Profiles
Dr Gunnar Schmidtmann
Associate Professor of Optometry and Vision Science
School of Health Professions (Faculty of Health)
Dr Gunnar Schmidtmann can be contacted through arrangement with our Press Office, to speak to the media on these areas of expertise.
- Optometry
- Neuroscience
- Visual psychophysics
- Facial perception
- Shape perception
- Laboratory methods
- Quantitative research
- Computational modelling
Email publicrelations@plymouth.ac.uk to enquire.
Biography
Biography
2021 - present: Associate Professor of Optometry and Vision Science
2017 - 2021: Lecturer in Optometry
2020 - present: Admissions Tutor
2020 - 2022: Member of the University Senate
Qualifications
2019: Fellow of the Higher Education Association (FHEA)
2016 - 2017: Postdoctoral Research Fellow (The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, McGill University, Canada)
2013 - 2016: Postdoctoral Research Fellow (McGill Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology, McGill University, Canada)
2008 - 2013: PhD Vision Science (Glasgow Caledonian University, UK)
2005 - 2008: BSc Optometry (University of Applied Sciences, Lübeck, Germany)2001 - 2005: Medical School (University of Lübeck, Germany)
Professional membership
Roles on external bodies
Elected committee member of the Applied Vision Association (AVA)
Key publications
(2020) 'The McGill Face Database: Validation and Insights Into the Recognition of Facial Expressions of Complex Mental States' Perception 49, (3) 310-329 , DOI Open access
(2018) 'Radial frequency patterns describe a small and perceptually distinct subset of all possible planar shapes' Vision Research , DOI Open access
(2015) 'Distinct lower visual field preference for object shape' Journal of Vision 15, (5) 18-18 , DOI Open access
(2015) 'Modeling probability and additive summation for detection across multiple mechanisms under the assumptions of signal detection theory' Journal of Vision 15, (5) 1-1 , DOI Open access
Teaching
Teaching
Teaching interests
BSc Optometry
2017 - present: Visual Perception (module lead)
2017 - 2021: Geometric and Physical Optics
2017 - 2018: Clinical Optometry Skills
MSc School of Health Professions
2021 - present: Applying Evidence to Practice ADV702 (module lead)
2020 - present: Rehabilitation, Cognition, Perception & Behaviour ADV739 - Visual Perception
2020 - present: Applied Quantitive Research Methods MCR702 - Applied nonparametric statistics, Data processing and graphical display for complex raw datasets
Research
Research
Research interests
Research groups
Grants & contracts
- 2021 - 2024: Co-applicant with Ian Gold (PI) on SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canada) Insight Grant (McGill University, Montreal, Canada)
- 2019: College Undergraduate Research Scholarship, College of Optometrist
- 2018: College Undergraduate Research Scholarship, College of Optometrist
- 2017 - 2020: Co-applicant with Ian Gold (PI) and Elevate Solomonova on SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canada) Insight Grant #435-2017-1215 (McGill University, Montreal, Canada)
Publications
Publications
Key publications
(2020) 'The McGill Face Database: Validation and Insights Into the Recognition of Facial Expressions of Complex Mental States' Perception 49, (3) 310-329 , DOI Open access
(2018) 'Radial frequency patterns describe a small and perceptually distinct subset of all possible planar shapes' Vision Research , DOI Open access
(2015) 'Distinct lower visual field preference for object shape' Journal of Vision 15, (5) 18-18 , DOI Open access
(2015) 'Modeling probability and additive summation for detection across multiple mechanisms under the assumptions of signal detection theory' Journal of Vision 15, (5) 1-1 , DOI Open access
Key publications are highlighted
Journals
Articles
(2021) 'Clinician’s perspectives in using Head Impulse-Nystagmus-Test of Skew for Acute Vestibular Syndrome: UK experience' Stroke and Vascular Neurology , DOI Open access
(2021) 'The effect of response biases on resolution thresholds of Sloan letters in central and paracentral vision' Vision Research 187, 110-119 , DOI Open access
(2020) 'In the Blink of an Eye: Reading Mental States From Briefly Presented Eye Regions' i-Perception 11, (5) 204166952096111-204166952096111 , DOI Open access
(2020) 'The McGill Face Database: Validation and Insights Into the Recognition of Facial Expressions of Complex Mental States' Perception 49, (3) 310-329 , DOI Open access
(2019) 'The processing of compound radial frequency patterns' Vision Research 161, 63-74 , DOI Open access
(2019) 'Detection of distortions in images of natural scenes in mild traumatic brain injury patients' Vision Research 161, 12-17 , DOI Open access
