Welcome to the Objects and Knowledge Laboratory, the website for Olivia Cheung's laboratory at New York University Abu Dhabi.

A postdoctoral researcher/research assistant position will be available in Fall 2023. If interested, apply here or send your CV and a brief research statement to Olivia.

The OAK Lab studies object recognition and perceptual expertise, using primarily a combination of behavioral, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and computational methods.

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

Several ongoing research projects include:

Check out our presentations at V-VSS 2022:

• He, C., & Cheung, O.S. Ensemble representation for animacy: Effects of shape and category. [poster]

• Zhang, T.B., Jin, H., Erdi, A., & Cheung, O.S. Is holistic word processing influenced by word meaning? [poster]

• Jintcharadze, D., & Cheung, O.S. Predicting election outcome by a human face. [poster] *Undergraduate Just In-time presentation 

• Podmokly, J., & Cheung, O.S. Roles of animacy, object size, and context on object representations in the occipitotemporal cortex. [poster] *Undergraduate Just In-time presentation 

• Cheung, O.S., & He, C. Functional connectivity and representational content of tool category and elongation in tool-selective parietal cortex. [talk]