Professor Bob Kentridge

Professor

Affiliations
Affiliation	Room number	Telephone
Professor in the Department of Psychology	L48A	+44 (0) 191 33 43261
Member of the Centre for Vision and Visual Cognition
Member of the Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit
Fellow of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing		40437

Biography

Research Interests

My research falls into two related strands, one examining the relationship between visual attention and visual consciousness and the other the perception of the material properties of objects. In both areas I have tested the deficits suffered by neuropsychological patients in order to arrive at hypotheses about the manner in which psychological functions are broken down into sub-processes in the brain. I then go on to test these hypotheses using neuroimaging and psychophysical methods in normal people.

In 1999 I discovered that that prompting neurological patients to attend to areas in which they reported that they were blind as a consequence of their brain damage could, nevertheless, improve their ability to respond accurately to stimuli of which they were unaware. This dissociation between visual attention and awareness had major implications for theories about the basis of consciousness in the brain, for philosophers of mind and for the development of methods for rehabilitating patients with this, very common, form of brain damage. I have demonstrated the same dissociation in normal people for a variety of forms of attention. I have also applied these findings to development of methods of training stroke patients rendered partially blind to recover the ability to read.

I also use psychophysical methods to understand the neural basis of colour perception by testing the abilities of patients with brain damage affecting colour vision. The processing of properties of materials such as texture, glossiness and translucence in the brain can be studied in a similar fashion. In a pair of papers combining psychophysics, work with neurological patients and neuroimaging, my colleagues and I were the first group to demonstrate specific areas in the brain for the processing of shape colour and texture. I have just published work extending this approach to the perception of glossiness and am currently developing computer programs allowing similar studies to be undertaken on the perception of translucence. These properties have a tremendous influence on our perception of the world. Inappropriate glossiness or translucence make people look like waxworks, milk look like paint and fruit look rotten. Understanding how we perceive these properties has implications well beyond basic psychological science in computer-graphics and consumer-products industries.

Research interests

neuropsychology of awareness, blindsight, colour vision and attention

Research groups

Cognitive Neuroscience

Awarded Grants

2012: P&G Studentship(£31000.00 from Procter & Gamble)
2012: The philosophy of neuroscience and neurophilosophy project(£24763.14 from James S. McDonnell Foundation)

