Doctoral student in Psychology, Eye movements and Memory

Research project
The Department of Psychology invites applications for a doctoral student within the research project “How the brain constructs the present and reconstructs the past via sequences of eye movements” (Principal Investigator: Dr. Roger Johansson).

Episodic memory allows us to mentally revisit past events with vivid detail. A critical factor in forming such memories is the limited "bandwidth" of our perception, as we can only fully process visual information from a small area of our visual field at any given moment. To compensate, we continuously shift our visual focus through eye movements, helping us sample and construct experiences and memories by syncing these movements with specific brain frequencies. However, traditional memory research has often overlooked the dynamic nature of eye movements, focusing instead on static observations. This has led to a gap in understanding how memories are dynamically formed and recalled.

This research project aims to elucidate how the brain constructs and reconstructs coherent mental representations of experienced events based on visual sampling behaviour over time. The project utilises recent advancements in the co-registration of eye-tracking and electroencephalography (EEG), combined with advanced machine-learning methods, such as multivariate patterns analysis (MVPA). This approach will explore how neural representations evolve with eye movements, offering insights into the processes that integrate interrelated elements into coherent memory representations.

PhD Project
The doctoral project, forming part of the research project described above, will have its final design determined in collaboration with the project leaders. Nevertheless, the doctoral student will have great opportunities to influence the final design of the studies. In the final part of the doctoral studies, the doctoral student is expected to independently develop their research ideas. Applicants are required to submit a research plan that includes potential ideas and prospective studies related to current research on episodic memory and gaze behaviour.

The PhD student is expected to take an active role in all stages of the research project. The PhD student will be responsible for preparing stimulus materials, designing and programming experiments, collecting and analysing behavioural, eye-tracking and EEG data, and reporting and presenting the findings at scientific meetings and in scientific journals.

The doctoral project will be conducted within the Lund Memory Lab, in collaboration with other members of the research team. The team specializes in high temporal resolution techniques, combining behavioural testing with concurrent EEG and eye tracking measures, further enhanced by state-of-the-art machine learning techniques. The Lund Memory Lab, led by Prof. Mikael Johansson, produces research with international impact at the forefront of current episodic memory research. Supervision of the PhD project will be jointly undertaken by Dr. Roger Johansson and Prof. Mikael Johansson.

Examples of key work related to the project from the Lund Memory Lab:

Johansson, R., Nyström, M., Dewhurst, R., & Johansson, M. (2022). Eye-movement replay supports episodic remembering. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 289(1977), 20220964. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0964

Nikolaev, A. R., Bramão, I., Johansson, R., & Johansson, M. (2023). Episodic memory formation in unrestricted viewing. NeuroImage, 266, 119821. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119821   

Bramão, I., Jiang, J., Wagner, A. D., & Johansson, M. (2022). Encoding contexts are incidentally reinstated during competitive retrieval and track the temporal dynamics of memory interference. Cerebral Cortex, 32(22), 5020-5035. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhab529

Work duties
The PhD programme in psychology comprises 240 credits, which corresponds to four years of full-time study. The programme concludes with the doctoral student defending their PhD thesis at a public defence. Those appointed to doctoral studentships shall devote themselves to their research studies. Provisions on the employment of doctoral students are provided in the Higher Education Ordinance, Chapter 5, Sections 1-7. The doctoral student is expected to actively participate in the research and teaching environment at the department as well as to perform teaching and other departmental duties, up to no more than 20 per cent of a full-time post. Information on research studies in psychology can be found at https://www.psy.lu.se/en/education/study-psychology-0/study-phd-programme/phd-programme

Eligibility
A person meets the general entry requirements for third-cycle studies if he or she has 1) completed a second-cycle degree or, 2) has completed courses of at least 240 credits, of which at least 60 credits are from second-cycle courses, or 3) has acquired essentially equivalent knowledge in some other way, in Sweden or abroad.

A person meets the specific entry requirements for third-cycle studies in psychology if he or she has completed at least 30 second-cycle credits in the main field of psychology, including at least 15 credits from a second-cycle degree project, or corresponding knowledge acquired in Sweden or abroad.

Provisions for the employment of doctoral students are stated in the Higher Education Ordinance SFS 1998:80. Only those who have been admitted to third-cycle courses and study programmes may be appointed to doctoral studentships. When an appointment is made, the ability of the student to benefit from the research studies must be taken into account. In addition to the obligation to focus on their own research studies, the doctoral student may be tasked to work in education, research and administration in accordance with specific provisions in the ordinance. Applicants are assessed with regard to:

Previous experience and work within the subject area of the doctoral project. Priority will be given to applicants with documented experience within the field of cognitive neuroscience, in particular within memory research.

• The quality and feasibility of the proposed research plan. Previous work and experience will be taken into account when assessing the research plan.
• Previous experience collecting and analysing EEG data and/or eye-tracking data.
• Programming skills (python, psychopy, matlab, fieldtrip, etc.).
• The quality of previous writings, such as master's thesis, published reports and other relevant research outputs.

Application
The application is to be made electronically via Lund University's search portal. The application is to be submitted in English and it must contain:

• Personal letter (max. 2 pages) containing a presentation of the applicant, important qualifications and a brief description of why the applicant is interested in the project.
• Curriculum vitae.
• Research plan (max. 5 pages) that addresses potential research questions at the forefront of current research on episodic memory and gaze behavior.
• Certificates that demonstrate that the applicant meets the requirements for admission to third-cycle studies.
• Two signed references letters with contact details

Terms of employment
Fixed-term employment, four years, in accordance with the Higher Education Ordinance, Chapter 5 Section 7.