Research in the School of Psychology

Psychology PhD studentship / TARA post

Six year Teaching & Research Associate post

Complete a part-time PhD while working as a TARA  (1st September 2022 start, 0.75 FTE), closing date 13 July (midnight, UK)

Find out the details and topics, and how to apply
Psychology experiments in the BabyLab
  • ? In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework assessment, 84% of our submission was judged world-leading or internationally excellent
  • ? 2021 Guardian League Table and Sunday Times Good University Guide puts Psychology at the University of Plymouth in the top 50 universities in the country
 

Research Strands

 

Research and impact

Research Impact

Changing understanding and practice in anaesthesia
Led by Jackie Andrade this research focuses on developing strategies for the prevention and management of accidental awareness during general anaesthesia.

Led by Judy Edworthy this research focuses on reducing sensory overload on clinicians due to the excessive number of alarms

Led by Helen Lloyd this research focuses on developing models and approaches for people with multiple long-term conditions.

Psychology publications

To view our research papers, please use other tab. In order access these papers in full, please follow the doi link to the published version.

Latest publications

Here is a list of some recent papers published by the School of Psychology:

  • Anderson R, Cooper M & Steffen E 2023 'Cancer patients’ experiences of moments of relational depth during psychological therapy: A qualitative study' Journal of Psychosocial Oncology
  • Stengelin R, Ball R, Maurits L, Kanngiesser P & Haun DBM 2023 'Children over-imitate adults and peers more than puppets' Developmental science 26, (2) , DOI Open access
  • Baldassari MJ, Moore KN, Hyman, Jr IE, Hope L, Mah EY, Lindsay DS, Mansour J, Saraiva R, Horry R & Rath H 2023 'The Effect of Pre-Event Instructions on Eyewitness Identification' Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications 8, , DOI Open access
  • Hudson M, Santavirta S, Putkinen V, Seppälä K, Sun L, Karjalainen T, Karlsson HK, Hirvonen J & Nummenmaa L 2023 'Neural responses to biological motion distinguish autistic and schizotypal traits' Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience , DOI Open access
  • Stengelin R, Haun DBM & Kanngiesser P 2023 'Simulating peers: Can puppets simulate peer interactions in studies on children's socio‐cognitive development?' Child Development , DOI
  • Wood K, Seabrooke T & Mitchell C 2023 'Action Slips in Food Choices: A Measure of Habits and Goal-Directed Control' Learning & Behavior , DOI Open access
  • Linge-Dahl L, Kreuz R, Stoffelen M, Heintz S, Ruch W, von Hirschhausen E & Radbruch L 2023 'Humour interventions for patients in palliative care—a randomized controlled trial' Supportive Care in Cancer 31, (3) , DOI Open access
  • Putkinen V, Nazari-Farsani S, Karjalainen T, Santavirta S, Hudson M, Seppälä K, Sun L, Karlsson HK, Hirvonen J & Nummenmaa L 2023 'Pattern recognition reveals sex‐dependent neural substrates of sexual perception' Human Brain Mapping , DOI Open access
  • Ko E, Abu-Zhaya R, Kim E, Kim T, On K, Kim H, Zhang B & Seidl A 2023 'Mothers' use of touch across infants' development and its implications for word learning: Evidence from Korean dyadic interactions' Infancy , DOI
  • Grandi L, Minton S, Tipton K & May J 2023 'UK Men’s experience of the Gender-Role Journey and Implications for Clinicians and Mental Health Services' Psychology of Men & Masculinities , DOI Open access
  • Hartmann H, Janssen LK, Herzog N, Morys F, Fängström D, Fallon SJ & Horstmann A 2023 'Self-reported intake of high-fat and high-sugar diet is not associated with cognitive stability and flexibility in healthy men' Appetite 183, , DOI Open access
  • Webster JD & Heintz S 2023 'A Sage and a Guru Walk into a Bar: Wisdom and Humor Styles' International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology , DOI
  • Mileva M & Lavan N 2023 'Trait impressions from voices are formed rapidly within 400ms of exposure' Journal of Experimental Psychology: General , DOI Open access
