Get to know your lecturer

If you could have dinner with any famous psychologist, past or present, who would it be and why? 
Carl Jung. I'd love to chat with him about his theories and to have a discussion about them now that science has moved on. Would he agree with current findings in personality research?    

What’s a common myth about Psychology that you often find yourself correcting? 
I'm not reading your mind. I can't read your mind. I wouldn't want to read your mind!            

What's something you wish you'd known when you were deciding what to study?      
That you don't need your career path set in stone. Psychology is a broad field and you might not end up doing what you thought you would when you first apply for your degree. There are aspects of Psychology that you've probably never even heard of.        

How do you apply what you teach in everyday life?    
I teach Personality and Individual Differences, so most of it applies to real life. I think one of the most useful classes I teach is on motivation - the stuff on academic motivation is really useful for our students.       

What’s your favourite part about teaching Psychology at Bangor University?
The students. Our students are incredible. It's an honour to get to work with them. When I teach and they ask really insightful questions, it's a brilliant feeling. 

Do you have any memorable stories from working with students or in your research?
There was that time we took some students to a conference. We set off early and the students got on the coach wearing their pyjamas. When we stopped at a service station to get changed, one of them realised they had forgotten to bring their trousers. We were outside a well known clothes shop at 8.30 waiting for it to open. This happened many years ago and this student is now a lecturer and researcher. 

Describe #PsychBangor in 3 words
Science, community, awesome

What made you want to study Psychology        
Nothing - I never 'studied' Psychology! I came to psychology on a completely oblique, left-field, adventurous, curved, unexpected trajectory, starting in biology and going through physiology, neurophysiology, neuropsychology, and cognitive neuroscience, well... and psychology, because after 24 years of practice I have ended up becoming quite well acquainted with psychology, finally!    

What's the most fascinating experiment or study you've ever worked on or learned about?
Wow - how can I choose? I guess discovering that the words you use in a given language changes the way you perceived the world (like colours and objects) was pretty mind blowing. But also the fact that bilinguals constantly resort to accessing their native language when reading or listening to speech in their second language was pretty amazing too. And so was the realisation that babies can learn to distinguish very subtle language sounds differences on the very day they are born. And again the fact that adult international adoptees can still distinguish phonemes that they were never exposed to again after the age of 12 month, when they do not speak or understand their native language...

If you could have dinner with any famous psychologist, past or present, who would it be and why? 
Freud definitely. I would have loved to draw the line between genius and delirium by listening to him. But then Luria probably, for experiencing pure genius, and maybe Oliver Sacks (I should have jumped on the occasion when he gave a public lecture in Bangor!).    

What’s a common myth about Psychology that you often find yourself correcting?   
Wow,  there are so many - One of my favourite myths is the idea that we use only 10% of our brain (that's kind of true but not in this simple guise: we use about 10% at any one time, but these 10% change all the time so we are using all of it!)           

Do you have a favourite brain fact or psychological phenomenon that always blows people's minds? 
You need to attend my Brain and Mind introductory lecture! Human memory is essentially infinite (train it and you will learn more, you cannot fill up that space). 

What's something you wish you'd known when you were deciding what to study?   
That psychopaths exist. That emotions drive our mind (when you are not one of the former). That we cannot understand how humans reason (we know that they do, but not how).          

How do you apply what you teach in everyday life?  
Don't drink and drive, don't take drugs (just don't), don't hurt your brain (wear a helmet), stimulate babies because they are intelligent sponges...        

What’s the strangest or most unexpected thing you’ve learned through your research?  
Telepathy exists... Yeah it does! 

What are some of the coolest career opportunities in Psychology that students might not know about?    
Food designer. 

If you could teach a Psychology concept to anyone in the world, who would it be and what would you teach them?
Elon Musk, altruism and kindness (but then it might be impossible given that empathy is not learnt).

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received during your academic journey?
Don't burn out.

How does Psychology help us understand current trends in society or social media?
This requires five pages of an answer - sorry. But things like fake news beliefs, confirmation bias, attention span, cognitive exhaustion, fashion effects, etc...

What’s your favourite part about teaching Psychology at Bangor University?
All of it, but I love teaching brain anatomy and brain-mind links.

Do you have any memorable stories from working with students or in your research?
WOW - where do I start? One of my first undergrad student had his first paper reviewed at Nature Neuroscience. If it got in, he would have had a job before having a master's (he ended being the youngest appointed professor in China, not bad).

Describe #PsychBangor in 3 words.
Uplifting - Human - Inspiring.

