In my work, I am interested in bringing computer vision, computer graphics and psychophysics together in order to investigate fundamental perceptual and cognitive processes. This fusion of methods and approaches from these three research areas has the potential to greatly advance our understanding of the processes in the human brain. In my research, I apply this approach to the investigation and modeling of face processing, multi-sensory object representation, object categorization, as well as to modeling of aesthetic perception.

• Highly controllable, yet realistic computer-generated stimuli offer novel possibilities for advanced psychophysical experiments. The results from those experiments can be used to derive perceptual "shortcuts" to more efficient rendering approaches.
• Algorithms from computer vision and machine learning can be used to model human performance. Conversely, the results from perceptual experiments can inform computer scientists about how the human brain solves "vision".
• Generating virtual worlds with computer graphics also helps computer vision researchers, as "ground truth" is available for testing of recognition algorithms, for example. Such algorithms can on the other hand be used to generate and model highly complex scenes more quickly.

Current projects
- A computational recognition system grounded in perceptual research. The system exploits the temporal information inherent in natural visual input for object learning and recognition and includes the first framework for interfacing local feature approaches with Support Vector Machines.
- Cross-species comparison of processing of faces (with C. Dahl)
- Perception of face expressions using computer animations and real videos (with D. Cunningham, and K. Kaulard)
- How do we perceive art? (with R. Fleming and R. Pepperell)
- Multimodal categorization of novel objects (with N. Gaissert)
- Visuohaptic processing of faces (with L. Dopjans)
- Computational modeling of scene gist (with C. Herdtweck)
- Recognition and categorization of objects from 3D data (with B. Browatzki and B. Graf and J. Kubacki from Fraunhofer IPA)
- Development of recording setups and processing pipelines for video sequences, 3D and 4D scanning (with M. Breidt, C. Curio, M. Kleiner)

Conferences and Grants
- Local coordinator for the EU-sponsored project "POETICON", which aims to synthesize sensorimotor representations and natural language in everyday human interaction
- Co-organizer for the Fourth Symposium on Applied Perception in Graphics and Visualization (APGV07)
- Co-organizer for the second Biologically Motivated Computer Vision Workshop (BMCV2002)
- Local coordinator for the EU-sponsored project "Cognitive Vision Systems", which investigated methods and techniques to build active vision systems for recognition and categorization of objects and events

Selected publications
(For all publications, follow this link)

• Dahl, C. D., C. Wallraven, H. H. Bülthoff and N. K. Logothetis: Humans and macaques employ similar face processing strategies. Current Biology 19(6), 509-513 (03 2009)
• Wallraven, C., R. Fleming, D. W. Cunningham, J. Rigau, M. Feixas and M. Sbert: Categorizing art: comparing humans and computers. Computers and Graphics (accepted) (2009)
• Nusseck, M., D. W. Cunningham, C. Wallraven and H. H. Bülthoff: The contribution of different facial regions to the recognition of conversational expressions. Journal of Vision 8(8:1), 1-23 (06 2008)
• Wallraven, C., M. Breidt, D. W. Cunningham and H. H. Bülthoff: Evaluating the Perceptual Realism of Animated Facial Expressions. ACM Transactions on Applied Perception 4(4:4), 1-20 (01 2008)
• Cooke, T., F. Jäkel, C. Wallraven and H. H. Bülthoff: Multimodal Similarity and Categorization of Novel, Three-Dimensional Objects. Neuropsychologia 45(3), 484-495 (02 2007)
• Wallraven, C., A. Schwaninger and H. H. Bülthoff: Learning from Humans: Computational Modeling of Face Recognition. Network: Computation in Neural Systems 16(4), 401-418 (12 2005)