Psychological Science

Attention and Perception

Theme convenor: Dr Henning Holle

Research in this theme focuses on understanding the processes that support perceptual, spatial and physiological awareness. Current interests include visual perception and visual search (Skarratt), perceptual and associative learning (George), speech perception and production (Smith, Lindsay), interactions between vision, sound, and touch (Holle) and the neural processes involved in the representation of near and far space (Schindler). Researchers also investigate the cognitive and neural processes associated with physiological sensations such as itch (George, Holle).

Behaviour and Ecology

Theme convenor: Dr Blake Morton

Members of this theme are concerned with understanding the complex relationships between humans, animals, and the environment. The questions addressed include how humans connect with nature, how animals adapt to their environment, and whether cognitive processes present in humans can also be observed in other species. Examples of the group’s recent outputs include perceptual and associative learning (George), vocal perception in dogs (George), decision-making heuristics in dogs (George), visual attention in fish (Skarratt) and personality in a range of species (Morton). Field-based projects have included the impact of urbanisation on problem-solving in wild foxes (Morton) and exploration and tool use in wild raccoons (Morton).

Thinking, Imagination and Memory

Theme convenor: Dr Rachel Anderson

Members of this theme are concerned with understanding human memory and the functions that memory serves in our everyday lives, such as reliving past experiences and imagining hypothetical events. Current projects include the role of memory in imagining future events and alternative realities (Anderson, Dewhurst, Riggs) and word learning (Lindsday, O’Connor, Riggs). Other topics include autobiographical memory (Anderson, Dewhurst) false memories (Anderson, Dewhurst), prospective memory (Anderson, Dewhurst), the conscious experiences associated with memory (Dewhurst), intentional forgetting (Anderson, Dewhurst), and memory deficits in people with depression (Anderson) and schizophrenia (Wright).

Understanding Other Minds and Communication

Theme convenor: Dr Richard O’Connor

The aim of this theme is to understand the cognitive and neural processes involved in social interaction and communication. Current projects include belief and knowledge processing (O’Connor, Riggs) emotional processing in people with autism (Jellema) and the neural correlates of action prediction in human–human and human–robot interactions (Jellema, Schindler). Researchers also investigate the role of visual attention during social interaction (Skarratt) and the relationship between gesture and speech (Holle, Mather). 

• Anderson, R.J., Boulby, A., & Dewhurst, S.A. (2023). “I’m just not feeling it”: Affective processing of exercise-related episodic memories differs between exercisers and non-exercisers. Psychology of Sport & Exercise. In press.
• Anderson, R.J., Clayton-McClure, H., Boland, J., Howe, D, Riggs, K.J., & Dewhurst, S.A. (2023). The relationship between depressive symptoms and positive emotional anticipation of goal achievement. Journal of Experimental Psychopathology.
• Becker, J. M., Holle, H., van Ryckeghem, D. M., Van Damme, S., Crombez, G., Veldhuijzen, D. S., …van Laarhoven, A. I. (2022). No preconscious attentional bias towards itch in healthy individuals. PLoS ONE, 17(9), Article e0273581.
• Coolen, E., Riggs, K.J., Bugler, B. & Castronovo, J. (2022) The approximate number system and mathematics achievement: it's complicated. A thorough investigation of different ANS measures and executive functions in mathematics achievement in children. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 34, 796-818.
• Dewhurst, S.A., & Anderson, R.J., O’Connor, R.J., & Dean, G.M. (2023). The effect of survival processing on memory for pictures depends on how memory is tested. Memory, 31, 502-508.
• Etty, S., George, D. N., Van Laarhoven, A. I. M., & Holle, H. (2022). Acute Itch Induces Attentional Avoidance of Itch-related Information. Acta dermato-venereologica, 102, adv00691.
• Krol, M.A. & Jellema, T. (2023). Sensorimotor representation of observed dyadic actions with varying agent involvement: an EEG mu study. Cognitive Neuroscience, 14, 25–35.
• Lindsay, S., & Mather, E. (2022). Developmental psychologists should care about measurement precision. Infant and Child Development, e2321.
• Macinska, S.M., Lindsay, S. & Jellema, T. (2023) Visual attention to dynamic emotional faces in adults on the autism spectrum. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
• Mauti, M., Marinelli, C. V., O’Connor, R. J., Zoccolotti, P., & Martelli, M. (2023). Decision times in orthographic processing: a cross-linguistic study. Experimental Brain Research, 241, 585–599.
• Meeuwis, S. H., Skvortsova, A., van Laarhoven, A. I. M., Holle, H., & Evers, A. W. (2023) Can contagious itch be affected by positive and negative suggestions? Experimental Dermatology.
• Morton F.B., Gartner, M., Norrie, E-M., Haddou,Y., Soulsbury, C.D,. & Adaway, K.A. (2023). Urban foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are bolder but not more innovative than their rural conspecifics. Animal Behaviour. In press.
• O'Connor, R. J., Plant, J. L., & Riggs, K. J. (2023). Autistic Adults Show Similar Performance and Sensitivity to Social Cues on a Visual Perspective Taking Task as Non-autistic Adults. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 53, 1781–1794.
• Scandola, M., Cross, E. S., Caruana, N., & Tidoni, E. (2023). Body Form Modulates the Prediction of Human and Artificial Behaviour from Gaze Observation. International Journal of Social Robotics. In press.
• Somos, S., Mazzoni, G., Gatti, D. & Jellema., T. (2023). “Be careful what you recall”: Retrieval induced forgetting of genuine real-life autobiographical memories. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 76, 84-92.
• Tidoni, E., Holle, H., Scandola, M., Schindler, I., Hill, L., Cross, E.S., 2022. Human but not robotic gaze facilitates action prediction. iScience 25, 104462.

Professor Steve Dewhurst (Group lead)

Dr Rachel Anderson

Dr Julie Castronovo

Professor Fiona Earle

Dr David George

Dr Chiara Guerrini

Dr Henning Holle

Dr Tjeerd Jellema

Dr Shane Lindsay

Dr Emily Mather

Dr Blake Morton

Dr Kazuyo Nakabayashi

Dr Richard O’Connor

Professor Kevin Riggs

Professor Igor Schindler

Dr Paul Skarratt

Dr David Smith

Dr Bernice Wright

Joseph Abel

Remembering to remember: Improving prospective memory performance

Prof Steve Dewhurst (primary supervisor), Dr Rachel Anderson (co-supervisor)

Sarah Etty

An attentional bias approach to psoriasis

Dr Henning Holle (primary supervisor), Dr David George (co-supervisor)

Andrew Lee

Decision making in Flood Rescue

Dr Fiona Earle (primary supervisor), Prof Terry Williams (co-supervisor)

Stefi McMaster

Fatigue in Wind Technicians

Dr Fiona Earle (primary supervisor), Prof Terry Williams (co-supervisor)

Erin Minton-Branfoot

Gesture as a stepping stone into rapid second language acquisition

Henning Holle (Primary Supervisor) and Richard O’Connor (Co-Supervisor)

Matthew Page

Excitatory and inhibitory motor processes underpinning the urge to scratch

Henning Holle (Primary Supervisor) and Emmanuele Tidoni (Co-Supervisor)

Tom Peney

The effect of virtual immersion on human educational development

Dr Paul Skarratt (primary supervisor), Prof Kevin Riggs (co-supervisor)

Joana López Pigüi

Cortical oscillations related to predicting and observing actions

Dr Tjeerd Jellema (primary supervisor), Dr Igor Schindler (co-supervisor)

Lisa Somerville

Evaluating the impact of motion travel on cognitive ability of offshore workers a VR experience

Prof Terry Williams (primary supervisor), Dr Fiona Earle (co-supervisor), Dr Dave George (co-supervisor)

Bethanie Richards

The Influence of breathing pathway on memory processes

Dr Shane Lindsay (primary supervisor) Dr Henning Holle (co-supervisor)

Shamini Howshigan

Improving user accessibility for waste recycling behaviour via a symbol matching system

Prof Igor Schindler (primary supervisor) Prof Kevin Riggs (co-supervisor)

Kristy Adaway

Linking animal psychology to conservation strategies

Dr Blake Morton (primary supervisor) Dr Charlotte Hopkins (co-supervisor)

Thomas Thompson

Automaticity in perspective taking

Dr Richard O’Connor (primary supervisor Prof Kevin Riggs (co-supervisor)

Tereza Skodova

Implicit social learning in autism

Dr Tjeerd Jellema (primary supervisor) Dr Richard O’Connor (co-supervisor)

Beth Markham

The role of executive function in memory biases in depression

Dr Rachel Anderson (primary supervisor) Prof Steve Dewhurst (co-supervisor)

Dylan Jones

Carnivore behaviour and psychology

Dr Blake Morton (primary supervisor) Dr Dave George (co-supervisor)

Alex Smith

Knowledge processing in Theory of mind

Dr Richard O’Connor (primary supervisor) Prof Kevin Riggs (co-supervisor)

Yumeng Lyu

Language processing and sleep

Dr Shane Lindsay (primary supervisor) Prof Kevin Riggs (co-supervisor)

Keryn Siddle

Language and gesture learning

Dr Emily Mather (primary supervisor) Dr Henning Holle (co-supervisor)

Kelly Robson

The impact of University life on the mental health & wellbeing of undergraduate students

Dr Julie Castronovo (primary supervisor) Prof Jacqui White (co-supervisor)