Psychology Research Seminar Series
An exciting international range of visiting speakers

15 December 2021, Matthias Gamer, University of Würzburg, New Methods for Detecting Concealed Knowledge – Promises and Perils
17 March 2021, Mehdi Khamassi, Sorbonne Université, Online coordination of multiple decision-making systems in humans and animals
10 March 2021, Giorgio Ganis, University of Plymouth, Neuroscience in the real world: An overview of mobile electroencephalography
With few exceptions, traditional human neuroscience methods have been limited to studying still participants in the laboratory. In many fields, including applied ones, this raises important questions about the generalizability to more ecological scenarios that allow free movement, ideally in the real world. Mobile electroencephalography (mobile EEG) is a set of new methods and techniques that allow the recording of brain activity in these less constrained situations. In this talk I’ll provide an overview of mobile EEG, covering examples of its uses, key technical challenges that need to be overcome, and some potential solutions.
3 March 2021, Elsa Fouragnan, University of Plymouth, Neuromodulation with transcranial focused ultrasound
24 February 2021, Patricia Kanngiesser, University of Plymouth, Social norms
17 February 2021, Sarah Schäfer, Universität Trier, How to Create a Network of Importance: a (non-social) Investigation of the Adaptivity of the Self-concept
Undisputed is the effect of stimuli which are anyhow related to one’s personal self: my name, my home town, a picture of my favourite pullover…each of these things can hardly be ignored by me while they are completely irrelevant for others. However, we do not yet understand, how exactly such stimuli affect us, or, in other words, in which way they influence our cognitive processes. Embedded in a variety of research aiming at a deeper understanding of how self-related stimuli influence cognitive processing, we set out to investigate the way stimuli become self-related. Thus, we conducted various studies to test how stimuli can be associated with the self, whether these self-associations are simple or rather complex, whether they can also be prevented once the to-be-associated content could be negative for the self and whether the building of self-associations can be located in the brain. The results of these studies will be integrated to try to give a definition of a particular component of the self and conclusions will be discussed about what this can tell about the way self-related stimuli influence cognitive processing.
3 February 2021, Simona Monaco, University of Trento, The role of the early visual cortex in action and perception: beyond visual processing
9 December 2020, Fritz Renner, University of Freiburg, Prospective mental imagery and behavioural activation in depression
2 December 2020, Jan Woike, University of Plymouth, The Transmission Game: A paradigm for testing the effectiveness of behavioural interventions
25 November 2020, Alberto Acerbi, Brunel University, Cultural evolution in the digital age
18 November 2020, Olivia Guest, UCL, How computational modeling can force theory building in psychological science
11 November 2020, Mattias Gruber, Cardiff University, How curiosity enhances hippocampus-dependent memory
28 October 2020, Tracey Platt, University of Sunderland, The Psychology of Humour: The State of the Art. Linked to Well-being or a Moral Dilemma?
21 October 2020, Raymond Mar, York University, Canada, Stories and Siblings: Influences on adult mental-inferencing abilities
14 October 2020, Mila Mileva, University of Plymouth, Multimodal person perception and recognition
7 October 2020, René Schlegelmilch, Universität Bremen, A cognitive category-learning model of rule abstraction, attention learning and contextual modulation
A number of seminars after mid-March were POSTPONED due to COVID-19
29 April 2020, Dr Tom Stafford, University of Sheffield, Bias and Blame: investigating implicit attitudes with open science methods POSTPONED
22 April 2020, Isabell Richter, University of Plymouth, GCRF Blue Communities: Application of psychology in international and interdisciplinary realms POSTPONED
4 March 2020, Professor Derek Perkins, Royal Holloway, University of London, Sexual homicide: research, clinical and legal issues
26 February 2020, Nadège Bault, University of Plymouth, Asymmetry between reward and punishment learning during aging
19 February 2020, Professor Klaus Kessler, University of Aston, Using behavioural experiments, MEG, and transcranial stimulation, to investigate the embodied basis of high-level social and spatial cognition
5 February 2020, Professor Adrian Taylor, University of Plymouth, Developing and evaluating physical activity interventions to improve mental health and wellbeing.
11 December 2019, Dr James Tonks, University of Exeter, Neuropsychological outcome for children aged 6-8 years without cerebral palsy, who were cooled for neonatal encephalopathy.
