Staff Profile

I am a medical graduate, combining clinical practice in neurology with research in clinical and basic neuroscience.

My research focuses on high-level perceptual processing mechanisms in the brain, with a particular focus on hearing, and related disorders such as tinnitus. I am interested in how our brains make predictions based on past and recent experience, and reconcile these with incoming input from our sensory organs to deterime what we actually infer and perceive about the environment.

My current core research programme is funded by the Wellcome Trust, focusing on the intensity of sensory stimuli and its perceptual correlate (e.g. the loudness of sound). I am particularly interested in whether, and how, the processing of intensity is governed by the same type of predictive processing as other sensory attributes (such as pitch, colour and duration), or whether there are fundamental differences. These questions are highly pertinent to common and unsolved clinical conditions including tinnitus, hyperacusis and chronic pain. 

My research is conducted on human volunteers, with and without clinical conditions, and uses a range of neuromaging measures including EEG, MEG, fMRI and direct electrode recordings.

I am also  supervising PhD students, funded by the RNID and the British Tinnitus Association. One project, currently underway, is focused on trying to measure abnormal sound predictions underlying tinnitus by measuring EEG responses to specific types of sounds. The other project, starting later this year, will study the transition from new-onset (acute) tinnitus into longstanding (chronic) tinnitus by making repeated measurements of sound responses and brain activity over time.

My previous research has used non-invasive and direct human brain recordings to expose the normal brain processes associated with making predictive inference during perception, and to see how these processes are perturbed in association with tinnitus. This work has led to a novel, and contemporary, theoretical model of tinnitus, which has inspired my ongoing work.

I am very grateful to the range of funding bodies who have made this work possible, including: Wellcome Trust, RNID, British Tinnitus Association, Academy of Medical Sciences, National Institute for Health Research, and the Medical Research Council.

My research focuses on high-level perceptual processing mechanisms in the brain, with a particular focus on hearing, and related disorders such as tinnitus. I am interested in how our brains make predictions based on past and recent experience, and reconcile these with incoming input from our sensory organs to deterime what we actually infer and perceive about the environment.

My current core research programme is funded by the Wellcome Trust, focusing on the intensity of sensory stimuli and its perceptual correlate (e.g. the loudness of sound). I am particularly interested in whether, and how, the processing of intensity is governed by the same type of predictive processing as other sensory attributes (such as pitch, colour and duration), or whether there are fundamental differences. These questions are highly pertinent to common and unsolved clinical conditions including tinnitus, hyperacusis and chronic pain. 

My research is conducted on human volunteers, with and without clinical conditions, and uses a range of neuromaging measures including EEG, MEG, fMRI and direct electrode recordings.

I am also  supervising PhD students, funded by the RNID and the British Tinnitus Association. One project, currently underway, is focused on trying to measure abnormal sound predictions underlying tinnitus by measuring EEG responses to specific types of sounds. The other project, starting later this year, will study the transition from new-onset (acute) tinnitus into longstanding (chronic) tinnitus by making repeated measurements of sound responses and brain activity over time.

My previous research has used non-invasive and direct human brain recordings to expose the normal brain processes associated with making predictive inference during perception, and to see how these processes are perturbed in association with tinnitus. This work has led to a novel, and contemporary, theoretical model of tinnitus, which has inspired my ongoing work.

I am very grateful to the range of funding bodies who have made this work possible, including: Wellcome Trust, RNID, British Tinnitus Association, Academy of Medical Sciences, National Institute for Health Research, and the Medical Research Council.

I regularly provide clinical teaching to medical students, junior doctors and allied health professionals.

My current role does not feature any formal teaching, but previously I have taught on a number of courses related to my research areas.

• Sedley W, Friston KJ, Gander PE, Kumar S, Griffiths TD. An Integrative Tinnitus Model Based on Sensory Precision. Trends in Neurosciences 2016, 39(12), 799-812.
• Sedley W, Gander PE, Kumar S, Kovach CK, Oya H, Kawasaki H, Howard MA, Griffiths TD. Neural signatures of perceptual inference. eLife 2016, 5, e11476.
• Sedley W, Alter K, Gander P, Berger J, Griffiths T. Exposing pathological sensory predictions in tinnitus using auditory intensity deviant evoked responses. Journal of Neuroscience 2019, 39(50), 10096-10103.
• Sedley W, Teki S, Kumar S, Barnes GR, Bamiou DE, Griffiths TD. Single-subject oscillatory gamma responses in tinnitus. Brain 2012, 135(10), 3089-3100.
• Sedley W, Parikh J, Edden R, Tait V, Blamire A, Griffiths T. Human auditory cortex neurochemistry reflects the presence and severity of tinnitus. Journal of Neuroscience 2015, 35(44), 14822-14828.
• Sedley W, Teki S, Kumar S, Overath T, Barnes GR, Griffiths TD. Gamma band pitch responses in human auditory cortex measured with magnetoencephalography. NeuroImage 2012, 59(2), 1904-1911.
• Sedley W. Tinnitus: Does Gain Explain?. Neuroscience 2019, 407, 213-228.
• Sedley W, Cunningham MO. Do cortical gamma oscillations promote or suppress perception? An under-asked question with an over-assumed answer. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2013, 7, 595.
• Kumar S, Sedley W, Barnes GR, Teki S, Firston KJ, Griffiths TD. A brain basis for musical hallucinations. Cortex 2014, 52, 86-97.
• Kumar S, Sedley W, Nourski KV, Kawasaki H, Oya H, Patterson RD, Howard MA, Friston KJ, Griffiths TD. Predictive Coding and Pitch Processing in the Auditory Cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 2011, 23(10), 3084-3094.
• Griffiths TD, Kumar S, Sedley W, Nourski KV, Kawasaki H, Oya H, Patterson RD, Brugge JF, Howard MA. Direct Recordings of Pitch Responses from Human Auditory Cortex. Current Biology 2010, 20(12), 1128-1132.
• Hullfish J, Sedley W, Vanneste S. Prediction and perception: Insights for (and from) tinnitus. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 2019, 102, 1-12.
• Kikuchi Y, Sedley W, Griffiths TD, Petkov CI. Evolutionarily conserved neural signatures involved in sequencing predictions and their relevance for language. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences 2018, 21, 145-153.
• Cope TE, Sedley W, Griffiths TD. Disorders of Audition. In: Brain Mapping: An Encyclopedic Reference. Elsevier Inc, 2015, pp.1095-1112.
• Helbling S, Teki S, Callaghan MF, Sedley W, Mohammadi S, Griffiths TD, Weiskopf N, Barnes GR. Structure predicts function: Combining non-invasive electrophysiology with in-vivo histology. NeuroImage 2015, 108, 377-385.