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DAVID MELCHER and FRANCESCA BACCI on ITALIAN TELEVISION (RAI 5) in 'THE SENSE OF BEAUTY', starting 17/11/2017 at 21:15. Trailer.

Welcome to the Active Perception Group.

The main question driving work in the lab is how the brain constructs our subjective experience of the world as we actively engage with our surroundings. We study the interaction of perception, attention, memory and action within a cognitive neuroscience framework. Specifically, our approach can be described as "active perception": while most studies of perception are based on responses to an abstract stimulus on a single trial during steady fixation, our work examines the way that perception interacts with context, action (particularly eye movements), memory, emotion and the tasks goals.

Research in the lab currently focusses on spatial and temporal aspects of active perception of objects, scenes and events (ERC project CoPeST), characterizing and improving brain mechanisms of attention (ATTEND project), awareness and processing of information outside of consciousness, mechanisms underlying the perception of a stable world despite eye movements and, as an ongoing side project, art and neuroscience.

The Active Perception Lab is part of the Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC) at the University of Trento. The Center includes state-of-the-art research facilities, including a research-only MRI scanner, MEG, EEG and TMS, as well as behavioural, eye-tracking and motion-tracking laboratories. English is the official language of CIMeC, where a large proportion of the faculty members, post-docs and students come from outside of Italy.

The University of Trento is typically ranked first among research universities in Italy, and the Trentino region is consistently top of the lists for quality of life and the most efficient public services in the country. It is located in a scenic natural setting in the Alps, near the Dolomite mountains, Lake Garda and a large number of culturally, architecturally and historically rich cities.

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  • Funding
  • News
  • Opportunities
  • People
  • Press Coverage
  • Publications
  • Research
  • Video

 If our neurons are so fast, why do we think so slowly? Click above to see a one-minute clip of David answering this question at the Genoa Science Festival, October 2014.

  • 4th July 17 toast at the bici grill in Nomi
  • 4th July 17 cycling to the bici grill in Nomi
  • 4th July 17 MAP lab group
  • 4th July 17 cycling to the grill party
  • 4th July 17 bike & grill party
  • 4th July 2017: Cycling back from the bici grill in the dark
  • MAP Lab farewell to Nick Oosterhof drinks Andreatta bar June 17
  • MAP LAB Spring 2017 PIZZA
  • MAP LAB Spring 2017 PIZZA
  • David Melcher at the Wired Next Festival in Milan end may 2016
  • Santa Lucia dinner at David's, December 2015
  • On the way to Lab lunch in Rovereto, Autumn 2015
  • Mas en Mas 2015 extended Lab family
  • David at Yunnan University, China, April 2015
  • Jan, David and Weina at Yunnan University, China, April 2015
  • Andreas receiving best doctoral thesis 2013 award, Arpil 2015
  • Andreas receiving best doctoral thesis 2013 award, Arpil 2015
  • Lab lunch January 2015
  • Lab pizza_Autumn 2014
  • Evelyn's Master's Graduation - 2014
  • Lab Pizza
  • Lab Indian Dinner

Principal Investigator
David Melcher
david.melcher [at] unitn.it

Lab Manager
Kaela Venuto
david.melcher [at] unitn.it