Department of Psychology

What kinds of research could I do?

To give you a flavour of the variety of research which is possible here, themes currently being studied by our doctoral students include: bullying in schools; how people make sense of visual information; the effects of electro-convulsive therapy on memory; social and cognitive aspects of developmental disorders including autism, Asperger syndrome and developmental coordination disorder; EEG neurofeedback; electrophysiological correlates of cognitive processes; paranormal beliefs; the relationship between language and colour perception; individual differences in various aspects of cognition, motivation, and learning.

Some students have already formulated specific research ideas before they apply here, and find a supervisor in the department who is able to help them develop these into a doctoral research programme; if this applies to you, see information on the expertise of all our staff and contact any who you think may be able to help you to pursue these.

Other students are attracted by the research interests of our staff, and may decide to undertake a project which has been suggested by them and which relates to their ongoing research. The table below lists some specific project ideas for which particular staff members are keen to attract applicants. New projects are always being added, so watch this space!

To explore these or other research ideas, start by emailing the member of staff whose research interests you. A full list of staff and their areas of expertise is given here link to here. We also warmly invite you to visit the Department and meet potential supervisors at the College Open Days; these take place at various dates during the year, and are advertised on the college homepage. If you are interested in attending any of these, or in visiting the department, please e-mail our office psychol (@gold.ac.uk) to let us know whether there are any staff members in particular who you would like to meet.

 

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Supervisor(s) Title of research project(s)
Dr Joydeep Bhattacharya Dr Bhattacharya’s projects
  • Neuronal substrates of visual insight
  • Support system based on nonlinear analysis of bio-signals toward proactive diagnosis
  • Neural correlates of preference of contemporary music
  • Brain response in aesthetic preference of contemporary music
  • Transient oscillation in human information processing
  • Tracking neural information pathway of multisensory interaction
Professor Frank Bond Professor Bond’s projects
  • Psychological determinants of work performance and mental health
Dr Andy Bremner Dr Bremner’s projects
  • Spatial representations of touch and the body in early infancy
  • Neural representation of tactile spatial location and the body in early infancy
  • The development of visual dominance in tactile perception and felt limb position in infancy and early childhood
  • Development of cognitive control in early childhood
Dr Gianna Cocchini Dr Cocchini’s projects
  • Anosognosia (unawareness) for memory disorders
Professor Jules Davidoff Professor Davidoff’s projects
Dr Jan de Fockert Dr de Fockert’s projects
Prof Chris French

Prof French's projects

  • Cognitive biases underlying paranormal belief and experience
  • Inattentional blindness, absorption and paranormal belief/experience
  • Causes and interpretations of sleep paralysis
  • Susceptibility to false memories and paranormal belief
  • The psychology of scepticism
Dr. Lorna Goddard

Dr. Goddard's projects

  • Autobiographical memory in ASD: perspective taking and its links to well-being
  • The nature of depression in Asperger Syndrome
  • Temporal cognition and autobiographical memory in autistic spectrum disorder (ASD)
Dr. Alice Gregory Dr. Gregory’s projects
  • Cognitive processes associated with sleep disturbances in youth
  • Integrating genetic, environmental and cognitive influences on sleep disturbances in children
  • Sleep and associated difficulties: genetic and environmental influences on longitudinal associations
  • Specifying nonshared environmental influences for sleep disturbances
Dr. Pam Heaton Dr. Heaton’s projects
  • Absolute pitch in infancy and childhood (with Prof. Linda Pring)
Dr Elisabeth Hill Dr Hill’s projects
  • Autism & Employment
  • The impact of motor development on social and cognitive outcomes
  • Developmental coordination disorder
Dr. Alice Jones Dr. Jones’ projects
  • Development of empathy in children with behavioural problems
  • Investigating the profiles and outcomes of students in higher education with autism spectrum disorders
Dr Yulia Kovas

Dr Kovas’ projects

  • The origins of individual differences in numerical cognition
  • The origins of dissociations among different cognitive abilities
  • Public engagement in genetic research
Dr Madoka Kumashiro Dr Kumashiro’s projects
  • Michelangelo phenomenon: Partner affirmation and development of the ideal self
  • Finding the 'right' balance between personal and relational concerns
Dr Karina Linnell Dr Linnell’s projects
Professor Alan Pickering Professor Pickering’s projects
  • Using neurally-inspired computational models of learning under reward to understand the ways in which humans learn to categorise stimuli
Professor Linda Pring

Professor Pring’s projects

  • Access to art and art education: issues related to visual impairment
  • Executive function and social cognition in children and adults with visual impairment
  • Absolute pitch in infancy and childhood (co-supervised by Dr. Pam Heaton)

 
Dr. Luke Smillie Dr. Smillie’s projects
  • Involvement of dopamine in extraverted personality.
  • Explaining the association between extraversion and positive affect.
  • Interplay of motivational (reward-reactivity) and cognitive executive control) processes in impulsive behaviour.
  • Cognitive (e.g., working memory) and non-cognitive (e.g. personality) models of flexible task performance.
  • Cognitive (e.g., working memory) and non-cognitive (e.g. personality) models of achievement motivation
Professor Tim Valentine Professor Valentine’s projects
  • Alcohol and eyewitness identification
  • Stress and eyewitness identification
Dr Jose Van Velzen Dr Van Velzen's projects
  • Reach out and grasp: Action and perception in dynamic interaction (with Dr Karina Linnell)


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