THINGS in PLACES database

This project combines object-level representations (from the Things database) with context-rich scene images (from the Places dataset) to develop a database which can be used to explore the influence of semantic relationships across different cognitive tasks.

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Representing semantic congruency of objects in context 

This project aims to deepen our knowledge how the semantic congruency between an object and its context is represented in the brain in the short term. To investigate this, semantic congruency is manipulated across a continuum, and a hierarchy of low- to high-level object features is evaluated. Using fMRI, we are testing the hypothesis that semantically congruent contexts prompt the brain to prioritize high-level conceptual meaning, while incongruent contexts bias processing toward low-level visual features like shape and color. 

Levels of Congruency (LOC): An EEG Study on Comics

Does the brain rely on the same neural mechanisms to process a high-level narrative surprise and a low-level visual errors? How do these different types of surprise shape how memories are encoded and retrieved? This project uses comic strips where the final panel introduces unexpected events at two different levels: either narrative or perceptual. Using EEG and a set of memory tasks we aim to assess how these violations impacted participant recall.

From cognitive operations to visual features

This project explores how the human mind applies different operations to stimuli based on goals, emphasizing features relevant to each task. Specifically, we want to know whether basic perceptual tasks prioritize low-level features and, in turn, whether more abstract tasks emphasize higher-level features. We are currently using Convolutional Neural Networks to model participants' behavior and generate feature-relevance profiles, advancing our understanding of goal-to-feature representational dynamics.

Evidence synthesis of the effects of semantics on memory 

This project uses evidence synthesis methodologies (e.g., systematic review, scoping review, meta-analysis) to develop an integrative approach to the effects of semantic congruency on memory performance and potentially reconcile the empirical discrepancies recurrently observed in this field.