Anna Metzger

Dr Anna Metzger

  • ametzger at bournemouth dot ac dot uk
  • Lecturer in Psychology
  • Poole House P331, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, BH12 5BB
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Biography

Since 2021 I'm a Lecturer at Bournemouth University. I studied Biology (BSc) in Hanover (Germany) and Cognitive Science (MSc) in Osnabrück (Germany). I worked with Peter König on a computational model of visual attention in my master thesis. After my graduation (2010) I worked in a company conducting applied research on human computer interaction. In 2014 I started my PhD in Giessen (Germany) on the integration of information in haptic perception with Knut Drewing. In 2017 I completed the PhD and was awarded the title Dr. rer. nat. I was on maternal leave after the PhD defence and until 2018, afterwards I continued to work in Giessen as a PostDoc. In this time I had the chance to collaborate with Matteo Toscani on unsupervised learning of haptic material properties, with Matteo Valcecchi on characterising movements in haptic exploration similar to peripheral vision and foveation in visual perception, with Katja Fiehler on neural correlates of haptic perception, with Bianca Jovanovic on haptic exploration in infants and with Arash Akbarinia on a DNN model of haptic saliency.

Research

I investigate visual and haptic perception. I am particularly interested in the haptic and multisensory exploration and perception of object shape and material properties. My main research question is how is exploration of objects guided and how are representations of their properties reconstructed from the serial and multimodal input? In my research I use motion- and eye-tracking techniques, psychophysics, computational modelling and virtual and augmented reality setups.

Favourites

Journal Articles

Books

Conferences

  • Metzger, A., Lotz, A. and Drewing, K., 2022. Neutral Point in Haptic Perception of Softness. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), 13235 LNCS, 57-65.
  • Toscani, M. and Metzger, A., 2022. A Database of Vibratory Signals from Free Haptic Exploration of Natural Material Textures and Perceptual Judgments (ViPer): Analysis of Spectral Statistics. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), 13235 LNCS, 319-327.
  • Metzger, A. and Drewing, K., 2021. A Kalman filter model for predicting discrimination performance in free and restricted haptic explorations. In: IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC), 2021 6-9 July 2021 Montreal, Canada. , 439-444.
  • Metzger, A. and Drewing, K., 2020. Switching Between Objects Improves Precision in Haptic Perception of Softness. In: EuroHaptics 2020 6-9 September 2020 Leiden, The Netherlands. (eds) Haptics: Science, Technology, Applications. EuroHaptics 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12272. Springer, Cham..
  • Metzger, A., Toscani, M., Valsecchi, M. and Drewing, K., 2019. Dynamics of exploration in haptic search. 2019 IEEE World Haptics Conference, WHC 2019, 277-282.
  • Metzger, A., Toscani, M., Valsecchi, M. and Drewing, K., 2018. Haptic saliency model for rigid textured surfaces. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), 10893 LNCS, 389-400.
  • Metzger, A. and Drewing, K., 2017. The longer the first stimulus is explored in softness discrimination the longer it can be compared to the second one. In: 2017 IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC) 6-9 June 2017 Munich, Germany. , 31 IEEE.
  • Metzger, A. and Drewing, K., 2016. Haptic Aftereffect of Softness. In: EuroHaptics 2016 4-7 July 2016 London, UK. Bello, F., Kajimoto, H., Visell, Y. (eds) Haptics: Perception, Devices, Control, and Applications. EuroHaptics 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9774, 23-32 Springer, Cham.
  • Metzger, A. and Drewing, K., 2015. Haptically perceived softness of deformable stimuli can be manipulated by applying external forces during the exploration. In: 2015 IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC) 22-26 June 2015 Chicago, USA. , 75 IEEE.

Profile of Teaching PG

  • L7 (2022-present): Brain Structure & Function
  • L7 (2022-present): Experimental Design in Cognitive Neuroscience

Profile of Teaching UG

  • L4 (2022-present): Biological & Cognitive Psychology
  • L4 (2022-present): Critically evaluating psychology: past & present
  • L5 (2022-presnet): Statistics & Research Methods (unit lead)

Invited Lectures

  • Pi-Lab talk, Delft (The Netherlands), 25 Jan 2022 more
  • University of Virginia, School of Engineering, Virginia (USA), 12 Nov 2021 more
  • Satellite symposium on haptic science, Tokyo (Japan), 13 Jul 2019 more

Grants

  • Synthesising Haptic Textures through Unsupervised Learning (British Academy, 01 May 2024). In Progress
  • Perception of objects’ 3D shape – from active sensing to multisensory representations (Royal Society, 01 Mar 2024). In Progress

External Responsibilities

  • Eurohaptics Conference, Associate Editor (2020-)
  • IEEE Transactions on Haptics, Associate Editor (2019-)
  • Haptic Symposium, Reviewer (2015-)
  • Eurohaptics Conference, Reviewer (2015-)
  • World Haptics Conference, Reviewer (2014-)
  • Scientific Reports, Reviewer
  • IEEE Transactions on Applied Perception, Reviewer
  • IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems, Reviewer
  • Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, Reviewer
  • Multisensory Research, Reviewer
  • Journal of Vision, Reviewer
  • i-Perception, Reviewer
  • Perception, Reviewer
  • Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Reviewer

Internal Responsibilities

  • Head, Attention, Memory & Perception Research Group

Conference Presentations

  • Colour and Material Perception, Disambiguation of depth by touch influences lightness perception, 22 Mar 2024, Saitama (Japan)
  • Eurohaptics Conference, Neutral Point in Haptic Perception of Softness, 22 May 2022, Hamburg (Germany)
  • IEEE World Haptics Conference, A Kalman filter model for predicting discrimination performance in free and restricted haptic explorations, 06 Jul 2021, Toronto (Canada, virtual)
  • VSS, Perceptual haptic representation of materials emerges from efficient encoding., 21 May 2021, St. Pete Beach (Florida, USA, virtual)
  • Conference of Experimental Psychologists, Deep neural network model of haptic saliency., 14 Mar 2021, Ulm (Germany, virtual)
  • Eurohaptics Conference, Switching between objects improves precision in haptic perception of softness., 06 Sep 2020, Leiden (The Netherlands, virtual)
  • VSS, Foveation-like behavior in human haptic search., 19 Jun 2020, St. Pete Beach (Florida, USA, virtual)
  • European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), Haptic Perception of Softness Is Influenced by Memory., 26 Aug 2019, Trieste (Italy)
  • IEEE World Haptics Conference, Dynamics of exploration in haptic search., 09 Jul 2019, Tokyo (Japan)
  • Eurohaptics Conference, Haptic Saliency Model for Rigid Textured Surfaces., 13 Jun 2018, Pisa (Italy)
  • IEEE World Haptics Conference, The longer the first stimulus is explored in softness discrimination the longer it can be compared to the second one., 05 Jun 2017, Fürstenfeldbruck (Munich, Germany)
  • Conference of Experimental Psychologists, Serial integration of information in haptic softness perception., 26 Mar 2017, Dresden (Germany)
  • European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), Adaptation to softness in haptic perception., 28 Aug 2016, Barcelona (Spain)
  • Eurohaptics Conference, Haptic Aftereffect of Softness., 04 Jul 2016, London (UK)
  • IEEE World Haptics Conference, Haptically perceived softness of deformable stimuli can be manipulated by applying external forces during the exploration., 22 Jun 2015, Chicago (USA)

Attended Training

  • Summer School Computational Sensory-Motor Neuroscience, 29 Jun 2015

Honours

  • Best paper award (1000€) (Eurohaptics Society, 2018)