email: [email protected]

phone: +44-(0)1334-462061

ORCHID ID:  orcid.org/0000-0002-3497-4503

Research topics

Vision and camouflage:  in the evolutionary ‘arms race’ to avoid being eaten, prey have developed camouflage to make them harder to see, and predators have developed visual systems to break camouflage. We are exploring how (and if) counter-shading in some specific animal species has evolved to disrupt the perception of shape.

Perception of motion in depth: In principle, the brain can use binocular information to calculate how objects move in 3-D in the world. We are exploring biases in 3-D motion perception and whether the visual information used depends primarily on motion-sensitive or position-sensitive brain mechanisms.

Shape perception: there are many cues to depth, and we are exploring how cues such as binocular disparity, shading, luminance and colour gradients, and outline, interact to deliver optimal depth perception.

Vision and eye movements: To see correctly, the brain must integrate visual information from the eyes with signals about where the eyes are looking, and how they change as we follow an object or look around a scene. We are exploring how these different signals interact for perceptual experience. As well as working on binocular eye movements, I have a current project on vision and driving.

For more details of my projects and publications, see the Julie Harris entry on the St. Andrews research database.