Sent on behalf of Northeastern University
Project Description
This is a multi-site international collaboration funded by the Templeton World Charities
Foundation through their Accelerating Research on Consciousness initiative. The
overarching goal of the project is to arbitrate between four higher order theories:
Higher-Order State Space model (HOSS; Fleming, 2020), Perceptual Reality Monitoring theory
(PRM; Lau, 2019), Higher-Order Representation of a Representation (HOROR; Brown, 2015),
and Self-Organising Meta-Representational theory (SOMA; Cleeremans, 2011; Cleeremans et
al., 2020). The disagreement within Higher Order Theories of consciousness (HOTs) varies
along two axes. One axis examines to what degree higher-order representations are rich or
sparse. A second (related) axis of disagreement is on whether higher-order representations
can “misrepresent” their first-order targets, and in what way. The two axes of
disagreement will be tested in distinct experiments with a number of convergent
methodologies. HOTs hypotheses cross-cut a number of different theories, with different
theorists placing greater or lesser weight on the two axes. We seek to devise experiments
that can identify whether the data are more consistent with one or other pole of these two
axes.
In particular, this project involves experiments designed to provide a critical test of 1)
whether perceptual/imagery vividness is coded in a rich or sparse manner, and 2) whether
the nature of perceptual experience (“seeing” vs. “imagining”) relies on a dedicated
higher-order reality monitoring signal (PRM), or whether inference on reality depends on
thresholding a unidimensional code for phenomenal magnitude (HOSS).
Overall project personnel:
Lead PIs: Stephen Fleming and Axel Cleeremans
Project PIs: Jorge Morales, Megan Peters, Rachel Denison, Nadine Dijkstra, Zoltan Dienes,
Guy Cheron
Scientific steering committee: Hakwan Lau, Richard Brown, Stephen Fleming, Axel
Cleeremans, Elisabeth Pacherie
External advisory board: David Rosenthal, Matthias Michel, Joseph LeDoux, Lucie Charles
Postdoctoral Research Associate Recruitment
The Subjectivity Laboratory, directed by Jorge Morales, and located in the Department of
Psychology at Northeastern University is seeking to recruit a postdoctoral Research
Associate to work on-site in Boston, Massachusetts. This research position is for research
on a neuroimaging (fMRI), psychophysics, modeling, and machine learning project to
arbitrate among competing higher order theories of consciousness.
The postdoctoral research associate will work under the supervision of PI Morales in
conjunction with PI Megan Peters (UC Irvine) to design, implement, and interpret
Experiment 2 of this study series. The complete team will include the above-named project
personnel as well as graduate students and postdoctoral researchers at other sites
including Boston University, UC Irvine, University College London, and other
institutions.
The postdoctoral research associate will receive direct mentorship from PI Morales and the
other members of the team, and will have opportunities for professional development,
mentoring, and conference attendance as they arise.
Compensation will be $60,000-64,000 annual salary (depending on qualifications) and it
includes benefits (e.g., medical insurance). The appointment is for 1 year to start with
potential for annual reappointments for up to 2 more years.
Ideal starting date is January 2024 but there is some flexibility. PhD must be already
awarded by the time the position begins. Application deadline for preferential
consideration is October 31, 2023; the position will remain open until the position is
filled.
Qualifications:
Required: Must possess a Ph.D. in Psychology, Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, Philosophy
or similar disciplines at the time of appointment. Candidates should have a record of
published work (including preprints). Proficiency in advanced neuroimaging (fMRI
preferred) and statistical analyses as well as programing skills is required. Strong
analytic skills for designing experiments and for analyzing empirical and theoretical
results is required.
Preferred: Familiarity with psychophysical methods, signal detection theory and theories
of consciousness is a plus. An interest in studying metacognition and consciousness from
neuroimaging, behavioral, and computational modeling perspectives is preferred.
Application
For official consideration, please submit your CV and some other required information to
the Northeastern Job Portal.
https://subjectivity.sites.northeastern.edu/research/hot-project/<https:…
Also, please feel free to get in touch with Jorge
j.morales@northeastern.edu<mailto:j.morales@northeastern.edu>