Esteem Indicators

2016: Invited Lecturer. European Visual Neuroscience Summer School ‘From Spikes to Awareness’, Rauischholtzhausen, Germany.: This Volkswagen Stiffung funded summer school attracts high-flying postdocs and graduate students from across the world for a two week intensive programme on all aspects of visual neuroscience. 8th-14th September.
2016: Invited speaker, Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness, Buenos Ares.: I was invited to speak on the relationship between sensation and perception in a symposium with Ned Block (NYU Philosophy), Megan Peters (UCLA Psychology), and Ian Phillips (Oxford Philosophy). The resulting discussion is being published in 'Neurosciecne of Consciousness). 17th-18th June. ;
2016: Invited Speaker, iCOG 3, London.:
iCOG 3 is an ;interdisciplinary meeting for graduate students and postdocs in philosophy, psycholopgy and neurosciecne. I was an invited speaker for the 3rd annual meeting on Sense & Space, Senate House, University of London.
2016: Invited Speaker. Neural Roots of Awareness, Emotion and Action in Man and Animals: A tribute to Larry Weiskrantz, Turin.: Invited speaker to this symposium honouring Prof. L Weiskrantz FRS on the occasion of presentation of The Medal of the Accademia delle Scienze di Torino. Papers from the meeting are being published as a special issue of Neuropsychologia which I am co-editing. 30th July.
2016: Keynote speaker, Mississippi Philosophical Association, Oxford MI.: The 2016 meeting of the ;Mississippi Philosophical Association was on the theme of 'Attention'. 18th-19th March.
2016: Plenary Speaker. Joint Canadian Institute for Advanced Research & Japanese Neuroscience Society Meeting on The Origin of Consciousness. Tokyo.: I was invited as a guest of CiFAR to this meeting including psychologists, neuroscientists, philosophers and physicists (including a Nobel Laureate) in Japan. July 25th-26th. ;
2015: Invited Lecturer. European Visual Neuroscience Summer School ‘From Spikes to Awareness’, Rauischholtzhausen, Germany.: This Volkswagen Stiffung funded summer school attracts high-flying postdocs and graduate students from across the world for a two week intensive programme on all aspects of visual neuroscience. 5th-9th September.
2015: Invited Speaker, PRISM (Perceptual Representation of Illumination, Shape & Material), Leuven, Belgium.: I was invited to speak to the meeting of the EU Training Network comprising a mix of psychologists and computer scientists on novel approaches to understanding the perception of translucence. 6th-9th October. ;
2015: Plenary Speaker, Southern Society for Philosophy & Psychology, New Orleans.: I was invited by the President of SSPP to be plenary speaker for the joint philosophy & psychology stream of SSPP (the oldest joint ;philosophy & psychology society in the USA). New Orleans, LA. 2nd-5th April.
2014: Co-organiser with P. Azzopardi (Oxford) and Discussant. Symposium on the Neuropsychology of Motion Perception. European Workshop on Cognitive Neuropsychology. Bressanone, Italy.:
2014: Invited speaker. ‘Attention without awareness’. International Workshop on Neuro-Cognitive Mechanisms of Conscious and Unconscious Visual Perception. Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (IAS), Delmenhorst, Germany.:
2014: Invited speaker. Attention and Experience. European Society for Philosophy and Psychology. Noto, Sicily.:
2014: Invited speaker. Attention and Experience. European Society for Philosophy and Psychology. Noto, Sicily.:
2014: Invited speaker. Consciousness. Ronald E. Moore Humanities Symposium. Texas Christian University. Fort Worth, Texas.:
2014: Invited speaker. Perceiving the Light: Shadow, Image, Transparency. Durham IAS Interdisciplinary Workshop. :
2014: Plenary Speaker, Tucson Consciousness Conference.: Towards a Science of Consciousness, 20th Anniversary Conference. Tucson, AZ. Plenary panel on the Next 20 Years of Consciousness Research. April 22nd-26th 2014.
2013: Invited speaker. ‘Attention without awareness’. Interdisciplinary workshop on Type 2 Blindsight: Empirical and Philosophical Perspectives. Dublin.:
2013: Invited Speaker. ‘Central Processing of Material Properties’. PRISM 2: The science of light and shade. Bordeaux, France.:
2013: Invited speaker. International Color Vision Society.: Invited lecture: 'Is cerebral achromatopsia a general deficit in the perception of surfaces?'. International Color Vision Society XXII biennial Symposium, the University of Winchester, United Kingdom. July 14 - 18th 2013.
2013: Invited speaker. Perception and awareness: An inter-disciplinary analysis. Oxford.: Invited lecture: 'Attention and consciousness in blindsight and normal observers'. Perception and awareness: An inter-disciplinary analysis. A Leverhulme Trust Workshop, Wolfson College, Oxford University. 1st & 2nd February 2013.
2013: Invited Speaker. Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology. Austin, Texas, USA.: Invited Lecture: 'Attention without consciousness'. 105th Annual Meeting of the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology in Austin, TX, February 28 - March 3, 2013.
2012: Invited Speaker, International Neuropsychology Symposium. Corsica, France.: Invited Speaker. Attention without awareness. International Neuropsychology Symposium. Corsica, France. June, 2012.
2012: Plenary Speaker Tucson Consciousness Conference, USA: Plenary lecture. Consciousness and attention. Towards a Science of Consciousness 16. Tucson, USA. April 2012.
2012: Special Guest Lecture. Rudolph Carnap Lectures, University of Bochum, Germany.: Special Guest Lecturer: Attention and Consciousness
2011: Invited Speaker, EBBS, Spain: Invited lecture. Attention and awareness. European Brain and Behaviour Society. Spain. September 2011.
2011: Invited Speaker, ICON XI Spain: Invited lecture. Attention and awareness. ICON XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience. Mallorca, Spain. September 2011.
2011: Invited Speaker, Varieties of human cortical colour vision conference, Canada: Invited lecture: Perceiving materials. Varieties of human cortical colour vision. Vancouver, Canada. August 2011.
2011: Invited Speaker, Varieties of human cortical colour vision workshop, Canada: Invited lecture: Cerebral achromatopsia. Varieties of human cortical colour vision workshop. Vancouver, Canada. August 2011.
2011: Organiser & Chair EWCN Consciousness Symposium: Organiser and Chair European Workshop on Cognitive Neuropsychology Symposium on Why we are consciousness. Bressanone, Italy. January, 2011.
2010: Invited Speaker, INS, Poland: Invited lecture. International Neuropsychogical Society. Krakow, Poland. July 2010.
2007: Organiser & Chair EWCN Visual Awareness Symposium: Organiser and Chair European Workshop on Cognitive Neuropsychology Symposium on The Roots of Visual Awareness. Bressanone, Italy. January, 2007.
2006: EWCN Committee: In 2006 I was elected as a permanent member of the organising committee of the European Workshop in Cognitive Neuropsychology – the leading European conference in the discipline.
2006: Invited Speaker, European Visual Neuroscience Summer School, Germany : Invited Lecture: Visual Awareness. 2006 European Visual Neuroscience Summer School. Rauischoltshausen, Germany, September 2006.
2005: ASSC Workshop Organiser, CalTech, USA: Workshop organiser and presenter. Colour and consciousness. Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness. CalTech, Pasadena, USA, July, 2005.
2004: Membership of International Neuropsychological Symposium: In 2004 I was elected to the International Neuropsychological Symposium, a body with membership limited to 120 worldwide which include many of the world’s leading academic neuropsychologists as members.
2003: ASSC Membership Committee Chair: I was elected to the Membership Selection Committee of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness. I was chair of the committee for 2005.
2003: Invited Speaker. International Neuropsychology Symposium. Palermo, Italy: Stimulus Cueing in Blindsight. Invited Speaker, International Neuropsychology Symposium. Palermo, Italy. June, 2003. ;
2002: Invited Speaker, EWCN, Italy: Introductory Lecture, Symposium on Colour Perception. European Workshop on Cognitive Neuropsychology. Bressanone, Italy. January, 2002.
2002: Workshop Organiser, Tucson Consciousness Conference, USA: Workshop organiser and presenter. Colour Vision. Towards a Science of Consciousness V. Tucson, USA, April, 2002.
1999: Invited Speaker, International Pain Congress, Austria: Invited Lecture, Neuropsychology of Consciousness. International Symposium on Pain and Consciousness, Buchen, Austria July, 1999.
1998: Plenary Speaker Tucson Consciousness Conference, USA: Plenary Lecturer. Attention and awareness. Towards a Science of Consciousness III. Tucson, USA. April 1998.

