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Becky Maguire

I am a PhD student under the co-supervision of Professor Julie Harris (University of St Andrews) and Søren Andersen (University of Aberdeen). My work focuses on how we attend to aspects of depth in experimental stimuli, in order to better predict how we perceptually process the 3D world around us.

More specifically, my project explores how visual camouflage patterns can influence ability to find and/or recognise 3D prey. One prediction often made within the literature is that camouflage may be ‘broken’ by the addition of depth to artificial prey stimuli. This means that patterns previously found to confer effective concealment in 2D paradigms could leave real prey vulnerable to attack. Consequently, it is possible that some patterning observed in the real world has had its function as camouflage incorrectly interpreted.

If we first gain a better general understanding of the processes by which we attend to depth, we will be better able to predict: (1) whether our ability to discern depth can hamper camouflage strategies previously found effective in 2D paradigms, and (2) how such processes could be impaired, allowing insight into potentially effective 3D camouflage strategies. Therefore, my aim is to understand how attention and camouflage interact in a 3D setting.