Juho Äijälä
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Hello! I am a Ph.D. student at the Cambridge Consciousness and Cognition lab supervised by Tristan Bekinschtein and Andres Canales-Johnson. My research focuses on the neural dynamics of predictive processing and internally driven perception. In other words, I study how the brain generates predictions about our surroundings, how these predictions are communicated across the cortical hierarchy, and how this communication shapes our consciousness. I'm particularly interested in so-called internally driven states, such as visual imagery in which the brain is capable of generating visual experiences in the absence of any external visual stimulation.
To answer these questions, I employ novel methods from information theory, spectral analyses and computational modelling, combined with non-invasive (EEG/MEG) and invasive (ECoG) electrophysiology across species, from mice to marmosets and humans. To achieve this, together with my supervisor Andres, we are collaborating with The Riken Centre for Brain Science, Japan (for intracranial ECoG recordings from marmosets), Department of Neurosurgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA (for intracranial ECoG-recordings from human patients), and The Ernst Strüngmann Institute, Germany (for work with optogenetic mice). Before starting my PhD at Cambridge, I did my undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Aberdeen and a master's degree in Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL. Even before this I dabbled for one year in computer science, before deciding to switch fields to psychology. I'm also interested in philosophy of mind and all sorts of weird philosophical speculations, as well as meditation and lucid dreaming. My research is currently funded by a Ph.D. scholarship from the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Fund. |
Publications
Key Research Papers
You can find an updated list of my publications on Google Scholar:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SUDLWtQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
- Gelens*, F., Äijälä*, J., Roberts, L., Komatsu, M., Uran, C., Jensen, M. A., ... & Canales-Johnson, A. (2023). Distributed representations of prediction error signals across the cortical hierarchy are synergistic. bioRxiv, 2023-01.
- Pilz, K. S., Äijälä, J. M., & Manassi, M. (2020). Selective age-related changes in orientation perception. Journal of Vision, 20(13), 13-13.
You can find an updated list of my publications on Google Scholar:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SUDLWtQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao