I joined the University of Stirling in 2022 as a lecturer and lead the Introduction to Psychology 2 module alongside supervising students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. I am also a Co-Lead for the Cognition in Complex Environments research group.
Before joining Stirling, I completed my undergraduate training in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Nottingham, and then completed my PhD at the University of Cardiff in time perception. I gained postdoctoral training in neuroimaging (fMRI) at the Brain and Mind Institute at the University of Western Ontario (Canada), funded by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Fellowship.
Adapting to cross-modal rhythms activates distributed and centralised mechanisms simultaneously. 7th Biennial Perceptual Learning Workshop, 2022
Chair for Nanosymposium 'Neurobiology of Timing'
Society for Neuroscience
Exploring listening effort during challenging listening environments using engaging, naturalistic stories and fMRI. Department of Cognitive Science, Occidental College, USA, 2022
Exploring Shared Neural Synchronisation During Story Listening With Acoustic Masking at the Association for Research in Otolaryngology Annual Midwinter Meeting
Exploring shared neural synchronization when listening to acoustically masked stories
Cognitive Neuroscience Society
Cognitive Neuroscience Society member
Cognitive Neuroscience Society
Society for Neuroscience member
Society for Neuroscience
Broadly, my research explores how human beings make sense of the world around us by exploring how multiple sensory systems collaborate to form our sense of time. I use a combination of methods to explore this, including psychophysics, neuroimaging and computational modelling. For more information, please check out our lab website here: https://sites.google.com/view/multisensorytiminglab/home
If any of the above sound interesting, I would love to hear from you! I am always looking for collaborators and welcome contact from potential students at various levels.
Article
Brainhack: Developing a culture of open, inclusive, community-driven neuroscience
Gau R, Noble S, Heuer K, Bottenhorn KL, Bilgin IP, Yang Y, Huntenburg JM, Bayer JMM, Bethlehem RAI, Rhoads SA, Vogelbacher C, Borghesani V, Levitis E, Wang H & Motala A (2021) Brainhack: Developing a culture of open, inclusive, community-driven neuroscience. Neuron, 109 (11), pp. 1769-1775. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2021.04.001
Article
Temporal rate is not a distinct perceptual metric
Motala A, Heron J, McGraw PV, Roach NW & Whitaker D (2020) Temporal rate is not a distinct perceptual metric. Scientific Reports, 10 (1), Art. No.: 8654. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64984-4
Article
Auditory Rate Perception Displays a Positive Serial Dependence
Motala A, Zhang H & Alais D (2020) Auditory Rate Perception Displays a Positive Serial Dependence. i-Perception, 11 (6). https://doi.org/10.1177/2041669520982311
Thesis
The nature of sensory time perception – centralised or distributed?
Motala A (2020) The nature of sensory time perception – centralised or distributed?. PhD in Vision Science. Cardiff University. https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/126722/
Article
Motala A & Caceres LG (2018) Disentangling Neural Synchronization and Sustained Neural Activity in the Processing of Auditory Temporal Patterns. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, Art. No.: 497. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00497
Article
Motala A, Heron J, McGraw PV, Roach NW & Whitaker D (2018) Rate after-effects fail to transfer cross-modally: Evidence for distributed sensory timing mechanisms. Scientific Reports, 8 (1), Art. No.: 924. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-19218-z
Module Coordinator for Introduction to Psychology (PSYU902)
Lecturer for MSc Perception and Action (PRMP139)
Supervisor for BSc and MSc dissertation projects and placements
