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Research in the School of Psychology

Perception and Motor Sciences

Image of a child listening to her teacher

This research group continues to grow rapidly.  It draws together researchers with expertise in cognitive psychology, clinical and experimental neuropsychology, neurology, medical physics, computational modelling, and brain imaging. Its research focuses on the co-ordinated brain activity underlying human consciousness and behaviour and, in particular, the role of attention in perception and action. Given that the neural systems underlying the apparently simple acts of looking towards, recognising, and reaching for objects have been adapted over the course of evolution to also serve the higher cognitive processes, investigation of these basic building blocks of behaviour is crucial not only for advancing understanding of the full range of normal human functioning but also for the rehabilitation of people with impairments resulting from brain disorders. Our Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience enables this multi-disciplinary group to share expertise and facilities and, through its linkage with other disciplines in this University and outside agencies, makes available to them the wide range of resources and advanced research technologies that their research requires including, for example, event-related potentials (ERP), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).  The Centre’s work on the role of attention in the perception-action cycle has few equals internationally.