What's the most fascinating experiment or study you've ever worked on or learned about?
I worked on a study a few years ago that looked at participant responses to true/false information that was either positive or negative. The interesting thing we found was that participant responses changed, depending on the language of the information: If true but negative sentences were presented in the first language (Welsh), participants accepted it as true. However, if the same information was presented in the second language (English), participants were less likely to accept it as true. This suggests that bilingual people process information differently in each of their languages, which is pretty cool!

If you could have dinner with any famous psychologist, past or present, who would it be and why?  
An obvious one that comes to mind if Philip Zimbardo, who became famous due to his controversial "Stanford prison experiment". I would ask him about the experiment itself, why he chose not to end the study sooner, and how he would redesign the research so that it could be conducted today.   

What’s a common myth about Psychology that you often find yourself correcting?         
Left brain vs right brain! There's no concrete evidence that claims that one side of the brain is more dominant than the other in different people. It's true that the two hemispheres specialize in different processes, but that does not mean that creativity is on the right and logic is on the left!    

What’s the strangest or most unexpected thing you’ve learned through your research?
That the rules of a bilingual's languages seem to interact completely. My research focuses on bilingualism, and how different aspects of our languages (e.g., grammar) interact and influence each other. My research findings suggest that elements of both languages interact, and that we can actually use information about one language (e.g., Welsh) to problem solve when reading in the other language (e.g., English). 

What’s your favourite part about teaching Psychology at Bangor University?
My favourite part about teaching Psychology at Bangor University is the close community that exists between staff and students. I love being able to chat with students about the course content, their hobbies, and their future plans!

Describe #PsychBangor in 3 words
Interesting; Exciting; Inspiring

What made you want to study Psychology?
Before becoming a lecturer in psychology, I spent many years working as a second language instructor. During my master’s studies in applied linguistics and language teaching, I took two modules that I found intellectually stimulating, neurolinguistics and psycholinguistics. These modules helped me understand how the brain processes language, which fascinated me. I found myself increasingly curious about the underlying mechanisms of how people learn, remember, and use language and what happens in cases where language processing is disrupted, like in individuals with language disorders.
I wanted to understand more deeply how memory, attention, and other cognitive functions work together in language processing. The more I learned, the more I realised that psychology could offer the insights I was looking for, not only about language but also about how the mind works in a broader sense. This interest eventually led me to where I am today, working as a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Bangor University, where I get to share my passion for psychology with my students.       

If you could have dinner with any famous psychologist, past or present, who would it be and why? 
If I could have dinner with any famous psychologist, it would be Elizabeth Loftus. She’s easily one of the most influential psychologists in modern psychology, especially known for her pioneering work on memory and how false memories are formed. Her research shows how even small changes in language can reshape what people remember, which I find fascinating. For instance, Loftus demonstrated that simply asking, “Did you see the camera on the table?” instead of “Did you see a camera on the table?” can lead people to “remember” things that may not have been there at all.
This has huge implications for eyewitness testimony, an area I’ve recently developed an interest in and have been reading about. It’s incredible to think that a single word choice can not only influence what someone recalls but even create memories of events that never happened. With my own interest in language and how it’s processed, I’d love to talk with her about the ways language and memory intersect and hear her thoughts on the impact her research has had on psychology and the legal field.

Do you have a favourite brain fact or psychological phenomenon that always blows people's minds? 
My favourite brain phenomenon has to be synaesthesia. It’s fascinating to think that some people can experience senses in unique combinations, like tasting words, hearing colours, or even seeing sounds. I find it especially intriguing to think about how this might influence language learning or memory.
I’ve only ever read about synaesthesia, and I’ve never had the chance to meet someone with it in person. I would love to have a conversation with a synesthete to learn about their experiences firsthand, especially how it shapes their perception and everyday life.

What’s the strangest or most unexpected thing you’ve learned through your research? 
I’m not sure I would call this fact strange per se, but it’s definitely something I wasn’t aware of before my PhD, and I found it fascinating: the "looks-at-nothing" phenomenon. This phenomenon happens when people remember specific objects, faces, or scenes, and their eyes move to where those items were originally located, even if they’re no longer there. These eye movements suggest a kind of mental “re-enactment” of the original visual scene, as if the mind is anchoring back to the context where the memory was first formed. It’s a way for the brain to retrieve spatial and contextual information, showing how much cognition relies on physical context, even when there's nothing physically present to look at.
During my PhD, I investigated this phenomenon using webcam-based eye tracking to monitor where people were looking on their screens. My study included both typical readers and individuals with dyslexia, allowing me to observe any differences in how these groups used eye movements to aid memory and recall.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received during your academic journey?
The best piece of advice I received during my academic journey was that things don’t need to be perfect right away. I tend to overthink things, and I’ve often caught myself aiming for perfection on the first try, which, as I’ve learned, can actually slow me down. I realised that trying to get everything "just right" from the start can put a huge amount of pressure on the process, making it harder to actually make progress.
Instead, I’ve learned to appreciate the value of small wins and gradual progress. There’s no such thing as a perfect piece of work. Perfection’s just an unrealistic goal. Of course, it’s good to give our best effort, but every project will have limitations. I’ve come to see those limitations as opportunities to rethink things or try new approaches down the line. This perspective has really helped me stay motivated and focus on steady progress, rather than getting stuck chasing an impossible ideal.

