Prof Colin Clifford
MA (Cambridge University) MSc (Sussex University) PhD (University College London)

Position: Professorial Research Fellow

Office: Rm 508, Griffith Taylor Building
Ph: +61 2 9351 6810
Fax: +61 2 9351 2603
Email:

Postal Address:
School of Psychology
Brennan MacCallum Building (A18)
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006
Australia


 

 

Research Interests

The primary research focus of the laboratory is vision, how context affects our perception, and how our visual awareness might be related to the underlying neural processing. To address these issues we use a combination of techniques: psychophysics, fMRI and computational modelling.

Functional imaging of human visual cortex Contextual modulation in vision
Perception of bistable images Visual feature binding
Vision and touch Perceptual adaptation to faces
Visual Motion Processing    

 
 

Publications

2013

  • Adibi, M., McDonald, J.S., Clifford, C.W.G. & Arabzadeh, E. (2013) "Adaptation improves neural coding efficiency despite increasing correlations in variability", J Neurosci. (in press).
  • Maloney, R.T., Lam, S.K. & Clifford, C.W.G. (2013) "Colour misbinding during motion rivalry", Biology Letters 9: 20120899, 1-4.

2012

  • Clifford, C.W.G. (2012). “Visual perception: knowing what to expect”, Current Biology, 22, R223-R225.

  • Holcombe, A.O. & Clifford, C.W.G. (2012). “Failures to bind spatially coincident features: comment on Di Lollo”, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16, 402.

  • Mareschal, I. & Clifford, C.W.G. (2012) “Dynamics of unconscious contextual effects in orientation processing”, PNAS 109, 7553-7558.

  • Mareschal, I. & Clifford, C.W.G. (2012) “Perceptual entrainment of individually unambiguous motions”, Journal of Vision 12 (1): 24, 1-8.

  • McDonald, J.S., Mannion, D.J. & Clifford, C.W.G. (2012) “Gain control in the response of human visual cortex to plaids”, Journal of Neurophysiology 107, 2570-2580.

  • Seymour, K.J. & Clifford, C.W.G. (2012) “Decoding conjunctions of direction-of-motion and binocular disparity from human visual cortex”, Journal of Neurophysiology 107, 2335-2341

2011

  • Abrahamyan, A., Clifford, C.W.G., Arabzadeh, E. & Harris, J.A. (2011) "Improving visual sensitivity with subthreshold Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation", Journal of Neuroscience, 31, 3290-3294.
  • Abrahamyan, A., Clifford, C.W.G., Ruzzoli, M., Phillips, D., Arabzadeh, E. & Harris, J.A. (2011) "Matlab Library to Control Magstim Rapid2 Stimulator and a Method for Accurate and Rapid Estimation of Phosphene Thresholds (REPT)", PLoS One, 6, e22342.
  • Goddard, E., Mannion, D.J., McDonald, J.S., Solomon, S.G. & Clifford, C.W.G. (2011) "Colour preference argues against a dorsal component of human V4", Journal of Vision 11(4): 3, 1–21.
  • Iyer, P.B., Freeman, A.W., McDonald, J.S. & Clifford, C.W.G. (2011) "Rapid serial visual presentation of motion: short-term facilitation and long-term suppression", Journal of Vision 11(3): 16, 1–14.
  • Lawson, R.P., Clifford, C.W.G. & Calder, A.J. (2011) "A Real Head Turner: Horizontal and Vertical Head Directions are Multichannel Coded", Journal of Vision 11(9): 17, 1-17.
  • Mannion, D.J. & Clifford, C.W.G. (2011) "Cortical and behavioral sensitivity to eccentric polar form", Journal of Vision 11(6): 17, 1–9.
  • Ruzzoli, M., Abrahamyan, A., Clifford, C.W.G., Marzi, C.A., Miniussi, C. & Harris, J.A. (2011) "The effect of TMS on visual motion sensitivity: an increase in neural noise or a decrease in signal strength?", Journal of Neurophysiology, 106, 138-143.

