Research

Research Interest

My research is focused on the study of human visual system. I use a combination of human psychophysics and computational modelling techniques to uncover the functional characteristics of the neuronal mechanisms of visual functions including motion perception, spatial vision, and stereovision.

In particular, I am interested in the role that neuronal inhibitory mechanisms have on our visual perception. These mechanisms are very interesting because they can enhance the detection of the borders of an image, can help to segregate a figure from the background, in some situations they can improve or impair motion discrimination, and even can reverse the perceived direction of motion. These inhibitory mechanisms can also suppress the image of one eye avoiding double image in people with strabismus. Basically my research is basic science, but I am increasingly working in collaboration with clinicians to examine these inhibitory mechanisms in clinical populations as patients with schizophrenia, with epilepsy, or with depression. Our objective is to test these populations with simple visual tasks in order to develop new clinical tests that can be used to detect alterations in the inhibitory mechanisms of the brain.

Grants

2012-2015 Title: Spatial and functional characterisation of antagonistic centre-surround mechanisms in motion-vision. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (Spain). PSI2011-24491. (P.I. Ignacio Serrano-Pedraza)

2015-2017 Title: Visual inhibitory mechanisms in motion perception: Fundamental characteristics and clinical applications. Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spain). PSI2014-51960-P. (P.I. Ignacio Serrano-Pedraza)

2019-2021 Title: The binocular interaction in motion perception: implications on the activation of visual inhibitory mechanisms. Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (Spain). PGC2018-093406-B-I00.  (P.I. Ignacio Serrano-Pedraza)

2022-2025 Title: Spatiotemporal characterization of the stereoscopic anisotropy. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación  (Spain). PDI2021-122245NB-I00. (P.I. Ignacio Serrano-Pedraza) 

Serrano-Pedraza's Lab

Pubmed publications

Google scholar webpage

Researchgate

Teaching

My current position is Profesor Titular de Universidad at the Faculty of Psychology (Complutense University of Madrid, Spain).

I teach the following courses:

1. Perception. Theory and practical classes: 190 hours/year. Number of students: 250/year second year Psychology students. Tutoring: 6 hours/week. For this course I have developed new practices that can be seen here.
2. Signal Analysis with applications to vision and audition. Theory and practical classes: 50 hours/year. Topics: Fourier analysis, linear systems, image processing, edge detection, sound processing, etc. Number of students: 20/year fifth year Psychology students. Tutoring: 6 hours/week. This course is included in the specialty area of Experimental Psychology. In the practical classes of this course I teach MATLAB programing.

