Christophe Cauchi

My name is Christophe Cauchi, I am a psychologist, and since the beginning of January 2023, also a guest postdoc at VU. I will be receiving funding from the Foundation Fyssen for the next two years to continue my research at the VU under the supervision of prof. Martijn Meeter.

The topic I focus on in my research is visual recognition of the written word in reading. During my PhD, I studied spatial integration of linguistic information during word recognition with primary school children. My current project at the VU is titled “Effects of eccentricity on the spatial integration of information during reading”. This project is based on the framework of the spatial integration of orthographic information proposed by Snell & Grainger (2017). This framework assumes that readers are parallel processors, that is, they integrate both the fixed and the adjacent words during the word recognition, making it possible to extend it to the natural sentence reading. This project will focus on the OB1-reader model initiated by Snell, van Leipsig, Grainger and Meeter (2018) to simulate the observed effects. During my time at the VU, I wish to improve my skills in modelling the cognitive processes involved in the reading activity. What struck me here and more particularly at my department are collaborative aspects. I find that there is a wonderful capacity of collaboration during meetings where each person is concerned with every decision. I think it is a big advantage which I will try to utilise as a take home message in my future professional experiences.