20 November 2019, Dr Trudi Edginton, City University London, Integrating mindfulness and compassion into community, clinical and workplace settings: A Cognitive Neuroscience Approach
13 November 2019, Dr Jeremy Tree, Swansea University, How do you solve a problem like phonological dyslexia? A new approach to an old issue
6 November 2019, Dr Stephen Minton, University of Plymouth, Residential Schools and Indigenous Peoples
30 October 2019, Dr Cesco Willemse, Italian Institute of Technology, Genova, Robots as an opportunity to study social cognition in humans
16 October 2019, Dr Tessa Flack, University of Lincoln, Facial viewpoint representation in the human brain
2 October 2019, Dr Alyson Norman, University of Plymouth, Behind the cloak of competence: Brain Injury and Mental Capacity Legislation
3 April 2019, Dr Joanne Lloyd, University of Wolverhampton, Locus of control and involvement in videogaming
“White Water Writers” is a project which is based on psychological theory and research. It gives groups of people the chance to plan, write, proofread and publish their own full length novel in just one week. The books are placed for sale on Amazon with authors getting royalty cheques for their work. We also host a book signing where authors are presented with professionally printed copies of their books at an event attended by friends, family and the local press. More than 1000 people aged 8-80 have now become authors through the project. This group includes looked after children, children with SEND, young offenders and adult prisoners. The project has had a demonstrable positive impact on literacy and achievement, but also on aspiration and motivation. The process also allows writers to explore issues through their novels, which creates an innovative methodology for exploring their views of different topics. In this talk I will discuss the impact that the project has had on writers, presenting both qualitative and quantitative data. I will also present analyses of our novels and interviews with writers which suggest that writers produced novels which reflected issues which were important to them and used them as a space to explore their ideas. This suggests that the project also functions as a novel research methodology which could be used to explore a range of topics. Finally I will reflect on some of the challenges of setting up innovative evidence based projects such as this.
6 February 2019, Professor Mark Briffa, University of Plymouth, Animal personality as a cause and consequence of aggressive behaviour
NB: Location will be PSQ Plymouth lecture theatre
12 December 2018, Colin Davis, University of Bristol, Cracking the code with the help of subliminal priming and big data
21 November 2018, Judy Reed Edworthy, University of Plymouth, Shut the beep up! A new safety standard for medical devices
03 October 2018, Dr Maggie Brennan, University of Plymouth, “We can’t arrest our way out of this”. Challenges, Requirements and “what works” in the management and prevention of online child sexual offending behaviour.
16 May 2018, Professor Nicola Bruno, University of Parma, Understanding Selfies: Theory, taxonomy and data
2 May 2018, Professor Harold Bekkering, University of Nijmegen, Exteroceptive and proprioceptive contributions to the prediction of other's actions
25 April 2018, Dr Huw Williams, University of Exeter, The – usually – hidden brain injury: a target for violence prevention?
28 February 2018, Dr Andrew Logan, Bradford University, Identifying Impairments of Face Perception with a Novel Clinical Test
6 December 2017, Dr Mark Haselgrove, University of Nottingham, Making and breaking a cognitive map
29 November 2017, Dr Séverin Lemaignan, School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, From children's free play to robot's AI
22 November 2017, Professor Kenny Coventry, University of East Anglia, Spatial Demonstratives and Perceptual Space: Describing and remembering object location
15 November 2017, Dr Natalia Lawrence, University of Exeter, Apps for Overeating? Using Cognitive Training to Modify Impulses towards Food
8 November 2017, Dr Domna Banakou, University of Barcelona, The Impact of Virtual Embodiment on Perception, Attitudes, and Behaviour
1 November 2017, Dr Cordet Smart, University of Plymouth, Emergent new understandings of small groups
25 October 2017, Dr Belen Lopez-Perez, Liverpool Hope University, I want you to Feel Bad: Adults’ and Children’s Motivation in Interpersonal Affect Worsening
18 October 2017, Gavin Buckingham, Sport and Health Sciences, University of Exeter, Weight Illusions – what do they represent?
11 October 2017, Dr Gunnar Schmidtmann, Eye and Vision Research Group, University of Plymouth, A Novel Database of Facial Expressions of Mental States: The McGill Face Database
4 October 2017, Dr Becky Stancer (previously McKenzie), Plymouth Institute of Education, Autism, NIHR and RDS: experiences of applying for health-related funding.
10 May 2017, Keith Jensen, University of Manchester, The Heart of Human Sociality
3 May 2017, Henry Otgaar, Maastricht University, Remembering and believing in the legal context
26 April 2017, Chris Harris, University of Plymouth, Decisions, decisions, decisions
29 March 2017, Phil McAleer, University of Glasgow, First impressions of speaker personality from voices
22 March 2017, Claire Braboszcz, University of Plymouth, Neuroscience of mental imagery
15 March 2017, Lisa Leaver, Exeter University, Cognition in grey squirrels: what we know and why it matters
1 March 2017, Paul Artes, University of Plymouth, Super-Vision – designing new vision tests with hyperacuity stimuli: rewards and challenges.
