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Professor
Tom Troscianko
Biographical
details
I started my career as a lab technician in the British Steel
Corporation (1970-71), analysing data on the effects of friction
in steel rolling mills. I then studied for a degree in physics
at Manchester University (1971-1974) after which I became
a Research Scientist at Kodak Ltd in London, where I got interested
in colour vision. I transferred my work to The City University,
London, where I did a PhD in Optometry and Visual Science
(1975-78). I came to Bristol University in late 1978 to work
on hearing and vision with Richard Gregory. In 1985 I went
to the University of Tübingen Eye Hospital, with a Fellowship
from the Humboldt Foundation. My work was mainly on “isoluminance”
and its effects on the perception of form and motion. I returned
to UK for a part-time post-doc appointment in the Department
of Psychology at Bristol; for the rest of the time I worked
at the IBM UK Scientific Centre in Winchester, where I became
interested in computational modelling of vision. I returned
full-time to Bristol in 1988, where I organised the European
Conference on Visual Perception. I became a Lecturer in 1991.
In 2000 I left Bristol to take up a post of Professor of Psychology
at the University of Sussex. In 2002 I returned to Bristol,
also as Professor of Psychology, and founded the Cognition
and Information Technology Research Centre (COGNIT) whose
aims, like mine, are to foster an inter-disciplinary approach
to what has become known as “cognitive neuroscience”.
Teaching
and administration
Currently, I introduce the Level 1 laboratory course, and
give half of the Biological Bases of Behaviour course. I am
the Director Postgraduate Teaching (overall responsibility
for the M.Sc. in Research Methods), and Unit Coordinator of
the Cognition module of that course. I direct COGNIT, which
is set to become a University Research Centre.
Research
interests
Key words: perception, computational modelling of vision,
neuro-ecology, robotics.
My interests
are broadly within the area of perception, cognition, and
action. They are best described by looking at the remit of
COGNIT http://cognit.psy.bris.ac.uk/
I am particularly interested in the properties of the natural
environment and how they map onto the organisation of the
brain – in humans, other primates, and birds. Together
with Dr David Tolhurst (Cambridge University) I am developing
a computational model of how we perceive differences between
images. I have a project with Professor Innes Cuthill and
Dr Julian Partridge in the School of Biological Sciences,
University of Bristol, to develop a similar model for starlings.
Together with Dr Jan Noyes (of this Department) I am applying
some of this modelling to the problem of detecting rail signals.
I have a new project, funded by the EPSRC Adventure Fund,
to develop a “conscious” robot (together with
Dr Iain Gilchrist of this Department and Owen Holland at Essex
University). Finally, I have set up a network of people to
investigate all the issues surrounding CCTV surveillance of
our cities, together with a forensic scientist at Liverpool
University, Dr Alex Hirschfield.
Current
grants
2003 (to 2006) “Spatio-chromatic encoding of
natural scenes in avian vision.” I. Cuthill, T. Troscianko,
J. Partridge (University of Bristol). £297,577 from
BBSRC.
2004
(to 2007) “Machine consciousness through internal modelling”.
T. Troscianko, I.Gilchrist. £178,509 from EPSRC
Adventure Fund (separate grant to Owen Holland at Essex University)
2004
(to 2007) “NETWORK: Surveillance from all angles: bridging
the ga[s between science, engineering, forensics, and psychology”.
£ 46,865 from EPSRC
Crime Reduction Initiative (with Dr A Hirschfield at Liverpool
University)
2004
(to 2007) “Computational model and psychophysical validation
of perceived differences between natural visual images”.
£ 147,083 from EPSRC/Dstl
Joint Grant Scheme (with Dr D Tolhurst at Cambridge University)
2004
(to 2006) “Quantifying fidelity for virtual environment
simulations employing schema assumptions” £120,973
from EPSRC
(co-applicant with Dr K Mania, Sussex University)
2003 (pilot study) “Application of “conspicuity
camera” in railway sign/signal sighting”. £7000
from Human Engineering Ltd (with Dr J Noyes)
Collaborations
University
of Bristol: with Prof Innes Cuthill and Dr Juilan Partridge,
School of Biological Sciences: bird vision
Professor Gordon
Wilcock and Dr Andrea Tales, Dept of Care of the Elderly:
Vision and attention in people with cognitive impairment
Outside
Bristol
Dr D Tolhurst, Dept of Physiology, University of Cambridge
(Vision metrics)
Owen Holland, Dept Computer Science, University of Essex (Machine
consciousness)
Dr K Mania, School of Informatics, University of Sussex (Virtual
Reality)
Dr D Osorio, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex
(Visual ecology)
Dr A Werner, Eye Hospital, University of Tübingen, Germany
(Colour vision)
Dr E Reinhard, University of South Florida, USA (Computer
graphics)
PhD
students supervised and co-supervised (all at Bristol University)
Timothy
Meese, Ph.D. 1993 (original supervisor Dr M A Georgeson left
Bristol in 1992 and supervision passed to me).
Zoe de Linde (joint
supervision with Dr Jim Kyle, Deaf Studies), Ph.D. in 1997.
Elliot Freeman,
Ph.D. in 1997.
Andrea Tales, Ph.D.
in 1999.
Mark Everingham
(joint supervision with Prof Barry Thomas, Computer Science
Dept), Ph.D. in 2002.
Katerina Mania
(joint supervision with Dr Alan Chalmers, Computer Science
Dept), Ph.D. in 2001.
Ann McNamara (joint
supervision with Dr Alan Chalmers, Computer Science Dept),
Ph.D. in 2001.
Phillippa Wrathall
(joint supervision with Prof Barry Thomas, Computer Science
Dept), Ph.D. (deceased 1999).
Timothy Jones (joint
supervision with Prof Barry Thomas, Computer Science Dept),
Ph.D.
Gillian Porter,
Ph.D.
Carlos A. Parraga,
Ph.D
Maria Karipoglou,
Ph.D. (joint supervision with Dr Alan Chalmers, Computer Science
Dept)
Martin Stevens,
Ph.D. (joint supervision with Prof Innes Cuthill and Dr Julian
Partridge, School of Biolobical Sciences)
Tim Dixon,
Ph.D. (joint supervision with Dr Jan Noyes)
Some recent publications
Parraga CA, Troscianko T, Tolhurst DJ (2000) The
human visual system is optimized for processing the spatial
information in natural visual images. Current Biology 10,
35-38. [download]
Clark
AA, Troscianko T, Campbell NW, Thomas BT (2000) A Comparison
between human and machine labelling of image regions. Perception
29, 1127-1138. [download]
Stillman J, Brown
GM, Troscianko T (2000) Influence of sensitivity on response
bias in
taste and audition. Perception and Psychophysics 62, 1645-1654.
Mitchell
KD, Moorhead IR, Gilmore MA, Watson G, Thomson M, Yates T,
Troscianko T, Tolhurst DJ (2000) Assessment of synthetic image
fidelity. Proceedings of the SPIE - Aerosense 2000, 4029,
256-266.
Mania K, Chalmers A., Troscianko T, Hawkes R (2000). Presence
And Task Performance: A Reality Centred Approach. Technical
Sketch, Proc. of ACM SIGGRAPH 2000 conference, 245.
McNamara A, Chalmers A, Daly S, Troscianko T, Myszkowski K
(2000) Visual difference metrics. SIGGRPAPH 2000. New Orleans,
July 2000.
Tales
A, Troscianko T, Wilcock GK, Newton P, Butler SR (2001) The
pupillary light reflex in aging and Alzheimer's disease. Aging:
Clinical and Experimental Research, 13, 473-478.
Mania K, Chalmers A, Troscianko T, Hawkes R (2001) Simulation
Fidelity Metrics For Virtual Environments Based On Memory
Semantics. Technical Sketch, Proc. of ACM SIGGRAPH 2001, 258-258.
Tales A, Troscianko
T, Lush D, Haworth J, Wilcock GK, Butler SR (2002) The effect
of ageing on visual mismatch negativity. Neuroreport, 13,
969-972.
Parraga
CA, Troscianko T, Tolhurst DJ (2002) Spatio-chromatic properties
of natural images and human vision. Current Biology 12, 483-487.
[download]
Tales
A, Butler SR, Fossey J, Gilchrist ID, Jones RW, Troscianko
T (2002) Visual search in Alzheimer’s disease: - a deficiency
in processing conjunctions of features. Neuropsychologia,
40, 1849-1857.[download]
Gilmore MA, Moorheard
IR, Watson G, Thomson M, Yates T, Troscianko T, Tolhurst D,
Filbee D (2002) Assessment of synthetic image fidelity. SPIE
vol 4718. Targets and backgrounds VIII: Characterisation and
Representation. Pp 23-34.
Tatler
BW, Troscianko T (2002) A rare glimpse of the eye in motion.
Perception 31, 1403-1406.[download]
Mania K, Troscianko T, Hawkes R, Chalmers A (2003) Fidelity
Metrics for Virtual Environment Simulations based on Spatial
Memory Awareness States. Presence, Teleoperators and Virtual
Environments, 12, 216-310. [download]
Steverding D, Troscianko T (2004) On the
role of blue shadows in the visual behaviour of tsetse flies.
Proceedings of the Royal Society London B (Supplement), 271,
S16-S17. [download]
Troscianko T, Holmes A, Stillman J, Mirmehdi
M, Wright D, Wilson A (2004) What happens next? The predictability
of natural behaviour viewed through CCTV cameras. Perception
33, 87-101. [download]
Leonards U, Troscianko T (2004) Shadowy surprise!
Perception 33, 1397. [download]
Cuthill IC, Stevens M, Sheppard J, Maddocks
T, Parraga CA, Troscianko T (2005) Disruptive coloration and
background pattern matching. Nature 434, 72-74. [download]
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