Robin Laycock

Dr Laycock leads the Visual, Affective, and Cognitive Neuroscience Research Lab which is interested in the neural mechanisms underlying visual processing in neurotypical and neurodivergent populations as well as following concussion.

Robin's research has a focus on visual neuroscience and in examining the contribution of early visual pathways to perception and attention. As an expert in understanding the visual system, this research also encompasses the field of affective neuroscience, in particular focussing on the visual and neural correlates of face processing.

Research in Robin's lab utilises a number of approaches, including eye-tracking, behavioural psychophysics, electroencephalography (EEG), and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).

Robin completed his PhD at La Trobe University, on the topic of understanding visual processing pathways for motion and object recognition. During this time, he was trained in the use of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) at the Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre.

A focus of Robin's research has been to examine the visual mechanisms that are affected in the autism spectrum. Much of this research has studied subclinical traits of autism in the general population, finding differences in visual perception that provide a useful approach to model autism. More recently Robin's studies have begun exploring how population-level variation in visual processing might predict social skills more broadly in the general population.

Some of this research has also looked at how anxiety and acute stress can influence perception, as well as exploring the relationship between conscious and non-conscious visual processing.

Other projects include the BabyFace study, which is using neuroimaging (fNIRS) to examine the development of face perception in pre-term born babies.

In addition, Robin is using both eye-tracking and fNIRS to understand the longer term cognitive and neural effects of concussion.

Robin is affiliated with the Healthy Foundations Research Group.