The Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience (CSPE) is delighted to announce that we have been awarded two grants from the New Directions in the Study of the Mind project, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, plus a further grant from the University of Glasgow Knowledge Exchange Fund that will between them fund the following research projects.

Philosophy of Augmented and Virtual Reality Project

1 January–30 June 2017

Principal Investigator: Professor Fiona Macpherson
Postdoctoral Researcher: Dr. Neil McDonnell
Funding: John Templeton Foundation via the New Directions in the Study of the Mind project, and a grant from the University of Glasgow Knowledge Exchange Fund

The advent of affordable and practical Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) is upon us. These technologies intervene on the senses in such a way as to either represent wholly different environments from the one the user is actually in (VR) or to represent the actual environment as having features or elements that our unaided senses do not represent (AR). Our project will look to at the philosophical implications of realistic and immersive AR and VR in the context of the philosophy of mind. In addition we will establish an interdisciplinary AR/VR hub at the University, and forge close ties with businesses working in related industries. The CSPE will host two workshops in 2017 related to this project.

Synchronising the Senses

15 June–30 September 2017

Principal Investigator: Professor Fiona Macpherson
Postdoctoral Researcher: Dr. Keith Wilson
Funding: John Templeton Foundation via the New Directions in the Study of the Mind project

We seem to perceive the world as it is in the present moment, as a continuous and seamless stream of events, without interruption or delay. Yet scientists now know that each of our senses—vision, hearing, touch, and so on—works on slightly different timescales, with information from each sensory organ taking a different amount of time to process. How, then, do these different streams of information become combined, or integrated, into an apparently coherent and continuous experience, or is the continuity of experience itself a kind of illusion?

Further information available on the New Directions in the Study of the Mind website.

First published: 1 November 2016

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