Leslie Welch
Leslie Welch
Associate Professor of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences
Overview
Research Areas
Publications
| Matthews, Nestor, Welch, Leslie, Achtman, Rebecca, Fenton, Rachel, FitzGerald, Brynn. "Simultaneity and Temporal Order Judgments Exhibit Distinct Reaction Times and Training Effects." PLoS ONE, vol. 11, no. 1, 2016, pp. e0145926. |
| Matthews, N., Welch, L. "Left visual field attentional advantage in judging simultaneity and temporal order." Journal of Vision, vol. 15, no. 2, 2015, pp. 7-7. |
| Welch, Leslie, Fasano, Carl. "Interdisciplinary teaching of visual perception through art and science." Leonardo, 2014, pp. 140124104032003. |
| Welch, L., Matthews, N. "Hemifield asymmetries in attention-based motion discrimination." Journal of Vision, vol. 13, no. 9, 2013, pp. 1296-1296. |
| Matthews, N., Welch, L., Festa, E., Clement, A. "Remapping Time Across Space." Journal of Vision, vol. 13, no. 9, 2013, pp. 1197-1197. |
| Matthews, N., Welch, L., Festa, E., Clement, A. "Remapping time across space." Journal of Vision, vol. 13, no. 8, 2013, pp. 2-2. |
| Scilipoti, E., Welch, L. "Effects of adaptation on orientation discrimination." Journal of Vision, vol. 10, no. 7, 2010, pp. 1130-1130. |
| Silverman, D. J., Welch, L. "Category learning in the visual processing stream." Journal of Vision, vol. 4, no. 8, 2004, pp. 300-300. |
| Silverman, D. J, Welch, L. "Does chunking by color facilitate category learning?." Journal of Vision, vol. 3, no. 9, 2003, pp. 677-677. |
| Welch, L., Boachie, Y. "Learning a novel 3D object category." Journal of Vision, vol. 3, no. 9, 2003, pp. 671-671. |
Research
Research Overview
My research is concerned with visual information processing, that is, discovering what information is available to the visual system and what parts of that information are actually used. In my experiments, observers usually are trained to perform their best by giving them feedback and practice to help them learn a task. This best performance can be compared across tasks in order to assess what information is actually used to do a specific discrimination or detection.
Research Statement
My research is concerned with visual information processing, that is, discovering what information is available to the visual system and what parts of that information are actually used. These psychophysical experiments are carried out on adult humans. In my experiments, observers usually are trained to perform their best by giving them feedback and practice to help them learn a task. This best performance can be compared across tasks in order to assess what information is actually used to do a specific discrimination or detection.
I am especially interested in how we perceive the speed and direction of objects in motion. My approach to studying motion perception includes trying to discover the motion system's limitations and determining what those limitations can tell us about how the system works. I am also interested in how we determine the relative position of objects in dept and how differences in relative depth can influence what shapes observers see. These different kinds of information (among many others) are integrated by the visual system to form a unified perception of the world, since we do not perceive motion information as distinct from position information for the same object. Interactions between the different processes can tell us how the different types of information are combined.
The goal of my research is to discover the mechanisms the brain uses to solve perceptual problems. The visual system is a convenient system to work with because the input can be defined very precisely. There is also a large community, especially at Brown, working on the visual system including scientists in psychophysics, physiology, and computational modelling.
I am especially interested in how we perceive the speed and direction of objects in motion. My approach to studying motion perception includes trying to discover the motion system's limitations and determining what those limitations can tell us about how the system works. I am also interested in how we determine the relative position of objects in dept and how differences in relative depth can influence what shapes observers see. These different kinds of information (among many others) are integrated by the visual system to form a unified perception of the world, since we do not perceive motion information as distinct from position information for the same object. Interactions between the different processes can tell us how the different types of information are combined.
The goal of my research is to discover the mechanisms the brain uses to solve perceptual problems. The visual system is a convenient system to work with because the input can be defined very precisely. There is also a large community, especially at Brown, working on the visual system including scientists in psychophysics, physiology, and computational modelling.
Funded Research
Brown University funded small grant ($900)
Scholarly Work
Matthews, N. and Welch, L. (1997) The effect of inducer polarity and contrast on the perception of illusory figures. Perception, 26, 1431-1443.
Welch, L., MacLeod, D.I.A. and McKee, S. P (1997) Motion interference: Perturbing perceived direction. Vision Research, 37(19), 2725-2736.
Festa, E.K. and Welch, L. (1997) Recruitment mechanisms in speed and fine-direction discrimination tasks. Vision Research, 37(22), 3129-3144.
McKee, S.P. and Welch, L. (1992) The precision of size constancy. Vision Research, 32, 1447-1460.
Welch, L. (1989). The perception of moving plaids reveals two motion-processing stages. Nature, 337, 734-736.
Background
Honors and Awards
N/A
Affiliations
Affiliations
Member of the Society of Sigma Xi
Member of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology
Member of the American Psychological Society
Member of Vision Sciences Society
Member of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology
Member of the American Psychological Society
Member of Vision Sciences Society
Teaching
Teaching
| CLPS 0050W - Color in the world or what you see is not what you get |
| CLPS 0500 - Perception and Mind |
| CLPS 1091 - Research Methods And Design |
| CLPS 1580C - Visualizing Information |
| CLPS 1580W - Topics in visual perception |
| CLPS 1900 - Research Methods And Design |
| CLPS 1901 - Research Methods |
| CPSY 1900 - Research Methods And Design |