My main teaching interests involve research methods and statistics, topics in cognitive psychology, and R programming.

Current Teaching


PSYC753: Data Fluency: Processing, Visualising and Analysing Data for Reproducible Research

I research human memory and cognition using behavioural experiments and mathematical modelling. My PhD investigates the links between explicit (conscious) and implicit (unconscious) memory. I’m also interested in how mathematical models represent variability in memory - why we remember some things better than others - and the use of formal models and machine learning in cognitive science more generally.

Spanton, R. W. (2021).Measuring trustworthiness or automating physiognomy? Considerations
for responsible machine learning in science. Talk presented (online) at Radboud University, Nijmegen,
The Netherlands.
Spanton, R. W. (2022).Measuring trustworthiness or automating physiognomy? Considerations
for responsible machine learning in science. Talk presented (in person) at Radboud University, Nijmegen,
The Netherlands.

13th Annual School of Psychology Conference, June 2021, University of Plymouth, UK.

Alongside my research, I’m the lead organiser of Plymouth ReproducibiliTea. Here, I lead discussions about open science, rigorous methods, and fair and inclusive research culture.

Personal website: www.roryspanton.com