Fully funded PhD position | Centre for Cognitive Science – TU Darmstadt
We have a fully funded open PhD position in the lab of Constantin
Rothkopf (https://www.pip.tu-darmstadt.de/) at the Centre for Cognitive
Science @ TU Darmstadt in a joint DFG-AEI project in collaboration with
Joan López-Moliner (U. Barcelona) on continuous psychophysics. This
exciting new experimental paradigm abandons the rigid trial structure
involving binary responses and replaces it with continuous behavioral
adjustments to dynamic stimuli:
Bonnen, K., Burge, J., Yates, J., Pillow, J., & Cormack, L. K. (2015).
Continuous psychophysics: Target-tracking to measure visual sensitivity.
Journal of vision, 15(3), 14-14.
https://jov.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2301260
Together with a computational analysis framework based on Bayesian
inverse optimal control it is possible to not only recover the
perceptual sensitivity but additionally estimate participants’ action
variability, internal behavioral costs, and subjective beliefs about the
experimental stimulus dynamics:
Straub, D., & Rothkopf, C. A. (2022). Putting perception into action
with inverse optimal control for continuous psychophysics. Elife, 11,
e76635.
https://elifesciences.org/articles/76635
In SHIFT, we want to validate, refine, and extend our analysis method
for continuous psychophysics.
Our group is part of the Centre for Cognitive Science
(http://www.cogsci.tu-darmstadt.de/) and the AI Center at TU Darmstadt,
which are home to an internationally outstanding group of PIs and junior
researchers working in the areas of computational cognitive science,
machine learning, and artificial intelligence. We are part of several
research consortia including two recently awarded Excellence Clusters
(The Adaptive Mind & Reasonable AI), we are part of the Simons
Collaboration on Ecological Neuroscience, and engage in multiple
fruitful research collaborations. The lab has state of the art equipment
for eye and body tracking, VR, naturalistic task monitoring,
psychophysics and access to one of the most generous computing
infrastructures in Germany. We foster an inclusive, supportive, and
collaborative environment driven by scientific curiosity and mutual
respect and we maintain close interactions with other research groups
including joint lab meetings.
Applicants may have a background in cognitive science, computer science,
neuroscience, psychology, engineering, or related fields. Don’t hesitate
to contact me informally for more details if you have any questions.
Please send an application including a CV, a two page cover letter
explaining your research interests, motivation for joining the project,
and contact information for 2-3 references in a single pdf file. Please
include “SHIFT” in the subject of your mail. Applications will be
reviewed on a continuing basis.
The Frankfurt-Darmstadt metropolitan area is located in the heart of
Europe and is one of the most international regions in Germany with a
diverse community and rich culture repeatedly earning high rankings in
worldwide surveys of quality of living. Frankfurt recently reached 7th
place worldwide in a ranking of attractiveness by the Economist and
Darmstadt has repeatedly ranked among the top innovation driving cities
in Germany.