  • Vylobkova V & Heintz S 2023 'A meeting of positive behaviors: The relations of three aspects of flexibility with character strengths' Frontiers in Psychology 13, , DOI Open access
  • Würbel I & Kanngiesser P 2023 'Pre-schoolers’ images, intergroup attitudes, and liking of refugee peers in Germany' PLOS ONE 18, (2) e0280759-e0280759 , DOI Open access
  • Richter I, Gabe-Thomas E, Queirós AM, Sheppard SRJ & Pahl S 2023 'Advancing the potential impact of future scenarios by integrating psychological principles' Environmental Science & Policy 140, 68-79 , DOI
  • Yaakub SN, White TA, Kerfoot E, Verhagen L, Hammers A & Fouragnan EF 2023 'Pseudo-CTs from T1-weighted MRI for planning of low-intensity transcranial focused ultrasound neuromodulation: An open-source tool' Brain Stimulation 16, (1) 75-78 , DOI Open access
  • Fallon SJ, van Rhee C, Kienast A, Manohar SG & Husain M 2023 'Mechanisms underlying corruption of working memory in Parkinson's disease' Journal of Neuropsychology , DOI Open access
  • Zaksaite T, Loveday C, Edginton T, Spiers H & Smith A 2023 'Hydrocephalus: A neuropsychological and theoretical primer' Cortex , DOI Open access
  • Abu-Zhaya R, Goffman L, Brosseau-Lapré F, Roepke E & Seidl A 2023 'The Effect of Somatosensory Input on Word Recognition in Typical Children and Those With Speech Sound Disorder' Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 66, (1) 84-97 , DOI
  • Bagienski SE & Kuhn G 2023 'A balanced view of impossible aesthetics: An empirical investigation of how impossibility relates to our enjoyment of magic tricks' i-Perception 14, (1) 204166952211425-204166952211425 , DOI
  • Bacon AM & White L 2022 'The association between Adverse Childhood Experiences, Self-Silencing behaviours and symptoms in women with Fibromyalgia' Psychology, Health and Medicine , DOI Open access
  • Attali D, Tiennot T, Schafer M, Fouragnan E, Sallet J, Caskey C, Chen R, Darmani G, Bubrick EJ & Butler C 2022 'Three-layer model with absorption for conservative estimation of the maximum acoustic transmission coefficient through the human skull for transcranial ultrasound stimulation' Brain Stimulation 16, (1) 48-55 , DOI Open access
  • Praet E, Baeza-Álvarez J, De Veer D, Holtmann-Ahumada G, Jones JS, Langford S, Dearte JM, Schofield J, Thiel M & Wyles KJ 2022 'Bottle with a message: The role of story writing as an engagement tool to explore children's perceptions of marine plastic litter' Marine Pollution Bulletin 186, , DOI Open access
  • Kharko A & Hägglund M 2022 'Nocebo effects from clinical notes: reason for action, not opposition for clinicians of patients with medically unexplained symptoms' Journal of Medical Ethics 49, (1) 24-25 , DOI
  • Samuel S, Salo S, Ladvelin T, Cole G & Eacott M 2022 'Teleporting into walls? The irrelevance of the physical world in embodied perspective taking' Psychonomic Bulletin and Review Open access
  • Hollins T, Seabrooke T, Inkster A, Wills A & Mitchell C 2022 'Pre-testing Effects Are Target-Specific and Are Not Driven by a Generalised State of Curiosity' Memory , DOI Open access
  • Herff SA, McConnell S, Ji JL & Prince JB 2022 'Eye Closure Interacts with Music to Influence Vividness and Content of Directed Imagery' Music & Science , DOI Open access
  • Kim HS, Yoon S, Son G, Hong E, Clinton A, Grus CL, Murphy D, Siegel AM, Karayianni E & Ezenwa MO 2022 'Regulations governing psychologists: An international survey' Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 53, (6) 541-552 , DOI
  • Vrij A, Granhag PA, Ashkenazi T, Ganis G, Leal S & Fisher RP 2022 'Verbal Lie Detection: Its Past, Present and Future' Brain Sciences 12, (12) 1644-1644 , DOI Open access
  • Murphy D 2022 'Invited discussant comments during the UCL–Penn Global COVID Study webinar ‘Reflections, Resilience, and Recovery: A qualitative study of Covid-19’s impact on an international adult population’s mental health and priorities for support’: part 3 of 3' UCL Open Environment 4, , DOI Open access
