Nikolaus Troje

Research Focus

Perception means to turn measurements obtained from sensors such as eyes and ears into the coherent, predictable, and more or less reliable experience that we call “reality”. I am studying the sensorimotor processes that make perception possible. In doing so, I am particularly interested in “person perception”, which includes face recognition, biological motion, and other aspects of the appearance and perception of other people.

In my lab, the BioMotion Lab, we are making heavy use of 3D scanning, motion capture technology and virtual realities. Using VR, we are not only studying how we perceive objects and communicate with other people, but we are also investigating how we experience and take ownership of our own body, and how we situate ourselves in the space that we seem to occupy.

Our work touches on basic philosophical questions (“What can we possibly know?”). However, it also informs character animation as well as automatic face and gesture recognition, and it has implications for applications of virtual reality for telecommunication, entertainment, training and therapeutic intervention.

The work in the BioMotion Lab is highly interdisciplinary. I am constantly looking for interested graduate students from various backgrounds, including Biology, Psychology, Engineering and Computer Science.

Research Lab Website: https://www.biomotionlab.ca

Sub-Disciplines

Visual Perception, Biological Motion, Gait Analysis, People Perception, Sensory Neuroscience, Multi-Sensory Integration, Space Perception, Virtual Reality, Embodied Cognition

Research Areas