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Charles Spence BA MA PHD

Professor of Experimental Psychology, University Lecturer in Experimental Psychology
Crossmodal Research Laboratory
The researchers in my group are studying the integration of information across the traditional sense modalities using a variety of paradigms and techniques, including human psychophysics, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). This exciting new area of research is changing the way we view our five senses, and contributing important new insights to the understanding of the brain. The findings of this research have implications in many areas, from the design of interfaces to improving the flavor of the food we eat.
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Department Department of Experimental Psychology
College Somerville College
Charles Spence

Professor Charles Spence

Professor Charles Spence is the head of the Crossmodal Research Laboratory based at the Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University (http://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/xmodal/default.htm). He is interested in how people perceive the world around them. In particular, how our brains manage to process the information from each of our different senses (such as smell, taste, sight, hearing, and touch) to form the extraordinarily rich multisensory experiences that fill our daily lives. His research focuses on how a better understanding of the human mind will lead to the better design of multisensory foods, products, interfaces, and environments in the future. His research calls for a radical new way of examining and understanding the senses that has major implications for the way in which we design everything from household products to mobile phones, and from the food we eat to the places in which we work and live. Charles is currently a consultant for a number of multinational companies advising on various aspects of multisensory design, packaging, and branding. He has also conducted research on human-computer interaction issues on the Crew Work Station on the European Space Shuttle, and currently works on problems associated with the design of foods that maximally stimulate the senses, and with the effect of the indoor environment on mood, well-being, and performance.

Charles has published more than 250 articles in top-flight scientific journals over the last decade. Charles has been awarded the 10th Experimental Psychology Society Prize, the British Psychology Society: Cognitive Section Award, the Paul Bertelson Award, recognizing him as the young European Cognitive Psychologist of the Year, and, most recently, the prestigious Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany.

Selected Publications

Medical Sciences Office, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, OX3 9DU - email : neuroscience@medsci.ox.ac.uk