His early research was focused on the perceptual processes that underlie the perception and recognition of human faces, especially the processing of configural and relational information. Within this general domain he developed a research line into the factors that contribute to the evaluation of facial attractiveness. Another of his main topics was the impact of design on valuation and usability, especially applied to car interiors and eyeglasses. This program was introduced as a cognitive model of the appreciation of art in a paper published in the British Journal of Psychology. This model has served to frame many studies on the cognitive foundations of art, neuroaesthetics, product design, and web design, among other fields. A citation analysis reveals that it is the most cited of all papers published in the British Journal of Psychology in 2004 and the second most cited since its publication He has research projects to study facial attractiveness, appreciation of art, the brain on art, and joint research projects with art history at University of Vienna (Prof. Rosenberg) and University of Applied Arts, Vienna. His team has also published a number of museum studies, in collaboration with the Museum Belvedere, the Musa, and the Albertina, with Galerie Raum mit Licht, Vienna, as well as with other international institutions