This thesis is concerned with the computation of buffer capacities that guarantee satisfaction of timing and resource constraints for task graphs with aperiodic task execution rates that are executed on run-time scheduled resources. Stream processing applications such as digital radio baseband processing and audio or video decoders are often firm real-time embedded systems. For a real-time embe...

The claim that face perception is mediated by a specialized ‘face module’ that proceeds automatically, independently of attention (e.g., Kanwisher, 2000) can be reconciled with load theory claims that visual perception has limited capacity (e.g., Lavie, 1995) by hypothesizing that face perception has face-specific capacity limits. We tested this hypothesis by comparing the effects of face and n...

Animals rely on an adaptive coordination of legs during walking. However, which specific mechanisms underlie coordination during natural locomotion remains largely unknown. One hypothesis is that legs can be coordinated mechanically based on a transfer of body load from one leg to another. To test this hypothesis, we simultaneously recorded leg kinematics, ground reaction forces and muscle acti...

This study examines the hypothesis that audio-visual integration of speech requires both expectation to perceive speech and sufficient attentional resources to allow multimodal integration. Audio-visual integration was measured by recording susceptibility to the McGurk effect whilst participants simultaneously performed a primary visual task under conditions of high or low perceptual load. Acco...

Different hypotheses explain variation in the occurrence of self-directed behaviour such as scratching and self-grooming: a parasite hypothesis linked with ectoparasite load, an environmental hypothesis linked with seasonal conditions and a social hypothesis linked with social factors. These hypotheses are not mutually exclusive but are often considered separately. Here, we revisited these hypo...