2010

2009


 
 

2008

2007


 
 

2006

2005


 
 

2004

2003


 
 

2002

2001

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1999

1998

1997

1995



 
 

Education & Appointments

Education

1994 - 1996 PhD University College London
1991 - 1992 MSc University of Sussex
1985 - 1989 MA University of Cambridge

Appointments

2012 - 2015 Future Fellow (Level E) School of Psychology, The University of Sydney
2010 - 2011 Australian Research Fellow (Level E) School of Psychology, The University of Sydney
2007 - 2009 Australian Research Fellow (Level D) School of Psychology, The University of Sydney
2006 Queen Elizabeth II Fellow (Level D) School of Psychology, The University of Sydney
2002 - 2005 Queen Elizabeth II Fellow (Level C) School of Psychology, The University of Sydney
July - Dec 2001 Senior Lecturer (Level C) School of Psychology, The University of Sydney
Jan - July 2001 Research Fellow (Level B) Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University
1998 - 2000 Macquarie University Research Fellow (Level A) Department of Psychology, Macquarie University
1997 - 1998 Postdoctoral Research Associate Biomedical Engineering Dept, Boston University
1993 Research Fellow Department of Psychology, University College London

Visits

Dec 06 - Feb 07 International Fellow Queen's University, Belfast
Dec 04 - July 05 Humboldt Research Fellow Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tuebingen
Oct - Dec 2000 Honorary Research Fellow Department of Psychology, University College London
Jan - Feb 2000 Australian Psychological Society Visiting Fellow Department of Psychology, University of Western Australia
1998 - 2000 Visiting Fellow Developmental Neurobiology, Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University
June - Sept 1996 Visiting Fellow Centre for Visual Sciences, Australian National University


Grants, Fellowships & Awards

National Competitive Research Grants

2011-2015 Australian Research Council Future Fellowships Parallel and generative binding in human visual cortex Clifford, C.W.G. $931,168
2012-2014 Australian Research Council Discovery Grant Gaze perception and adaptation Clifford, C.W.G., Calder, A $284,000
2012-2014 National Health & Medical Research Council Project Grant Functional anisotropies in the processing of orientation and direction-of-motion by human visual cortex Clifford, C.W.G. $296,175
2010 Australian Research Council Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities Project State-of-the-art upgrade to multi-transmit multi-receive technology for research dedicated 3 Tesla MRI scanner Rae, C., Bilston, L.E., Clifford, C.W.G., Macefield, V.G., Simmons, R.A., Grunstein, R.R., Solo, V., Denson, T.F. & Hodges, J.R. $400,000
2009 - 2011 National Health & Medical Research Council Project Grant Orientation-specific contextual modulation in human visual cortex Clifford, C.W.G., Spehar B. & Breakspear, M. $279,250
2007 - 2011 Australian Research Council Discovery Grant Visual coding of motion and form Clifford, C.W.G. A$556,000
2006 - 2008 Australian Research Council Discovery Grant Interactions between vision and touch Harris, J.A. & Clifford, C.W.G. A$340,000
2003 - 2004 Australian Research Council Linkage International Award Complex motion processing in primate visual cortex Clifford, C.W.G., Ibbotson, M.R. & Mustari, M. A$30,500
2003 - 2005 National Health & Medical Research Council Project Grant Using contextual effects to test theories of coding in visual cortex Ibbotson, M.R. & Clifford, C.W.G. A$190,000
2003 - 2005 Australian Research Council Discovery Grant Contextual interactions in colour and form perception Spehar, B. & Clifford, C.W.G. A$168,000
2002 - 2006 Australian Research Council Discovery Grant Processing and awareness in dynamic vision Clifford, C.W.G. A$570,000
2000 - 2002 Australian Research Council Large Grant Using adaptation to probe the mechanisms of orientation processing in the human visual system Wenderoth, P. & Clifford, C.W.G. A$161,500
1999 - 2001 Australian Research Council Large Grant A functional role for motion adaptation Wenderoth, P. & Clifford, C.W.G. A$115,000

 
 

Fellowships

2012 - 2015 Australian Research Council Future Fellow
2007 - 2011 Australian Research Council Australian Research Fellow
2006 - 2007 Queen's University Belfast International Fellow
2004 - 2005 Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Humboldt Research Fellow
2002 - 2006 Australian Research Council Queen Elizabeth II Fellow
1998 - 2000 Macquarie University Macquarie University Research Fellow

Awards

2003 Australian Neuroscience Society AW Campbell Award
2002 Australian Academy of Science JG Russell Award


 
 

Book Reviews


 
 

Demos