Publications

• Articles

  • Bachtoula O, Arranz-Paraiso S, Luna R, Serrano-Pedraza I. Visual motion discrimination experiments reveal small differences between males and females. Vision Research 2023, 208, 108222.
  • Luna R, Serrano-Pedraza I. Interaction between motion scales: When performance in motion discrimination is worse for a compound stimulus than for its integrating components. Vision Research 2020, 167, 60-69.
  • Serrano-Pedraza I, Vancleef K, Herbert W, Goodship N, Woodhouse M, Read JCA. Efficient estimation of stereo thresholds: What slope should be assumed for the psychometric function?. PLoS ONE 2020, 15(1), e0226822.
  • Read JCA, Wong ZY, Yek X, Wong YX, Bachtoula O, Llamas-Cornejo I, Serrano-Pedraza I. ASTEROID stereotest v1.0: lower stereo thresholds using smaller, denser and faster dots. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics 2020, 40(6), 815-827.
  • Vancleef K, Serrano-Pedraza I, Sharp C, Slack G, Black C, Casanova T, Hugill J, Rafiq S, Burridge J, Puyat V, Ewane Enongue J, Gale H, Akotei H, Collier Z, Haggerty H, Smart K, Powell C, Taylor K, Clarke MP, Morgan G, Read JCA. ASTEROID: A New Clinical Stereotest on an Autostereo 3D Tablet. Translational Vision Science and Ophthalmology 2019, 8, 25.
  • Vancleef K, Read JCA, Herbert W, Goodship N, Woodhouse M, Serrano-Pedraza I. Two choices good, four choices better: For measuring stereoacuity in children, a four-alternative forced-choice paradigm is more efficient than two. PLoS One 2018, 13(7), e0201366.
  • Arranz-Paraiso S, Serrano-Pedraza I. Testing the link between visual suppression and intelligence. PLoS ONE 2018, 13(7), e0200151.
  • Luna R, Serrano-Pedraza I. Temporal frequency modulates the strength of the inhibitory interaction between motion sensors tuned to coarse and fine scales. Journal of Vision 2018, 18(13), 17.
  • Nityananda V, Tarawneh G, Errington S, Serrano-Pedraza I, Read J. The optomotor response of the praying mantis is driven predominantly by the central visual field. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 2017, 203(1), 77-87.
  • Refaie R, Rushton P, McGovern P, Thompson D, Serrano-Pedraza I, Rankin KS, Reed M. The effect of operating lights on laminar flow. Bone and Joint Journal 2017, 99B(8), 1061-1066.
  • Vancleef K, Read JCA, Herbert W, Goodship N, Woodhouse M, Serrano-Pedraza I. Overestimation of stereo thresholds by the TNO stereotest is not due to global stereopsis. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics 2017, 37(4), 507-520.
  • Tarawneh G, Nityananda V, Rosner R, Errington S, Herbert W, Cumming BG, Read JCA, Serrano-Pedraza I. Invisible noise obscures visible signal in insect motion detection. Scientific Reports 2017, 7, 3496.
  • Serrano-Pedraza I, Herbert W, Villa-Laso L, Widdall M, Vancleef K, Read JCA. The Stereoscopic Anisotropy Develops During Childhood. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science 2016, 57(3), 960-970.
  • Serrano-Pedraza I, Vancleef K, Read JCA. Avoiding monocular artifacts in clinical stereotests presented on column-interleaved digital stereoscopic displays. Journal of Vision 2016, 16(14), 13.
  • Yazdani P, Serrano-Pedraza I, Whittaker RG, Trevelyan A, Read JC. Two common psychophysical measures of surround suppression reflect independent neuronal mechanisms. Journal of Vision 2015, 15(13).
  • Read JCA, Georgiou R, Brash C, Yazdani P, Whittaker R, Trevelyan A, Serrano-Pedraza I. Moderate acute alcohol intoxication has minimal effect on surround suppression measured with a motion direction discrimination task. Journal of Vision 2015, 15(1), 5.
  • Chacon J, Castellanos MA, Serrano-Pedraza I. Characterizing visual asymmetries in contrast perception using shaded stimuli. Journal of Vision 2015, 15(16), 1-14.
  • Serrano-Pedraza I, Romero-Ferreiro V, Read JC, Diéguez-Risco T, Bagney A, Caballero-González M, Rodríguez-Torresano J, Rodríguez-Jiménez R. Reduced visual surround suppression in schizophrenia shown by measuring contrast detection thresholds. Frontiers in Psychology 2014, 5, 1431.
  • Aguado L, Serrano-Pedraza I, García-Gutiérrez A. A Comparison of Backward Masking of Faces in Expression and Gender Identification. Psicológica 2014, 35(2), 171-194.
  • Serrano-Pedraza I, Sierra-Vázquez V, Derrington AM. The power-spectrum model of visual masking: simulations and empirical data. Journal of the Optical Society of America A: Optics, Image Science, and Vision 2013, 30(6), 1119-1135.
  • Serrano-Pedraza I, Brash C, Read JCA. Testing the horizontal-vertical stereo anisotropy with the critical-band masking paradigm. Journal of Vision 2013, 13(11), 15.
  • Petheram TG, Bone M, Joyce TJ, Serrano-Pedraza I, Reed MR, Partington PF. Surface finish of the Exeter Trauma Stem: A cause for concern?. The Bone & Joint Journal 2013, 95-B(2), 173-176.
  • Savaridas T, Serrano-Pedraza I, Khan SK, Martin K, Malviya A, Reed MR. Reduced medium-term mortality following primary total hip and knee arthroplasty with an enhanced recovery program:A study of 4,500 consecutive procedures. Acta Orthopaedica 2013, 84(1), 40-43.
