Psychology Research Themes

Emotional processing

Roger Baker’s research examines how we deal with emotional events in our everyday lives. He specialises in panic disorders and post-traumatic stress disorders and researches the individual differences in emotional processing.

Sleep and psychopathology

The relationship between sleep and mental illness is the focus of a project by Andrew Mayers. His research has explored the effect that antidepressants have on sleep. He is also examining the effects of poor sleep patterns after mothers have given birth and whether this contributes to postnatal depression which can affect both mother and child.

Aesthetic judgements – why do I like it?

Siné McDougall is currently examining the cognitive processing underpinning webpage and interface preferences with Irene Reppa from Swansea University.

This will allow us to find out how our emotional responses to websites affects how we use them.

Emotions on the face

David Heathcote has conducted research examining the effects of emotional facial expression and participant affective state on the retention of feature conjunctions in face memory.

Mean or green? Values, morality and environmental behaviour

The EU has funded research into transport planning & environmental policies and the effect this has on pro-social and pro-environmental
behaviour.

Judith de Groot’s research asks consumers and householders to identify the relevance and strengths of barriers to pro-environmental behaviour change. As part of an EU project Judith is examining how political authorities, energy producers and NGOs can overcome these barriers. Along with Sally Bigham, Judith is also investigating the development of pro-environmental behaviours in children.

Restorative environments

Paul Steven’s current focus is on the ecological perspective of environmental effects to gain an understanding of the factors (both physical and psychological) which may be beneficial or detrimental to mental health. Working with Dorchester Hospital, he is looking at the physical stimuli affecting wellbeing; in particular the “Room with a View’ project, and a wellbeing garden.

Attention and memory

This group of researchers examines the way that we attend to things in our environment and the cognitive skills we need to make decisions and interact effectively with our world.

Ben Parris is examining the cognitive and neural mechanisms of attention and goal-oriented behaviour. Jane Elsley is also conducting research on attention and has recently received ESRC funding to examine the relationship between attention and working memory.

Simon Thompson is exploring memory functioning in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and those experiencing the after-effects of chemotherapy. David Heathcote is examining the role of working memory in cognitively demanding activities.

Spatial cognition and visual cues

Jan Wiener is examining the control of visual attention and cognitive strategies in the context of wayfinding. He uses a combination of virtual environments and eye-tracking techniques which allows investigating gaze behaviour during active navigation.

Siné McDougall is exploring our ability to search visually and interpret road signs. She is also examining the cognitive demands of interpreting icons on computer interfaces.

Judgement and decision making

Kevin Thomas is examining the factors which produce bias in judgements and decisions about task performance. One project involves studying the factors that influence how accurate people are at judging the amount of time they need to complete tasks.

Autism – pretence, language & memory

The enigma of autism has interested researchers since the 18th century.
Sally Bigham is examining language learning and memory in autistic children.

Face recognition

Sarah Bate’s research examines how individuals recognise faces, particularly in those with ‘prosopagnosia’ or face recognition difficulties. She has recently been awarded an ESRC grant to investigate face recognition impairments in children.

Reading and dyslexia

The ease with which we learn to read and the skills we need depend on the written form of the language we are reading. Siné McDougall’s work considers reading and dyslexia in different languages.

Widening participation

Another research project, led by Jacqui Taylor and Becky House, is exploring the way social identity theory can be used to explain the way that background and self-confidence influences undergraduate students’ learning.

Brain training

Becky House and Siné McDougall are researching the efficacy of ‘brain training’ to improve the cognitive functioning of older adults. Does it really keep your brain ticking over?

Silver surfers

As more and more people over 65 are using the web, Jacqui Taylor and Becky House are exploring how online support networks can help the elderly and chronically ill patients.

Further research

Samuel Nyman’s research explores the psychological and social issues around falls in older people and how they can be presented. He has also investigated the emotional support needs of working age and older adults with visual impairment.