Our research explores the neural and psychological mechanisms underlying key cognitive processes, particularly language, memory, visual perception and decision-making. Members of this group have been recognised for their commitment to advancing high quality, reproducible science.
Approaches to research in this group are very diverse, encompassing functional brain imaging, EEG, brain stimulation, psychophysics, traditional experimental paradigms, clinical case studies and interdisciplinary arts-science projects. Some of our researchers are working to better understand and support individuals with atypical cognitive or perceptual function, for example those with amnesia, ADHD, aphantasia, dyslexia or hallucinations. Others focus on understanding the brain basis of typical behaviours such as speaking, listening, making decisions, movement and balance. Additional projects seek to understand the cognitive mechanisms that drive everyday behaviours such as understanding how someone else is feeling, recalling past or recent events, and maintaining balance while carrying out a cognitive task. One thing that unites us all is the wish for our work to help build a more inclusive society.
Members of this group are committed to driving forward the agenda for rigorous open science, not just at the University of Westminster but nationally and internationally. In addition to encouraging pre-registration, our researchers have a particular interest in advancing the development and understanding of statistical analysis in psychology and neuroscience.
Examples of recent and ongoing research programmes in this theme include:
- Balance, cognition and fall susceptibility in older adults
- Cognitive features of pro-environmental decision-making
- Cognitive processes underlying visual perspective-taking
- Cognitive profiling and navigation in individuals with hydrocephalus
- Cognitive and neural mechanisms supporting higher order cognition, such as working memory, decision making and reasoning
- Assessing and understanding dyslexia in native Turkish speakers
- Effects of water supplementation on cognitive performance
- How affect influences cognition and behaviour in health and disease
- Mechanisms of visual and auditory hallucinations
- Memory and museums
- Motion sickness: measurement, mechanisms and applications
- Music as a prompt for autobiographical remembering
- Novel methods for assessing and accessing autobiographical memory
- Neuropsychological and cognitive features of visual and auditory aphantasia
- Psycholinguistics of swearing
- Understanding and improving eye-witness testimony
- Using TMS to explore the neurophysiology of hand motor control in healthy and spinal cord injured individuals
People researching within this theme: