Broadly, my research explores how human beings make sense of the world around us by exploring how multiple sensory systems come together to construct our sensory environments. I particularly love exploring how these senses 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 and a list of most recent publications, please check out our lab website here: https://sites.google.com/view/multisensorytiminglab/home
I have held positions across the UK (University of Cardiff, University of Nottingham, Queen Mary University of London), Australia (University of Sydney) and Canada (Brain & Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario). My research has been generously funded by a number of different organisations, including prestigious fellowships from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Fellowship and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
At the University of Stirling, I lead the Introduction to Psychology (PSYU902) module alongside supervising students at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Please see our lab website (link above) for an updated list of lab members. I also co-lead the Cognition in Complex Environments research group and Co-Lead the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Committee within the School of Psychology.
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.
Forth Valley Radio Interview
Exploring Shared Neural Synchronisation During Story Listening With Acoustic Masking
Association for Research in Otolaryngology Annual Midwinter Meeting
Chair for Nanosymposium 'Neurobiology of Timing'
Society for Neuroscience
Exploring shared neural synchronization when listening to acoustically masked stories
Cognitive Neuroscience Society
Invited Speaker, Cornea to Cortex Seminars, School of Optometry & Vision Science, Cardiff University
Invited Speaker, Department of Cognitive Science, Occidental College, USA, 2022
Keynote Speaker at PsyCon 2023
Presenter at the 7th Biennial Perceptual Learning Workshop, USA 2022
Cognitive Neuroscience Society member
Cognitive Neuroscience Society
Society for Neuroscience member
Society for Neuroscience
Preprint
Neural signatures of engagement and event segmentation during story listening in background noise
Herrmann B, Motala A, Panela RA & Johnsrude IS (2025) Neural signatures of engagement and event segmentation during story listening in background noise. Timing & Time Perception. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.07.15.664921
Article
Motala A, Johnsrude I & Herrmann B (2024) A longitudinal framework to describe the relation between age-related hearing loss and social isolation. Trends in Hearing, 28. https://doi.org/10.1177/23312165241236041
Article
Cortical activation during imagined walking for people with lower limb loss: a pilot study
Hunter SW, Motala A, Cronin AE, Bartha R, Viana R & Payne MW (2023) Cortical activation during imagined walking for people with lower limb loss: a pilot study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 17. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1163526
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
