Liam Norman
BSc, PhD
Departmental Lecturer in Cognitive and Individual Differences
Human Echolocation, Vision and Plasticity
Research interests
My main research interests are in human perception, with a current focus on how people use echolocation. Echolocation is a method of sensing the environment using reflected sound, and it is used by some people with vision loss to an extraordinarily high level. My research involves trying to understand the perceptual abilities that echolocation confers, the acoustic cues that are relevant in echolocation, and how people (sighted and blind) actually learn to use echolocation. To do this I have used a combination of behavioural experiments, psychophysics, and fMRI, and have regularly tested human expert echolocators as well as people new to echolocation.
I am also interested in visual perception, having conducted experiments in 2nd-order vision (e.g. texture properties), perceptual constancy, and consciousness.
Key publications
-
Retinotopic-like maps of spatial sound in primary 'visual' cortex of blind human echolocators.
Journal article
Norman LJ. and Thaler L., (2019), Proc Biol Sci, 286
-
Direct encoding of orientation variance in the visual system.
Journal article
Norman LJ. et al, (2015), J Vis, 15
-
Color constancy for an unseen surface.
Journal article
Norman LJ. et al, (2014), Curr Biol, 24, 2822 - 2826
-
Perceptual constancy with a novel sensory skill.
Journal article
Norman LJ. and Thaler L., (2020), J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform
-
Stimulus uncertainty affects perception in human echolocation: Timing, level, and spectrum.
Journal article
Norman LJ. and Thaler L., (2020), J Exp Psychol Gen
Recent publications
-
Perceptual constancy with a novel sensory skill.
Journal article
Norman LJ. and Thaler L., (2020), J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform
-
Texture segmentation without human V4
Journal article
Norman LJ. et al, (2020), VISUAL COGNITION, 25, 184 - 195
-
Stimulus uncertainty affects perception in human echolocation: Timing, level, and spectrum.
Journal article
Norman LJ. and Thaler L., (2020), J Exp Psychol Gen
-
Navigation and perception of spatial layout in virtual echo-acoustic space.
Journal article
Dodsworth C. et al, (2020), Cognition, 197
-
Retinotopic-like maps of spatial sound in primary 'visual' cortex of blind human echolocators.
Journal article
Norman LJ. and Thaler L., (2019), Proc Biol Sci, 286