22 February 2017, Daryl O'Connor, University of Leeds, Karoshi: Effects of Stress on Health and Wellbeing
8 February 2017, Debbie Mills, Bangor University, Interactions between language experience, emotion, and executive function: ERP studies of bilingual adults
1 February 2017, Sylvia Pan, Goldsmiths, University of London, What is Virtual Reality and How Does it Work for Social Psychologists?
25 January 2017, Andy Wills, University of Plymouth, Progress in modelling through distributed collaboration: Concepts, tools, and examples
18 January 2017, Lorraine Whitmarsh, Cardiff University, Behaviour change or lifestyle change? Evidence and prospects for behavioural 'spillover'
14 December 2016, Iris Englehard, University of Utrecht, How does EMDR work? A dual-task approach to degrading traumatic memories
7 December 2016, Anne Dowker, University of Oxford Maths, Anxiety in Girls
30 November 2016, Laurence White, University of Plymouth, The Origins of Speech Anti-Rhythm
23 November 2016, Felicity Bishop, Southampton University, Harnessing Placebo Effects in Routine Primary Care: GPs' and Patients' Perspectives
16 November 2016, Jonathan Rolison, University of Essex, Risk-taking differences across adulthood: A question of age, domain, and self-perceptions.
9 November 2016, Sobanawartiny Wijeakumar, University of East Anglia, 'Shining light' on visual working memory
26 October 2016, Bob French, University of Borgouyne
19 October 2016, William Simpson, University of Plymouth, What causes the other-race effect? Evidence from classification images
2 October 2016, Graham Turpin, University of Sheffield, Books on prescription, self-help and trauma: a cautionary tale
5 October 2016, Bahar Koymen, Manchester University, Putting heads together: Children's reasoning with others
11 May 2016, Harry Farmer, UCL, Embodiment
4 May 2016, Nicola Byrom, Oxford University, Attending to the bigger picture; attentional breadth may be influencing how we construct models of life experience
23 March 2016, Ian Apperly, University of Birmingham, How do we take other people's perspectives, and who cares?
16 March 2016, Jelena Havelka, University of Leeds, Visuospatial bootstrapping effects in working memory
9 March 2016, Reinout Wiers, University of Amsterdam, Assessing and Changing Implicit Cognition in Addiction
2 March 2016, Neil Ferguson, Liverpool Hope University, Leaving violence behind: Disengaging from terrorism in Northern Ireland
24 February 2016, Caroline Rowland, University of Liverpool, How do children learn grammar? Evidence from production, comprehension and explanatory models
17 February 2016, Sylvia Terbeck, University of Plymouth, Recent development of two topics: Music and intergroup relations and Immersive Virtual Reality and intergroup relations
10 February 2016, Kristina Suchotzki, Wurzburg University, Germany, Lie to Me – An experimental investigation of the cognitive mechanisms underlying deception
20 January 2016, Allegra Cattani, University of Plymouth, Children's first words and gestures: A cross-linguistic study
13 January 2016, Markus Binderman, University of Kent, Resource limits as the cause of errors in face matching
9 December 2015, Helen Haste, University of Bath, Civic identity, agency, positioning – and the narratives that fuel civic engagement
2 December 2015, Christian Fullgrabe, MRC Institute of Hearing Research, Nottingham, Beyond audibility – Age-related changes in speech perception despite clinically normal hearing
25 November 2015, Jon May, University of Plymouth, 'I can resist anything except temptation': a cognitive-motivational intervention to support abstinence
18 November 2015, Stephanie Dornschneider, Buckingham University, Whether to Protest: Evidence from the Arab Spring.
11 November 2015, Clare Press, Birkbeck, University of London, Mapping between action and action perception: Domain-specificity and implications for autism
4 November 2015, Fred Cummins, University College Dublin, Prayer, Protest and Football: the Puzzles of Joint Speech
21 October 2015, Stephen Hall, University of Plymouth, Brain rhythms: where do they come from and what do they mean?
25 March 2015, Douglas Martin, University of Aberdeen, How do cultural stereotypes form?
18 March 2015, Matt Davis, MRC-CBU, University of Cambridge, Predicting and perceiving degraded speech.
11 March 2015, Bradley Love, University College London, Decoding the brain's algorithm for categorisation from its neural implementation