  • Khattab G, Abdelwahab AGS, Al-Shdifat K, Alsiddiqi Z, Floccia C, Kouba Hreich E, Mckean C, Messarra CM, Odeh T & Trebacz A 2022 'Promoting early language development in the Arab world and sustainable development goals 3, 4, 10 and 17' International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 1-6 , DOI
  • Upshaw JD, Stevens CE, Ganis G & Zabelina DL 2022 'The hidden cost of a smartphone: The effects of smartphone notifications on cognitive control from a behavioral and electrophysiological perspective' PLOS ONE 17, (11) , DOI Open access
  • Pisauro MA, Fouragnan EF, Arabadzhiyska DH, Apps MAJ & Philiastides MG 2022 'Neural implementation of computational mechanisms underlying the continuous trade-off between cooperation and competition' Nature Communications 13, (1) , DOI Open access
  • THIESEN H 2022 Greenland's Stolen Indigenous Children A Personal Testimony. Routledge
  • Vitale V, Martin L, White MP, Elliott LR, Wyles KJ, Browning MHEM, Pahl S, Stehl P, Bell S & Bratman GN 2022 'Mechanisms underlying childhood exposure to blue spaces and adult subjective well-being: An 18-country analysis' Journal of Environmental Psychology 84, , DOI Open access
  • Fouragnan E, Arabadzhiyska DH, Garrod OGB, Philippe G S & Marios G. P 2022 'A common neural account for social and non-social decisions' Journal of Neuroscience , DOI Open access
  • Spanton R & Berry C 2022 'Does variability in recognition memory scale with mean memory strength or encoding variability in the UVSD model?' Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology , DOI Open access
  • Gladwyn-Khan M & Morris R 2022 'The efficacy of therapist-supported acceptance and commitment therapy-based bibliotherapy for psychological distress after stroke: a single-case multiple-baseline study' Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , DOI Open access
  • Ceroni F, Osborne D, Clokie S, Bax DA, Cassidy EJ, Dunn MJ, Harris CM, Self JE & Ragge NK 2022 'Analysis of Fibroblast Growth Factor 14 (FGF14) structural variants reveals the genetic basis of the early onset nystagmus locus NYS4 and variable ataxia' European Journal of Human Genetics , DOI Open access
  • Samuel S 2022 'EXPRESS: A curse of knowledge or a curse of uncertainty? Bilingualism, embodiment, and egocentric bias' Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology , DOI Open access
  • Abbotts D & Norman A 2022 'Social worker decision-making in court' Child & Family Social Work , DOI Open access
  • Scarborough J, Norman A & Cooper L 2022 'The Bidirectional Relationship Between Breastfeeding and Mental Health' British Journal of Midwifery 30, (10) , DOI Open access
  • Heinrich M, Woike JK, Spies CD & Wegwarth O 2022 'Forecasting postoperative delirium in older adult patients with Fast-and-Frugal decision trees' Journal of Clinical Medicine 11, (19) , DOI Open access
  • Pellas J, Renner F, Ji JL & Damberg M 2022 'Telephone-Based Behavioral Activation with Mental Imagery for Depression in Older Adults in Isolation During the covid-19 Pandemic: Long-term Results from a Pilot Trial' Clinical Gerontologist 1-7 , DOI
  • Norman A, Veale J & Williamson H 2022 'Assessing the Usability and Acceptability of FaceIT@home: an online CBT Intervention for People with Visible Differences' The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist , DOI Open access
  • Blease C, Kharko A, Bernstein M, Bradley C, Houston M, Walsh I & Mandl K 2022 'Computerization of GPs’ jobs: A Mixed Methods Survey of Final Year Medical Students in Ireland (Preprint)' JMIR Medical Education , DOI
  • Andrade J, IJdema T, Vadazs N & May J 2022 'Tell me all about it: narrated memories are less emotional than imagined memories' Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology , DOI Open access
  • Chater AM, Schulz J, Jones A, Burke A, Carr S, Kukucska D, Troop N, Trivedi D & Howlett N 2022 'Outcome evaluation of Active Herts: A community-based physical activity programme for inactive adults at risk of cardiovascular disease and/or low mental wellbeing' Frontiers in Public Health 10, , DOI Open access
  • Plunkett K, Delle Luche C, Hills T & Floccia C 2022 'Tracking the associative boost in infancy' Infancy , DOI Open access
 

