The superior performance of natural over artificial intelligence rests on the ability of the human brain to integrate and process complex sensory information for useful actions. Future advances in our understanding of the human brain will need integrating approaches across disciplines, including psychology, computer science, robotics, and neuroimaging.
In Bülthoff´s department a group of about 70 biologists, computer scientists, mathematicians, physicists and psychologists study cognitive processes including object recognition and categorization, sensory-motor integration and spatial cognition. Traditional psychophysical methods emphasize the analysis of perception using simple stimuli; however, computer vision studies have made it clear that further advances in our understanding of perception and cognition will rely on the use of realistic stimuli and tasks.
In our new building (Cyberneum) we use methods developed from computer graphics and virtual reality to build simulated naturalistic environments under precise experimental control in order to investigate cognition in a closed perception-action loop. In psychophysical studies we could show that humans can integrate multimodal sensory information in a statistically optimal way, in which cues are weighted according to their reliability.
Many of our results from basic research in perception and cognition are further developed into useful application in several of the European Research projects our group leads or participates in: JAST, Cyberwalk, Wayfinding, BACS and Poeticon.
