Principle Investigator
Buse Merve Ürgen
Buse Merve Ürgen is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychology, TED University. She received her PhD in Neuroscience from Bilkent University, Turkey in 2021. She did her BA in Psychology at Bilkent University (2011), and MS in Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, UK (2012). Following her PhD, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Aysel Sabuncu Brain Research Center and National Magnetic Resonance Research Center (UMRAM). Her primary research interest is to understand how top-down mechanisms such as expectation and attention affect visual perception and decision-making processes using psychophysics, computational modeling and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Contact: buse.urgen@tedu.edu.tr
Research Assistants
Ece Karaosman
Ece graduated in Psychology from Bilkent University and will soon begin a Master’s degree in Cognitive Science at Sorbonne University and Université Paris Cité. Her research interests center on visual perception, with a particular focus on the applications of computational and cognitive neuroscience. She is currently involved in a research project examining perceptual decision-making and predictive processing.
Contact: ece.karaosman@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
Ceren Belge
Ceren graduated from TED University with a B.Sc. degree in psychology. Currently, she is involved in a project that focuses on perceptual decision-making and expectation relationships. She has a passion for visual and auditory perception, social neuroscience, and philosophy of mind. In her spare time, she enjoys playing the guitar and taking photos.
Contact: ceren.belge@tedu.edu.tr
Redar Atlı
Redar earned his bachelor’s degree from TED University in January 2025. His academic interests focus on Behavioral and Evolutionary Neuroscience, particularly Emotional and Social Decision-Making and the neural mechanisms that underlie these processes. He will soon begin his Master’s studies in Behavior at Bielefeld University.
Contact: mredar.atli@tedu.edu.tr
Enes Okkay
Enes is a fourth-year Psychology student at TED University. His academic interests broadly include cognitive psychology, with a particular focus on aspects of social psychology. Outside of his studies, he enjoys reading literature, creative writing, and exploring art in its various forms.
Contact: enes.okkay@tedu.edu.tr
Mustafa Hızarcı
Mustafa is a fourth-year Psychology undergraduate at TED University. His main areas of interest are clinical and cognitive neuroscience, with a particular focus on unconscious processes and the neural mechanisms of social learning. In his free time, he enjoys writing books and composing music.
Contact: mustafa.hizarci@tedu.edu.tr
Dilasu Tamgül
Dilasu graduated from the Psychology Department at TED University in 2023. She is passionate on animal research, perception and memory. In her spare time she enjoys pilates, journaling and researching.
Contact: tamguldilasu@gmail.com
Meriç Yıldırım
Meriç is a fourth-year Psychology undergraduate at TED University. He is interested in visual perception, memory and comparative psychology. Outside of academics, he spends his time reading history and listening to classical music.
Contact: meric.yildirim@tedu.edu.tr
Deniz Kurt
Deniz is a 4th year Psychology undergraduate at Bilkent University. His main area of interest is Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience. He aspires to research applications of machine learning in understanding cognitive functions and computational modeling.
Contact: deniz.kurt@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
Aysu Kılıç
Aysu Kılıç is a psychology student at TED University with a focus on expectation and perception. She is involved in exploring how expectation suppression shape perceptual decision making in different mechanisms and is passionate about expectation, attention, and perception. In her spare time, she enjoys being interested in drawing techniques such as charcoal and reading books, especially classical literature.
Contact: aysu.kilic@tedu.edu.tr
Aylin Demiral
Aylin graduated from the psychology department at TED University in 2023. She is involved in a research project investigating the effect of expectations on visual perceptual decision-making processes and is passionate about attention, expectation, and visual perception. In her free time, she enjoys creative writing, composing songs, singing, volunteering, and exploring new cuisines.
Contact: aylin.demiral@tedu.edu.tr