Open Science Strategy

This strategy commits the School of Psychology to three key open science goals by 2021. The first is preregistration of all research that will be published. The second is open access to all research publications. The third is open access to the raw data, stimuli, materials, and analysis pipelines of all published papers (except where so doing would cause insurmountable ethical or privacy issues). Four members of staff are signatories to the Peer Reviewers' Openness Initiative (Bach, Walsh, Whalley, Wills), which seeks to use peer review as a lever to improve open science practices. Wills is a Trustee of the Nurture Science Publishing Group, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the promotion of affordable open-access publication in the context of rigorous, reproducibility-focused peer review.

 

Facilities and labs

Brain Research & Imaging Centre

The Brain Research & Imaging Centre (BRIC), the most advanced multi-modal brain imaging facility in the South West, will provide the sea-change to enhance the quality of our research in human neuroscience.

With seven cutting-edge human research laboratories, BRIC will include an MRI suite with the most advanced 3-Tesla scanner in the region. It will critically advance our enquiry toward the most advanced brain research, improved radiological diagnostics and better patient care.

Find out more about the facility

<p>BRIC building development, December 2020</p>
Neuroscience facilities

Located on our main city-centre campus, these facilities are ideally placed for large-sample studies of neurotypical individuals. The facilities comprise three eye-tracking labs, three 128-channel EEG labs (one suitable for infant participants), a Neural Modulation laboratory, a functional Near Infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) lab, and a data analysis suite. The Neural Modulation laboratory provides facilities for singlepulse and rapid TMS, and tDCS, combined with 64-channel EEG recording and 3D scalp surface and electrode digitisation.

Babylab

The Babylab provides facilities that are essential to the developmental component of our Experimental Psychology research. Babylab provides excellent, dedicated facilities for infant testing including a family-friendly reception space, two observation rooms, and six individual sound-attenuating booths, with a Tobii 300 Hz system and a head-turn preference setting.

Learn more about the Babylab

Dedicated behavioural testing facilities

A total of 26 purpose-built testing rooms, most of them multi-seat. This facility supports much of the core work of Experimental Psychology group. There are also two dedicated 'soft labs': comfortable, relaxing spaces more conducive to the study of human interaction and counselling than standard labs. We also have three research-dedicated state-of-the-art Virtual Reality Labs.

Specialist equipment

Multichannel EMG systems, respiratory belts, skin thermometers, GSR devices, and pulse meters. There are also movement-measurement devices, including force transducers, accelerometers and laser displacement meters, and somatosensory and pain research devices that enable peripheral percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation.

Non-human animal research

In the School of Biological and Marine Sciences there are eight dedicated observation labs, including two specialist temperature-controlled facilities suitable for aquatic animals. All labs are set up for video recording and remote logging with Noldus observer. Our Animal Behaviour researchers also make regular use of shared resources in the School of Biological and Marine Sciences, including animal housing, Home Office licensed space, plus physiology and molecular biology labs. Our research on sustainability is substantially facilitated by the presence of the Plymouth Marine Institute - the first and largest such institute in the UK.

Virtual reality research

Our team are conducting research into virtual reality, working on topics including:

  • Foundations of search and navigation
  • Connecting people with the ocean
  • Using augmented reality to deliver an imagery-based intervention for behaviour change

Discover more about our latest virtual reality research.

 

Our researchers