  • Serrano-Pedraza I, Gamonoso-Cruz MJ, Sierra-Vazquez V, Derrington AM. Comparing the effect of the interaction between fine and coarse scales and surround suppression on motion discrimination. Journal of Vision 2013, 13(11), 5.
  • Jameson SS, Rymaszewska M, James P, Serrano-Pedraza I, Muller SD, Hui AC, Reed MR. Wound Complications Following Rivaroxaban Administration: A Multicenter Comparison with Low-Molecular-Weight Heparins for Thromboprophylaxis in Lower Limb Arthroplasty. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery: American Volume 2012, 94(17), 1554-1558.
  • Delicato LS, Serrano-Pedraza I, Suero M, Derrington AM. Two-dimensional Pattern Motion Analysis Uses Local Features. Vision Research 2012, 62(1), 84-92.
  • Serrano-Pedraza I, Grady JP, Read JCA. Spatial frequency bandwidth of surround suppression tuning curves. Journal of Vision 2012, 12(6), 24.
  • Serrano-Pedraza I, Manjunath V, Osunkunle O, Clarke MP, Read JCA. Visual Suppression in Intermittent Exotropia during Binocular Alignment. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science 2011, 52(5), 2352-2364.
  • Sierra-Vazquez V, Serrano-Pedraza I. Visual chimaeras obtained using the Riesz transform. Perception 2011, 40(8), 919-937.
  • Serrano-Pedraza I, Hogg EL, Read JCA. Spatial non-homogeneity of the antagonistic surround in motion perception. Journal of Vision 2011, 11(2), 3.
  • Read JCA, Vaz XA, Serrano-Pedraza I. Independent mechanisms for bright and dark image features in a stereo correspondence task. Journal of Vision 2011, 11(12), 4.
  • Read JCA, Phillipson GP, Serrano-Pedraza I, Milner AD, Parker AJ. Stereoscopic Vision in the Absence of the Lateral Occipital Cortex. PLoS One 2010, 5(9), e12608.
  • Serrano-Pedraza I, Read JCA. Multiple channels for horizontal, but only one for vertical corrugations? A new look at the stereo anisotropy. Journal of Vision 2010, 10(12), -.
  • Aguado L, Serrano-Pedraza I, Rodriguez S, Roman FJ. Effects of Spatial Frequency Content on Classification of Face Gender and Expression. Spanish Journal of Psychology 2010, 13(2), 525-537.
  • Sierra-Vazquez V, Serrano-Pedraza I. Application of Riesz transforms to the isotropic AM-PM decomposition of geometrical-optical illusion images. Journal of the Optical Society of America A: Optics, Image Science, and Vision 2010, 27(4), 781-796.
  • Serrano-Pedraza I, Derrington AM. Antagonism between fine and coarse motion-sensors depends on stimulus size and contrast. Journal of Vision 2010, 10(8), Article 18.
  • Serrano-Pedraza I, Phillipson GP, Read JCA. A specialization for vertical disparity discontinuities. Journal of Vision 2010, 10(3), 2.
  • Aguado L, Garcia-Gutierrez A, Serrano-Pedraza I. Symmetrical interaction of sex and expression in face classification tasks. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics 2009, 71(1), 9-25.
  • Serrano-Pedraza I, Read JCA. Stereo vision requires an explicit encoding of vertical disparity. Journal of Vision 2009, 9(4), 1-13.
  • Otero-Millan J, Troncoso XG, Macknik SL, Serrano-Pedraza I, Martinez-Conde S. Saccades and microsaccades during visual fixation, exploration, and search: Foundations for a common saccadic generator. Journal of Vision 2008, 8, 1-18.
  • Sierra-Vazquez V, Serrano-Pedraza I. Single-band amplitude demodulation of Muller-Lyer illusion images. Spanish Journal of Psychology 2007, 10(1), 3-19.
  • Alorda C, Serrano-Pedraza I, Campos-Bueno JJ, Sierra-Vazquez V, Montoya P. Low spatial frequency filtering modulates early brain processing of affective complex pictures. Neuropsychologia 2007, 45(14), 3223-3233.
  • Serrano-Pedraza I, Goddard P, Derrington AM. Evidence for reciprocal antagonism between motion sensors tuned to coarse and fine features. Journal of Vision 2007, 7(12), 1-14.
  • Serrano-Pedraza I, Sierra-Vazquez V. The effect of white-noise mask level on sine-wave contrast threshold and the critical band masking model. Spanish Journal of Psychology 2006, 9(2), 249-262.
  • Sierra-Vazquez V, Serrano-Pedraza I, Luna D. The effect of spatial-frequency filtering on the visual processing of global structure. Perception 2006, 35(12), 1583-1609.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Vancleef K, Read J, Herbert W, Goodship N, Woodhouse M, Serrano-Pedraza I. Comparing stereotests: the TNO test overestimates stereoacuity. In: 39th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP). 2016, Barcelona, Spain: Sage.
  • Serrano-Pedraza I, Arranz-Paraiso S, Romero-Ferreiro V, Read J. Inter-scale suppression and facilitation in motion-discrimination are unaffected by dichoptic presentation. In: 38th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP). 2015, Liverpool, UK: Sage Publications Ltd.
  • Read J, Vancleef K, Serrano-Pedraza I, Morgan G, Sharp C, Clarke M. ASTEROID: Accurate STEReoacuity measurement in the eye clinic. In: 38th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP). 2015, Liverpool, UK: Sage Publications Ltd.

• Review

  • Serrano-Pedraza I, Clarke MP, Read JCA. Single vision during ocular deviation in intermittent exotropia. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics 2011, 31(1), 45-55.