Lauren Welbourne
Research Associate

Profile

Biography

• PhD Psychology, University of York (2012 – 2016)
• MRes Psychology, University of York (2010 – 2011)
• BSc Psychology, Newcastle University (2006 – 2009)

Career

• Research Associate, Department of Psychology, University of York (2022 – present)
• Senior Research Technician, York Neuroimaging Centre (YNiC), Department of Psychology, University of York (2018 – 2022)
• Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA (2016 – 2018)

Research

Overview

My research background is in low-level visual processing in ‘colour-normal’ (trichromatic) and ‘colour-deficient’ (‘colour-blind’, dichromatic) individuals, using a range of psychophysical and fMRI methods.

I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate on Dr Daniel Baker and Professor Alex Wade’s BBSRC grant, “Non-canonical binocular pathways in human vision”.

Research group(s)

• Daniel Baker
• Alex Wade

Grants

• European Summer School “Visual Neuroscience: From Spikes to Awareness”, Schloss Rauischholzhausen, Germany (September 2016)
• Full PhD Departmental Studentship funding (fees + stipend) (2012-2016)
• Young Investigator Award, Optical Society of America (OSA) Fall Vision Meeting 2012

Collaborators

• Dr Daniel Baker
• Professor Alex Wade
• Professor Antony Morland

Publications

Selected publications

• Lowndes, R., Welbourne, L.E., Williams, M., Gouws, A., Wade, A.R. & Morland, A.B. (in press, 2023). Responses in Early Visual Areas are Reduced More for S-Cone than L-M Cone Gratings as Spatial Frequency is Increased. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.4117417
• Welbourne, L.E., Jonnalagadda, A., Giesbrecht, B., & Eckstein, M.P. (2021). The transverse occipital sulcus and intraparietal sulcus show neural selectivity to object-scene size relationships. Commun Biol 4, 768,  DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-02294-9
• Welbourne, L.E., Morland, A.B., & Wade A.R. (2018). Population receptive field (pRF) measurements of chromatic responses in human visual cortex using fMRI, NeuroImage, 167, 84-94, DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.11.022
• Eckstein, M.P., Koehler, K., Welbourne, L.E., & Akbas, E. (2017). Humans, but not deep neural networks, often miss giant targets in scenes, Current Biology, 27(18), 2827-2832, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.07.068
• Welbourne, L.E., Morland, A.B., & Wade, A.R. (2015). Human color perception changes between seasons, Current Biology, 25(15), 646-647, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.06.030
• Welbourne, L.E., Thompson, P.G., Wade, A.R., & Morland, A.B. (2013). The distribution of unique green wavelengths and its relationship to macular pigment density. Journal of Vision, 13(8):15, 1–10, DOI: 10.1167/13.8.15.