(2018) 'Radial frequency patterns describe a small and perceptually distinct subset of all possible planar shapes' Vision Research , DOI Open access
(2017) 'RF shape channels: The processing of compound Radial Frequency patterns' Journal of Vision 17, (10) 1255-1255 , DOI
(2017) 'Sensitivity to Binocular Disparity is Reduced by Mild Traumatic Brain Injury' Investigative Opthalmology & Visual Science 58, (5) 2630-2630 , DOI Open access
(2017) 'Nothing more than a pair of curvatures: A common mechanism for the detection of both radial and non-radial frequency patterns' Vision Research 134, 18-25 , DOI Open access
(2017) 'Sensitivity to Binocular Disparity is Reduced by Mild Traumatic Brain Injury' Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science , DOI Open access
(2016) 'Nothing more than a curve: a common mechanism for the detection of radial and non-radial frequency patterns?' Journal of Vision 16, (12) 416-416 , DOI
(2016) 'Rejecting probability summation for radial frequency patterns, not so Quick!' Vision Research 122, 124-134 , DOI Open access
(2016) 'Imagining circles – Empirical data and a perceptual model for the arc-size illusion' Vision Research 121, 50-56 , DOI Open access
(2015) 'Probability, not linear summation, mediates the detection of concentric orientation-defined textures' Journal of Vision 15, (16) 6-6 , DOI Open access
(2015) 'Shape recognition: convexities, concavities and things in between' Scientific Reports 5, (1) , DOI Open access
(2015) 'Modelling probability summation for the detection of multiple stimuli under the assumptions of signal detection theory' Journal of Vision 15, (12) 473-473 , DOI
(2015) 'Rejecting probability summation for RF patterns, not so Quick!' Journal of Vision 15, (12) 1031-1031 , DOI
(2015) 'Shape recognition: convexities, concavities and things in between' Journal of Vision 15, (12) 242-242 , DOI
(2015) 'Distinct lower visual field preference for object shape' Journal of Vision 15, (5) 18-18 , DOI Open access
(2015) 'Modeling probability and additive summation for detection across multiple mechanisms under the assumptions of signal detection theory' Journal of Vision 15, (5) 1-1 , DOI Open access
(2014) 'Shape recognition: Convexities, concavities and things in between' Journal of Vision 14, (15) 50-50 , DOI
(2014) 'Spatial integration of orientation-defined texture' Journal of Vision 14, (10) 1427-1427 , DOI
(2013) 'The role of the type of local contour in global shape discrimination' Journal of Vision 13, (9) 1001-1001 , DOI
(2013) 'Detecting shapes in noise: tuning characteristics of global shape mechanisms' Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience 7, , DOI Open access
(2012) 'Non-linear global pooling in the discrimination of circular and non-circular shapes' Vision Research 62, 44-56 , DOI Open access
(2011) 'Intraocular pressure fluctuations in professional brass and woodwind musicians during common playing conditions' Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology 249, (6) 895-901 , DOI Open access
Books
Conference Papers
(2018) 'The McGill Face Database: A Novel Database of Facial Expressions of Mental States' Open access
(2016) 'Reading the Mind in the Blink of an Eye - A novel database for facial expressions' 238-239 Open access
(2015) 'Imagining Circles: A perceptual model for the Arc-Size Illusion' 248-248
(2015) 'Shape recognition: The predominate role of convexities' 459-459
(2014) 'Imagining circles' 1127-1127
(2012) 'Inferior superiority: shape discrimination is better in the lower compared to the upper visual field' 217-218
(2011) 'Local curvature detectors and global shape processing' 118-118
(2011) 'Sampling shape space: discrimination of morphed radial frequency patterns' 209-209
(2010) 'Nonlinear global summation in the perception of non-circular contours' 270-270
(2009) 'Global pooling in shape perception' 75-75
Presentations and posters
'The influence of partial occlusion on shape recognition' Open access
'The role of bias in a letter acuity identification task: a noisy template model' Open access
'Clinician’s perspectives of head impulse-nystagmus-test of skew for acute vestibular syndrome' , DOI
Personal
Personal
Conferences organised
- Applied Vision Association (AVA) Christmas Meeting 2020
- Applied Vision Association (AVA) Spring Meeting 2021
Other academic activities
Reviewer for the following journals:
- Journal of Vision
- Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences (IOVS)
- Vision Research
- Experimental Psychology
- Perception
- i-Perception
- Psychophysiology
- Psychological Research