Objects And Knowledge Lab
Welcome to the Objects and Knowledge Laboratory, the website for Olivia Cheung's laboratory at New York University Abu Dhabi.
The OAK Lab studies object recognition and perceptual expertise, using primarily a combination of behavioral, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and computational methods. The OAK Lab is affiliated with the Center for Brain and Health at NYU Abu Dhabi.
The general research goal of the lab is to understand how the human brain perceives the visual world, and how such processes are influenced by experience and learning. We study this broad question by examining how visual and conceptual knowledge interact to constrain representations of various categories, including objects, faces, words, musical notations, and scenes.
See a recent NYUAD feature article about the lab's research: Making sense of the way the brain makes sense
Join us! Postdoc/research assistant positions available in 2024. If you are passionate about the same kinds of research as us, send your CV and a brief research statement to Olivia.
Several ongoing research projects in the lab include:
How do socio-emotional factors influence face recognition?
How do different types of conceptual knowledge influence recognition of objects and scenes?
To what extent is category selectivity in the brain influenced by conceptual knowledge?
How does the brain accommodate the acquisition of perceptual expertise for multiple categories?
Check out some of our recent poster presentations:
Jin, H., Hayward, W.G., & Cheung, O.S. (2023, VSS)
Two faces of holistic face processing: Facilitation and interference underlying holistic processing paradigms.
Verosky, N.J., & Cheung, O.S. (2023, VSS)
Temporal-spatial configuration of musical notation: Distinguishing visual and conceptual influences on expert and novice performance.
He, C., & Cheung, O.S. (2022, VVSS)
Ensemble representation for animacy: Effects of shape and category.
Zhang, T.B., Jin, H., Erdi, A., & Cheung, O.S. (2022, VVSS)
Is holistic word processing influenced by word meaning?
Jintcharadze, D., & Cheung, O.S. (2022, VVSS)
Predicting election outcome by a human face. *Undergraduate Just In-time presentation
Podmokly, J., & Cheung, O.S. (2022, VVSS)
Roles of animacy, object size, and context on object representations in the occipitotemporal cortex. *Undergraduate Just In-time presentation