Aleksandar Aksentijevic

Aleksandar Aksentijevic

Dr, CPsychol, CSci, AFBPsS, FHEA, PhD

Former affiliation
20012020

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Qualifications

PhD

Research interests

My research interests are diverse but cluster around perception and cognition. One area of interest is the integration of pitch in the brain. I have conducted a number of experiments which demonstrate that oscillations at a specific frequency (around 33 Hz) are associated with producing a unified pitch percept (1,2,3). I am interested in applying these findings to the problem of tinnitus and amusia.

In the area of visual perception I have demonstrated that simple geometrical objects distort the surrounding visual space and that these distortions affect object grouping (4,5). This project has the potential to contribute substantially to the theories of perceptual grouping and perceptual illusions.

Investigation of supramodal mechanisms of pattern processing is another area of interest (6,7) which has yielded interesting results—recognition of transformed patterns in a different modality are affected by pattern structure and complexity.

My work on perceptual complexity has resulted in a new complexity measure based on the amount of change (8,9) and has produced a novel form of hidden symmetry (generalised palindrome) which is currently used to investigate pre-conscious processing of pattern structure.

My interest in time perception has resulted in a study which demonstrated a Doppler-like effect in time distance estimates with respect to the past (10). This has served as a platform for my current work on the relationship between real or induced motion on memory.

Finally, I am interested in the psychology of music (11,12,13), philosophy of science (14,15,16) and consciousness (17).

 

1. Aksentijevic, A., Barber, P. J., & Elliott, M. A. (2011). Process timing and its relation to the coding of tonal harmony. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception And Performance, 37, 1628-1642.

2. Aksentijevic, A., Northeast, A., Canty, D., & Elliott, M. A. (2013). The oscillatory entrainment of virtual pitch perception. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 210.

3. Aksentijevic, A., Smith, A. & Elliott, M. A. (2014). Oscillatory coding of harmonic pitch: Effects of musical training. Music Perception, 31, 316-322.

4. Aksentijevic, A., Elliott, M. A., & Barber, P. J. (2001). Dynamics of perceptual grouping: Similarities in the organization of visual and auditory groups. Visual Cognition, 8, (3/4/5), 349-358.

5. Aksentijevic, A., & Elliott, M. A. Local spatial distortion caused by simple geometrical figures (in press Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2016.1192657).

6. Aksentijevic, A., & Monje Garcia, L. (2013). Cross-modal facilitation of mental rotation: Effects of pattern modality and complexity. British Journal of Psychology, 104, 181-192

7. Thorpe, M., & Aksentijevic, A. Evidence for supramodal processing of pitch-pattern structure (in preparation for Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance).

8. Aksentijevic, A., & Gibson, K. (2012) Complexity and the cost of information processing. Theory and Psychology, 22, 572-590.

9. Aksentijevic, A., & Gibson, K. (2012). Complexity equals change. Cognitive Systems Research, 15-16, 1-16.

10. Aksentijevic, A., & Treider, J. M. G. (2016). It’s all in the past: Deconstructing the temporal Doppler effect. Cognition, 155, 135-145.

11. Hargreaves, D., & Aksentijevic, A. (2011). Invited Comment: Music, IQ and the Executive Function. British Journal of Psychology, 102, 306-308.

12. Thorpe, M., Ockelford, A., & Aksentijevic, A. (2012). An empirical exploration of the zygonic model of expectation in music. Psychology of Music, 40, 429-470. doi: 10.1177/0305735610392103

13. Clark, T., Williamon, A. & Aksentijevic, A. (2012). Musical imagery and imagination: The function, measurement and application of imagery skills for performance. In Musical imaginations, eds. D.J. Hargreaves, D.E. Miell & R.A.R. MacDonald. Oxford: Oxford UP. ISBN 978-0-19-956808-6.

14. Aksentijevic, A. (2015). Statistician, heal thyself: fighting statophobia at the source. Frontiers in Psychology, 6:1558. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01558

15. Aksentijevic, A. (2015). No time for waiting: Statistical structure reflects subjective complexity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 10.1073/pnas.1507950112.

16. Aksentijevic, A. (2015). Randomness: Off with its heads (and tails). Mind and Society. Advance online publication, doi: 10.1007/s11299-015-0187-7

17. Aksentijevic, A. (2015). Consciousness and apparent motion: Paradox resolved. Theory and Psychology, 26, 44-57.

Teaching

Teaching

 

2013 - current module convenor (Psychology of Music, Perspectives on Consciousness, Research project)

 

2013 Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy

 

2008 - 2013 Programme convenor (MSc/MA Applied Music Psychology), advenced statistic (MSc Psychological Science)

 

2006 - 2007 Psychology of Music. Module convenor (Psychology of Music, Structuring Survey Data) Programme convenor (MSc/MA Applied Music Psychology)

 

2005 - 2007 Structuring Survey data, Questionnaire and survey, Research Methods, History of Philosophy and Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Experimental Research in Psychology

 

1999 - 2005 Statistics with research methods, MSc Audiological Science, Institute of Laryngology and Otology, University College London

 

2000 - 2002 Statistics with research methods, MSc Human-Computer Interaction with Ergonomics, University College London

 

2001 Introductory statistics, MSc Organisational Psychiatry, Division of Psychological Medicine, King’s College London

 

1999 - 2004 Demonstrating (statistics, research methods and critical analysis) for all four years of the BSc Psychology Course at Birkbeck College

External positions

Honorary Research Fellow, Birkbeck, University of London

2005 → …