Welcome to the Cognitive Computational Neuroscience Lab (Ürgen Lab) at Bilkent University. We are part of the Department of Psychology and Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Graduate Program, and physically located at Aysel Sabuncu Brain Research Center and G-Building on the main campus. We are also affiliated with the National Magnetic Resonance Research Center (UMRAM). Directions to our lab is here.
Broadly speaking, we investigate the neural and computational mechanisms that underlie visual perception and cognition in humans using behavioural experiments, neuroimaging (fMRI and EEG), intracerebral recordings, and computational modeling. We also have an interdisciplinary research program between cognitive sciences and social robotics. You can find more about our research under Research and Projects, and about our published work under Publications. If you are interested in joining our team, please visit Join the Lab link.
You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
News
March 2024: New paper out in Vision Research! We investigated the stages of information processing during biological motion perception using EEG within the theoretical framework of perceptual decision-making. Here is the link to our paper.
November 2023: Our new paper on the neural basis of biological motion perception under attentional load is out in Vision Research! Here is the link to our paper.
September 2023: Our new preprint on biological motion perception in the theoretical framework of perceptual decision-making is out! Here is the link to the paper.
August 2023: Our new paper that introduces a novel setup to conduct naturalistic laboratory experiments is out in the Journal of Visualized Experiments! Here is the paper, here is the link to our interview, and here is the video of an example study in this setup.
July 2023: New preprint out! We investigated bottom-up processing of biological motion under perceptual load taking into account cortical magnification. See our preprint here:
April 2023: New paper out in the International Journal of Social Robotics! We investigated audio-visual predictive processing in the perception of humans and robots. See our paper here.
March 2023: New preprint! We investigated the bottom-up perception of biological motion under attentional load with fMRI. See it here.
January 2023: New paper out! We release a large dataset of actions (100 different actions performed by 3 different actors, hence 300 videos) for the use of researchers in visual and cognitive neuroscience. See our paper here.
January 2023: New paper out in the International Journal of Social Robotics! We investigated gender attribution to social robots while they perform gendered actions using animation techniques. See our paper here.
December 2022: Our TÜBİTAK 1001 project in which we will investigate the real-world neuroscience of action perception and attention is funded!
December 2022: Our TÜSEB-B project is funded! Using EEG in a perceptual decision-making framework, we will investigate the visual perception of actions.
September 2022: New graduate students in our lab!
February 2022: We are going to VSS 2022! Our grad student Hilal Nizamoglu’s VSS abstract titled “Neural underpinnings of biological motion perception under attentional load” is accepted as a talk, and Huseyin O. Elmas and Sena Er’s VSS abstract titled “The effect of prior knowledge on biological motion perception” is accepted as a poster. Congrats!
December 2021: Our lab’s senior student Deniz Erdil successfully presented her senior project on the Senior Project Day of the Department of Psychology! She also graduated, congratulations!
September 2021: Summer news from CCN Lab – New grad students, graduations, summer interns, and more! See our blog post: http://web3.bilkent.edu.tr/ccn/summer-2021-news-from-ccn-lab/
August 2021: Our new lab member, Pepper the CCN just arrived at the lab! We are ready to establish our Social Robotics lab!
May 2021: New paper out in Neuroimage! The unique role of parietal cortex in action observation: Functional organization for communicative and manipulative actions. Neuroimage, 237 (link to paper).
May 2021: Our lab’s senior students Ada Dilek Rezaki, Murat Batu Tunca, Tuvana Karaduman, and Gaye Aşkın presented their senior projects on 7 May 2021 on Zoom. They did a great job despite the pandemic. Congrats!
May 2021: Our lab’s senior students Gaye Aşkın, Tuvana Karaduman, and Deniz Erdil are awarded TUBİTAK 2209A grants for their senior projects! Their projects investigate how we perceive social robots using animations and focusing on gender, trust, and pain perception.
February 2021: Hilal Nizamoğlu gave a talk at COG_IST event about biological motion perception and attention. Here is the talk link (in Turkish).
February 2021: Sena Er and Hüseyin Orkun Elmas are awarded TUBİTAK BIDEB fellowships to support their graduate studies! Congratulations!
January 2021: Ada Dilek Rezaki and Faruk Tayyip Yalçın are awarded TUBITAK STAR undergraduate fellowships! Congratulations!
January 2021: Our conference paper with İmge Saltık and Deniz Erdil on mind perception and social robots is accepted to HRI 2021! Here is the link to our paper: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3434074.3447161
November 2020: Our lab is awarded a new TUBITAK 1001 project! We will investigate inter-generational and individual differences in attributing mental states to social robots.
November 2020: Burcu Ayşen Ürgen gave an invited talk at Growing Up in Science Event in Turkey. Here is the talk link.
August 2020: New paper in European Journal of Neuroscience! Our collaborative work is titled “A parietal region processing numerosity of observed actions: An fMRI study“.
May 2020: 4 posters presented at the 7th International Symposium on Brain and Cognitive Science (ISBCS), which was held virtually on twitter. The poster videos can be accessed from Saltik and Urgen, Elmas et al, Cerrahoglu et al and Sarigul et al.
April 2020: New paper in Cortex! It is titled “Predictive processing account of action perception: Evidence from effective connectivity in the action observation network“.
March 2020: 2 papers accepted as Late Breaking Reports at HRI 2020. They can be accessed from Urgen et al and Sarigul et al.
November 2019: Burcu is awarded TUBITAK 3501 CAREER (2019-2022) grant titled “Behavioral and neural investigation of perception of biological motion and actions in humans”.
June-July 2019: Our lab hosted 9 interns this summer. Here is a blog post about their experience in our lab.
April 2019: New paper in Cortex! It is titled “Distinct representations in occipito-temporal, parietal, and premotor cortex during action perception revealed by fMRI and computational modeling“.