Research

Research interests:

The goal of my work is to approach questions in the philosophy of mind broadly understood with theoretical and empirical methods of cognitive neuroscience. Thus, my research examines questions at the intersection of philosophy of mind and cognitive neuroscience, with a particular interest in perception. Recent topics of study include object perception and recognition, the nature of perceptual objects, the contents of perceptual experience, the structure of perceptual representation, feature binding, sensory integration, the unity of consciousness, the phenomenon of synesthesia, cross-modal interactions, modularity, perceptual expertise, and the joint between perception and cognition. The common thread running through these topics is my philosophical interest in the kinds of unity and integration processes within the mind. Overall, my work can be summarized as an empirically-inspired philosophical understanding of the phenomena relevant to object perception (within and across sense modalities). This inspiration is driven by considering different relations between structures of various experiences.

Research Projects & Grants

2020–2026: “Perceptual objects in the unimodal and multimodal settings“, National Science Centre, Poland (OPUS18; Grant 2019/35/B/HS1/04386) – Principal Investigator & Research Group Leader.

2020-2022: “The neural architecture of consciousness”; COST European Cooperation in Science and Technology (CA18106).

2015–2019: “Perception and its relations to consciousness and cognition”, Project for Excellent Young Researchers sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST104-2628-H-010-002-MY3) – Principal Investigator & Research Group Leader.

2015–2016: “Self-Consciousness and Multisensory Integration: Philosophical and Neuroscientific Perspectives”, MOST-DAAD Project-Based Personnel Exchange Programme with the Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Philosophy of Neuroscience Group, University of Tübingen, Germany, sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan & German Academic Exchange Service (MOST104-2911-I-010 -506-MY2), Co-PI.

2011–2014: “Comparing Apples with Oranges: A Differential View on Neuroenhancement”, The European Platform for Life Sciences, Mind Sciences, and the Humanities, sponsored by the Volkswagen Foundation, Germany, Co-PI.

2010–2011: “Neuroframes: A Neuro-Cognitive Model of Situated Conceptualization”, Department of Philosophy, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, sponsored by the German Research Foundation.

Editorial Work

Associate Editor: Philosophy and the Mind Sciences (PhiMiSci); Frontiers in Psychology, Section: Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology

Guest Associate Editor: Frontiers in Psychology, Section: Consciousness Research, Research Topic “Perception-Cognition Interface & Cross-Modal Experiences: Insights into Unified Consciousness”

Ad Hoc Reviewer: Journal of Philosophy; Australasian Journal of Philosophy; Review of Philosophy and Psychology; Erkenntnis; Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences; Consciousness and Cognition; Frontiers in Human Neuroscience; Multisensory Research; Theoria: A Swedish Journal of Philosophy and Psychology; Phenomenology and Mind; Vision Research; Experimental Brain Research; Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice; Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

Membership in Academic Associations, Societies, and Scientific Committees:

  • American Philosophical Association
  • Cognitive Science Society
  • European Society for Philosophy and Psychology
  • Society for Philosophy and Psychology
  • Society for Neuroscience
  • Association for Psychological Science
  • International Neuroethics Society
  • Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (Conference Committee 2013-2016; Committee Chair 2016)
  • Consciousness Research Network in the Asia-Pacific Region (Organizing & Scientific Program Committee 2017)
  • International Workshop Series on Multisensory Approaches to Human-Food Interaction (Scientific Program Committee 2018)
  • Roman Ingarden & Our Times: An International Philosophical Congress (Academic Program Committee 2019-2020)
  • 4th International Conference on Philosophy of Mind: 4E’s Approach to the Mind/Brain (Scientific Committee 2023)
  • MIND Group, Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (Anniversary Collection www.open-mind.net)
  • Asia-Pacific Philosophy of Science Association
  • UK Synaesthesia Association
  • German Society for Cognitive Science
  • European Platform for Life Sciences, Mind Sciences, and the Humanities, Volkswagen Foundation

Awards & Scholarships:

  • 2024: Senior Visiting Fellowship, Centre for Philosophical Psychology and European Network for Sensory Research, University of Antwerp, Belgium
  • 2019-2021, 2017-2019, 2015–2017: Award for Excellence in Research, Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan & National Yang-Ming University
  • 2013, 2014, 2015: Award for Outstanding Teaching, National Yang-Ming University & Ministry of Education
  • 2013–2015: Award for Excellence in Research, National Science Council, Taiwan
  • 2012: Award for Academic Achievement, The Office of Research and Development, National Yang-Ming University
  • 2009: Summer School Scholarship Award – Summer University “Memory and Mind: Learning and Representing Structures in the Brain”, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
  • 2007-2010: Doctoral Scholarship from the Barbara-Wengeler-Foundation for interdisciplinary dissertations in the field of philosophy and neurosciences (offer accepted)
  • 2007-2010: Doctoral Scholarship from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (offer declined)
  • 2003-2004: Erasmus Exchange Programme – scholarship for graduate studies at the Department of Philosophy, University of Konstanz, Germany
  • 2003: Summer School Scholarship Award – Summer University of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany