Cognitive Science
The Cognitive Psychology theme comprises four collaborative groupings interested in understanding the workings of the brain at a functional level.
There are strong links between the groups and with the other research themes in the School. This is also exemplified where some staff are active in more than one grouping. Between-grouping collaborations include: Lewis Bott, Michael Lewis and John Patrick (telling lies); Marc Buehner and Simon Rushton (how we adapt to temporal misalignment); Bill Macken, Dylan Jones and Petroc Sumner (automatic sensori-motor activation).
Cross-theme connections are especially enriching for our research environment. Merideth Gattis’ work on cognitive development connects the Learning and Development group with the Developmental Science group. Mike Le Pelley’s research on human associative learning stems from collaborations with the Neuroscience and Learning group, and now extends also into social cognition (with Russell Spears); Ulrike Hahn and Michael Lewis also collaborate with Rob Honey and Dom Dwyer (Behavioural Neuroscience) on how humans and rodents perceive similarity and on perceptual learning of faces. Most members of Perception and Action are engaged in joint projects with researchers in the Imaging Science and Cognitive Neuroscience groups, while Bob Snowden has applied psychophysical methods in neuropsychiatric disorders.
