Prof. Frans Verstraten, PhD
Helmholtz Institute
Verstraten and colleagues cover a very wide range of research questions and techniques. To name just a few, they dig into the biological basis of fear and stress. Also, they try to make a functional map of the mind. Which brain areas are responsible for which tasks? Taking a psychophysic approach they track eye movements, which may provide answers to questions about attention and problem solving. How do we look at a screen, where do our eyes pause? And how to best guide persons through new areas, using smart clues? Also, there’s cross modality: how do seeing and hearing influence each other? How to model material properties in a virtual reality environment? A lively combination of biology, physics and psychology where perception plays an important role.
Verstraten and colleagues use multiple imaging and neurophysiological techniques. fMRI, TMS, ERP are all employed. He offers one crucial tip.
“If you want to work with patients, for example suffering from agnosia or synesthesia, options are limited. You should start as early as possible with making arrangements because these projects take a long time to get started.
“Students typically join existing research projects, and although we give them some time to discover the inner workings of science, we are keen on having them finish their projects within the assigned time frame. In our group you may find students from many branches: medicine, psychology, information sciences, physics and even linguistics. We don’t really mind where you’re from, but an exact mind helps. You must be able to solve an integral.”