Professor Patric Bach

Research Overview

My lab investigates how people plan their own actions and understand those of others. In particular, I investigate how prior expectations influence how we perceive and understand others' actions, how people are able to mentally rotate into the perspective of other people, and how people are able to control their intentional actions.

Current Research

I have been awarded £462.995 from the Leverhulme Trust to study how prior expectations about other people shape how we experience their actions, and how their actions in turn changes how we see these people. To do so, we rely on behavioral as well as neuroimaging methods (EEG/fMRI).

In addition, we are currently completing a small grant from the Experimental Psychology Society (EPS) on the mechanisms underlying visual perspective taking, and two SGSSS-funded PhD projects on Human-Robot-Interaction and deep learning models of human social perception.

Funding and Grants

2020 – 2026. Leverhulme Trust. Social perception as Bayesian hypothesis testing and revision. £462,995.

2023 – 2027. Resolving how prior expectations shape the perception of other people’s behaviour with deep learning networks. SGSSS/ESRC-funded PhD studentship through the Advanced Quantitative Methods competition (with Dr Georgios Leontidis).

2022 – 2023. EPS. Underlying Mechanisms of Visual Perspective taking. £9,380 (with Dr Katrina McDonough)

2021 – 2025. Number 5 is alive! Attribution of knowledge and intention in human-robot interactions. Hauptantragsteller. SGSSS/ESRC-funded PhD studentship through the Interdisciplinary competition (with Dr Elena Giannaccini). £60,388/€68,745.

2013 – 2016. Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). One step ahead: Prediction of other people's behaviour in healthy and autistic individuals. £270,569.

2014 – 2015.  British Academy/Leverhulme Trust. Only the winning moves: How causality shapes automatic imitation in children. £9.715.

2016 – 2017. Alzheimer Research UK. The Alzheimer’s Research UK South West (ARUKSW) Brain-image database. Co-investigator (with Dr. Matt Roser). £5.000.

2014 – 2016. South West Alzheimer/Dementia Network. Normal ageing and the precursors of dementia investigated using brain imaging. Co-investigator (with Dr. Matt Roser). £2.800.

Teaching Responsibilities

Level 2: Advanced Psychology B, Concepts And Theory PS2517: An introduction to brain functional anatomy

Level 3: Biological Psychology PS3014: Neuroscience and the Law

Level 3: Methodology B PS3522: Practical research project

Level 4: Current Topics in Psychological Studies PS4040: Cognitive Penetrability of Perception

Level 4: Critical Review PS4041: Whatever happened to Mirror Neurons?

Level 5: Professional Research Skills PS5520: History of Psychology and Psychology as a Science