Job ID: 116375
PhD position on 3-dimensional perceptual stability
Position: Ph.D. Student
Deadline: 24 September 2023
Employment Start Date: 24 September 2023
Contract Length: 3 years
City: Marburg
Country: Germany
Institution: Philipps Universitaet Marburg
Department:
Description:
A PhD fellowship is available in Marburg, Germany, to work on perceptual stability in 3D space. The aim of the project is to investigate mechanisms of attention and perceptual constancy in depth. Visual constancy, i.e., the stability of perception despite eye movements, is typically investigated with “flat” 2D stimuli, ignoring the depth dimension. However, eye movements in natural behavior almost always include a vergence (depth) component. We are surprisingly ignorant about the effects of the third dimension on visual processing and visual stability. The PhD student will be in charge of conducting behavioral studies in human observers to investigate related questions such as what are the spatial and temporal extents of the deployment of attention in depth, how it interacts with eye-movements, and how it contributes to produce a sense of visual stability in the visual scene. These behavioral studies will be matched by physiological recordings in non-human primates. The student will not be required to be involved in the physiological recordings, but will be offered the opportunity if interested.
The position is within the DFG-funded project “Mechanisms of 3-Dimensional attention and visual constancy in primates”, in collaboration between Frank Bremmer and Baptiste Caziot in Marburg, Germany; and Martin Szinte and Guillaume Masson at Marseille University, France. The successful candidates will join the team ofFrank Bremmer at the Neurophysik group of Philipps Universitaet Marburg. The lab offers excellent facilities for studying all aspects related to 3D perception and the possibility to use a wide range of methods including psychophysics, VR, EEG, fMRI and primate neurophysiology.
The student will be part of the Marburg/Giessen research environment, a stimulating, multi-national and multi-disciplinary research environment. The lab is deeply involved in multiple research clusters, including the “SFB cardinal mechanisms of perception” (https://www.sfb-perception.de/index-en/), “The Adaptive Mind” (https://www.theadaptivemind.de) and “Plasticity of perception in real and virtual spaces” (https://www.places-eu.org), involving a total of over 100 local and international scientists. The student will strongly benefit from the extensive schedule of workshops and training opportunities. Marburg is a small town with one of the oldest German universities, located half-way between Frankfurt and Kassel.
Starting date is any time after 24/09/2023. The position is offered for a period of 3 years, if no former times of qualification must be considered. The position is part-time (65% of regular working hours) with salary and benefits commensurate with a public service position in the state Hesse, Germany (TV-H E 13, 65%).
Please send your application, including a resume, a brief statement of research interest and and the names of up to 2 people who could supply a letter of reference to heike.homberger@uni-marburg.de or by mail to “Neurophysik, Heike Homberger-Thomas, Karl-von-Frisch-Str. 8a, D-35043 Marburg”. Informal inquiries are welcome and should be addressed to caziot@physik.uni-marburg.de.
The position will be filled by a temporary contract that is limited to the period which is necessary to gain further scientific expertise (such as the preparation for a subsequent qualification period). Within the entrusted tasks the opportunity for independent scientific work to obtain further personal qualification is given. The limitation of the contract complies to § 2 Abs. 1 WissZeitVG. We actively support the professional development of junior researchers, e.g. by the offers of Marburg Research Academy (MARA), the International Office, the Higher Education Didactics Office and the Human Resources Development Office. We support women and strongly encourage them to apply. In areas where women are underrepresented, female applicants will be preferred in case of equal qualifications. Applicants with children are welcome – Philipps-University is certified as a family-friendly university. Sharing a full-time position (§ 8 Abs. 2 S. 1 HGlG) as well as a reduction of working time is possible. Applicants with a disability as described in SGB IX (§ 2 Abs. 2, 3) will be preferred in case of equal qualifications. Application and interview costs cannot be refunded.