continuous-flash suppression (CFS) 

• Binocular rivalry with faces with different social/affective values acquired through associative learning 

RESEARCH GRANTS

Our research on perceptual inference and visual awareness has been supported by research grants including 

• “Contextual modulation on category-specific visual brain areas (Years 2017-2021, NRF-2017M3C7A1029659)” 

• "Harmony of the Senses: Generalization, Extension, and Application of Multisensory Interaction Studies (Years 2016-2019, NRF-2016R1A2B4011267)" 

• “Coexistence of the senses – multisensory integration, synesthesia, and its neural concomitants (Years 2013-2016, NRF-2013R1A1A1010923)" 

• “Does modulation of brain activities cause the change of conscious state? 
  (Years 2009-2012, NRF-2009-0089090)” 

• “Union of the Senses and underlying neural mechanisms (Years 2009-2011, KRF-2009-332-H00011)”