Looking for meaning
Professor Rasha Abdel Rahman
Monday, 16 June 2025, 2pm to 3pm
2nd floor seminar room New Radcliffe House Radcliffe Observatory Quarter
Hosted by Professor Asifa Majid
ABSTRACT:
How do we make sense of the world around us? Theoretical positions in cognitive science range from descriptions of perception as an encapsulated process, unaffected and strictly followed by higher-level cognition, to perception as active inference and construction. This talk presents empirical evidence on the interplay between visual perception and cognition and how it shapes our conscious experience. Specifically, I will discuss how knowledge, realness and meaningfulness affect the perception of high-level visual stimuli as objects and faces, and related functions as visual imagery and the transition from unconscious to conscious experience.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Professor for Neurocognitive Psychology at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Psychologist, Ph.D. from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, graduate school Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience. Postdoc at Max-Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen. Heisenberg fellow and Heisenberg professor at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Research Interests
I investigate the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying language, visual perception, semantic and social-emotional processing. Integrating these topics, my research focuses on the multifaceted interplay of these core human faculties when we interact with – and make sense of - our social and non-social environment.
TO JOIN THE TALK:
This is a hybrid event. The seminar will be held at the Seminar room, New Radcliffe House (2nd Floor) but can also be followed on Zoom. You can access the Zoom link via OxTalks at Looking for meaning - Oxford Talks or, e-mail us at hod.office@psy.ox.ac.uk to request the Zoom details