Prof. Dr. Thomas Geyer

Primary research focus: Behavioral & Cognitive Neuroscience

Second research focus: Biomedical Neuroscience

Third research focus: Theoretical Neuroscience & Technical Applications

Keywords: visual cognition, selection attention, learning and memory, consciousness

Research methods: behavioral (reaction times, response accuracy, fixation and saccadic events) and neurobiological (lateralized ERP activations, BOLD responses) approaches.

Brief research description: Humans are continuously encountering a myriad of events at any given time in their environment, providing a huge load on the brain in processing the various inputs, linking (some of) them to representations stored in memory, and organizing appropriate responses (to some of them). However, while the brain has an impressive capability of parallel processing, its capacity is strongly limited. Fortunately, humans (and animals alike) are equipped with sophisticated statistical learning mechanisms that operate in an automatic fashion, helping in the acquisition of long-term memories of sensory co-occurrences to interact more effectively with the world in later occasions, for instance, by facilitating search for and recognition of objects embedded in complex sensory environments. In my research I address the cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms of statistical learning in search tasks using reaction time and psychophysical methods (including eye tracking), in combination with cognitive imaging techniques: EEG, fMRI, and combined EEG-fMRI.

Graduated GSN students: Dr. Efsun Annac, Abhilash Dwarakanath, Dr. Bernhard Schlagbauer

Selected publications:

Müller, H. J., Geyer, T., Zehetleitner, M., & Krummenacher, J. (2009). Attentional capture by salient color singleton distractors is modulated by top-down dimensional set. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 35, 1-16.

Geyer, T., Müller, H.J., & Krummenacher, J. (2008). Expectancies modulate attentional capture by salient color singletons. Vision Research, 48, 1315-1326.

Geyer, T., Müller, H.J., & Krummenacher, J. (2007). Cross-trial priming of element positions in pop-out visual search is dependent on regular stimulus arrangement. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 33, 788-797.

Zinchenko, A., Conci, M., Töllner, T., Müller, H. J., & Geyer, T. (2020). Automatic guidance (and misguidance) of visuospatial attention by acquired scene memory: evidence from an N1pc polarity reversal. Psychological Science, 31(12), 1531-1543.

Chen, S., Shi, Z., Zinchenko, A., Müller, H. J., & Geyer, T. (2022). Cross‐modal contextual memory guides selective attention in visual‐search tasks. Psychophysiology, e14025.