What does it mean to be a good driver? Racing is different from our daily driving, of course. Regular driving has less to do with reflexes and reaction time, as it heavily depends on reading the situation correctly, understanding other drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. The actual driving skills and the car performance (e.g., braking reaction time and the tyre quality) are important, but surprisingly less relevant than the ability to predict a dangerous situation and increase alertness. And while the key factors defining an excellent driver are well documented, there remains considerable uncertainty on how the human brains make certain individuals more suited than others to driving. Here we will investigate one general brain mechanism that is thought to be fundamental to driving skills: Predictive processing. The project will involve designing and electroencephalography experiment to study this brain mechanism in driving scenarios.
You will join an interdisciplinary research team composed of the principal investigator, three postdoctoral researchers, six PhD students, and two research assistants. The team meets weekly to discuss exciting ongoing work from within and outside the team, which is also an opportunity for Master’s students to experience research life and learn about the latest advances in brain and generative AI research (especially speech, language, and music processing).
Lab website: https://diliberg.net