Key research themes
1. How do cultural backgrounds shape perceptual and neural processing in aural and visual modalities?
This research theme explores how cultural context influences the neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying auditory and visual perception, including cross-modal sensory integration. Understanding these effects illuminates how culturally shaped experiences modulate perceptual representations and brain activity, advancing theories of sensory cognition and informing approaches in multicultural education, neuroscience, and human-computer interaction.
2. What roles do auditory culture, sound studies, and ecological sound perception play in understanding human auditory experience beyond representational and ontological approaches?
This theme investigates the interdisciplinary frameworks and critiques regarding the study of sound, contrasting 'auditory culture' and 'sound studies' with philosophical ontologies of sound. It emphasizes understanding how sound functions in cultural, social, and ecological contexts rather than solely as an ontological entity. This approach enriches the analysis of human auditory experience by incorporating socio-cultural and environmental factors.
3. How do sensory and multisensory experiences, including emotional and cultural factors, shape human interactions with aural and visual stimuli in urban and natural environments?
This theme focuses on the psychophysiological and cognitive interplay between sensory modalities, such as vision and audition, in the perception of environments enriched or degraded by natural and artificial elements. It addresses how multisensory integration and cultural differences affect emotional responses, well-being, and environmental assessments, offering insights into design, urban planning, and cross-cultural psychology.