Neuroscience
Exploring the neural basis of attention and consciousness
My Research
(what I'm curious about)
Broadly, my research falls into the cognitive neuroscience bucket. Specifically, I'm interested in one big question – what is the relationship between attention and consciousness?
It might appear obvious that paying attention to important things, while ignoring less important ones is what dictates our conscious experience. But researchers have debated about how attention and consciousness are related for years. Some suggest that attention and consciousness are the same thing, others argue they are not.
The question of how attention and consciousness relate might seem trivial. But I believe that solving this puzzle could lead us to an understanding of one of the most profound mysteries of all — what is consciousness?
Articles
(some papers I've had published)
Re-examining the influence of attention and consciousness on visual afterimage duration
This replication study found that both attention and awareness increased afterimage duration, challenging earlier claims that they have opposing effects and suggesting their influence may be more aligned than previously thought.
Neural correlates of goal-directed enhancement and suppression of visual stimuli in the absence of conscious perception
The study shows that goal-driven enhancement and suppression of visual features occur even without conscious awareness, with conscious perception amplifying enhancement but not affecting suppression.
Neural Responses to Target Features outside a Search Array Are Enhanced during Conjunction but Not Unique-Feature Search
The study shows that during difficult (conjunction) visual searches, the brain enhances responses to target-colored objects even outside the focus of attention, but does not suppress distractor or neutral objects.
Taking a closer look at visual search: Just how feature-agnostic is singleton detection mode?
This study shows that in singleton detection mode, both target-colored and irrelevant-colored cues capture attention, but target-colored cues do so more strongly, whereas in feature search mode only target-colored cues matter—highlighting distinct mechanisms of attentional capture.