Publications

Book review

Kentridge, R.W. (2003). Review of B.R. Conway 'Neural mechanisms of color vision'. Perception 32: 641-642.
Kentridge, R.W. (2000). The feeling of what happens: body, emotion and the making of consciousness. Perception 29: 1397-1398.
Kentridge, R.W. (2000). In my view, it's a question of wiring. Review of J.E. Dowling 'Creating Mind: How the Brain Works'. Times Higher Educational Supplement May 12th 2000 (number 1,435): 24.
Kentridge, R.W. (1998). Where d'you get those eyes? Review of N Wade, 'A Natural History of Vision' New Scientist 48: 48.
Kentridge, R.W. (1995). Review of J.L. McGaugh, N.M. Weinberger & G. Lynch 'Brain Organization & Memory'. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology B 48: 93-94.
Kentridge, R.W. (1995). Review of P. Churchland & T.J. Sejnowski 'The Computational Brain'. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology B 48: 376-377.
Kentridge, R.W. (1992). Review of J.L. Davies & H. Eichenbaum Eds. 'Olfaction: A Model System for Computational Neuroscience'. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology B 45: 261-264.

Chapter in book

Kentridge, RW & Brogaard, B (2016). The Functional Roles of Attention. In Current Controversies in Philosophy of Perception. Nanay, B New York; Abingdon: Routledge. 139-147.
Kentridge, R.W. (2015). Change Blindness. In The International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Wright, J.D. Oxford: Elsevier. 344-349.
Kentridge, R.W. (2011). Attention without awareness: A brief review. In Attention: Philosophical and Psychological Essays. Mole, C., Smithies, D. & Wu, W. Oxford Oxford University Press. 228-246
Heywood, C.A. & Kentridge, R.W. (2009). Akinetopsia. In The Oxford Companion to Consciousness. Bayne, T., Cleemans, A. & Wilken, P. Oxford Oxford University Press. 24-25
Kentridge, R.W. & Heywood, C.A. (2009). Colour: Scientific perspectives. In The Oxford Companion to Consciousness. Bayne, T., Cleermans, A. & Wilken, P. Oxford Oxford University Press. 149-155
Kentridge, R.W. (2008). Blindsight. In Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. Binder, M.D., Hirokawa, N. & Windhorst, U. Heidelberg Springer-Verlag. 426-429
Kentridge, R.W. (2003). Blindsight. In The Encyclopaedia of Cognitive Science (Volume 1). Nadel, L. London Nature Publishing Group. 390-397
Kentridge, R.W., Heywood, C.A. & Davidoff, J. (2003). Color perception. In Handbook of brain theory & neural-networks (2nd Edition). Arbib, M.A. Cambridge MA MIT Press. 230-233
Heywood, C.A., Kentridge, R.W. & Cowey, A. (2001). Colour & the cortex: Wavelength processing in cortical achromatopsia. In Out of Mind. Varieties of Unconscious Processing: New Findings & Models. De Gelder, B., De Haan, E. & Heywood, C.A. Oxford Oxford University Press. 52-68
Kentridge, R.W. & Heywood, C.A. (2001). Attention & alerting: Cognitive processes spared in blindsight. In Out of Mind. Varieties of Unconscious Processing: New Findings & Models. De Gelder, B., De Haan, E. & Heywood, C.A. Oxford Oxford University Press. 163-181
Kentridge, R.W., Heywood, C.A. & Weiskrantz, L. (1999). Attending, seeing and knowing in blindsight. In Toward a Science of Consciousness III. Hameroff, S., Chalmers, D. & Kazniak, A. Cambridge MA MIT Press. 149-160
Murray, K., Grossman, D. & Kentridge, R.W. (1999). Behavioral Psychology. In The Encyclopaedia of Violence, Peace & Conflict, Volume 1. Kurtz, L. New York Academic Press. 187-195
Kentridge, R.W. (1997). Dynamics and computational power in biologically plausible neural newtork models. In Perspectives in Neural Computing. Browne, A. Bristol Institute of Physics Press. 51-71
Kentridge, R.W. (1995). Cortical neurocomputation, language and cognition. In Connectionist Models of Memory and Language. Levy, J., Bairaktaris, D., Bullinaria, J. & Cairns, P. London UCL Press. 181-205
Kentridge, R.W. (1994). Critical dynamics of neural networks with spatially localised connections. In Neurodynamics and Psychology. Oaksford, M. & Brown, G. London Academic Press. 183-216
Kentridge, R.W. (1993). Dissipative structures and self-organizing criticality in neural networks with spatially localized connectivity. In Computation and Neural Systems. Eeckman, F.H. & Bower, J.M. Boston Springer Nature. 531-535
Findlay, J.M., Davies, S.P., Kentridge, R.W., Lambert, A.J. & Kelly, J. (1988). Optimum display arrangements for presenting visual reminders. In People and Computers IV. Jones, D.M. & Winder, R. Cambridge Cambridge University Press. 453-464

Edited book

Findlay, J.M., Walker, R. & Kentridge, R.W. (1995). Eye movement research: Mechanisms, processes and applications. (Studies in visual information processing. Volume 6.). Amsterdam North-Holland.

Journal Article