Please find below details on a funded PhD studentship at the University of Manchester (UK) exploring “Memory for surprising events –developing a predictive processing model of episodic memory”.

Project outline:

Hierarchical predictive processing is an influential computational framework for cognitive neuroscience, which offers an elegant computational model of perception and action. This project will use experimental psychology and fMRI methodologies to explore the insight this framework offers about human memory. We will test the idea that memory depends on surprise and that learning occurs only when the brain’s model of the world changes as a result of errors in predicting incoming stimuli, a suggestion recently extended to explain hippocampal and medial frontal cortex function.

Project supervisors:

Dr Talmi www.psych-sci.manchester.ac.uk/staff/talmi Prof Wittmann https://www.uni-giessen.de/cms/fbz/fb06/.../wittmann Prof Montaldi www.psych-sci..manchester.ac.uk/staff/126756/

Candidate characteristics:

An excellent UG degree in a relevant discipline with a passion for cognitive neuroscience and memory. Experimental and computational skills would be an asset.

Application details:

Candidates selected for interview have 50% chance of winning funding for this 4-year studentship at the School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Manchester. The 2015 round of MRC DTP projects are currently being uploaded to findaphd.com and the MRC DTP website: www.mhs.manchester.ac.uk/mrcdtp. Deadline: 26 Nov 2014

Expressions of Interest are being invited from candidates in the following form:

- Academic CV - Official academic transcripts - Contact details for two suitable referees - A personal statement (750 words maximum) outlining suitability for the study, what they hope to achieve from the PhD and research experience to date.

For questions about the position please contact deborah.talmi@manchester.ac.uk.