What’s your favourite part about teaching Psychology at Bangor University?
My favourite part about teaching psychology at Bangor University is the mix of diverse perspectives and expertise from colleagues around the world. We all genuinely care about our students and are dedicated to helping them succeed. Our department provides a lot of support and guidance to ensure students feel encouraged and ready to reach their full potential.
I’m also incredibly proud of the world-class facilities we have here, like our research-dedicated MRI scanner, eye-tracking labs, EEG labs, motion capture technology, and TMS equipment, to name a few. These facilities support the cutting-edge research that is done in our department and give our students the chance to be directly involved in studies, helping to advance science in meaningful ways. The quality of our department, the opportunities we offer, and the support we provide our students make Bangor a truly unique place to teach, and I feel lucky to be a part of it.

Describe #PsychBangor in 3 words
Inclusive, Supportive, Research-Driven.

What's something you wish you'd known when you were deciding what to study?      
I wish I had known the variety of pathways in and out of psychology. Like what I should study if I want to contribute to research (PhD), vs. what degrees would help me become a practicing psychologist (Msc -> D.ForenPsy/D.Clin)       

What’s the strangest or most unexpected thing you’ve learned through your research?
My area of research is sexual violence, and I read in a paper that sexual violence is one of the ONLY crimes where we scrutinise the characteristics of the victim before we look at the perpetrator. And that has always stayed with me.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received during your academic journey?
These were both said by my forensic entomology lecturer in first year while he was talking about the presence of blowflies on decomposing human remains, but it applies to pretty much any part of psychology:
1. Correlation is not causation (i.e., the presence of blowflies in an area is not confirmation that there was a body)
2. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence (i.e., absence of blowfly larvae does not mean the absence of a body)

How does Psychology help us understand current trends in society or social media?​​​​​​​
I feel so strongly about psychology assessments which constantly ask you to critically analyse different research to present a viewpoint in the paper; this is such an important aspect of media literacy. Being able to see a person speak passionately about something and then searching for opposing viewpoints to develop opinions is a necessary skill in today's world.

Describe #PsychBangor in 3 words​​​​​​​
​​​​​​​Approachable, personal, encouraging

What made you want to study Psychology?
In high school I had some friends with wild intellectual ambitions and I got sucked in. One was going to build space settlements, one was going to cure death, and I was inspired by the film 2001 and the HAL 9000 to figure out how the brain worked.          

What’s a common myth about Psychology that you often find yourself correcting?   
That, yes I'm an experimental psychologist but, no, I won't be psychoanalysing you while we speak.

Do you have a favourite brain fact or psychological phenomenon that always blows people's minds? 
Yes, although not many can believe it, for your everyday sort of parent-child relationship, decades of work and uncountable studies in the field of behavioural genetics have found basically zero influence of parenting style on the child's personality or behaviour, once the child has grown up. I didn't believe it myself when I first heard it, but it's very easy to find the studies.

How does Psychology help us understand current trends in society or social media?
Our brains are powerful systems for perception, thought, and action, and they're finely tuned so we can survive reality. However, as Robert Trivers teaches in his theory of self-deception, reality sometimes takes a back seat to the social environment. So our brains are also designed to systematically misunderstand reality, and to mislead ourselves and others about values and intentions. The argy-bargy of social media is one place where you can see this design for misunderstanding play out.

Do you have any memorable stories from working with students or in your research?
Years back my research was on visual attention, which I liked, while I was teaching about social cognition, which I loved. A student asked "why aren't you doing social cognition research?". Hey good question! A few years later I had changed.

Describe #PsychBangor in 3 words​​​​​​​
Designed for quality.

What's the most fascinating experiment or study you've ever worked on or learned about?
It's not a single study, but a whole body of research into a condition known as Semantic Dementia. People with this condition lose their ability to understand the meaning of words, objects and even other people. Their speech and their actions also become meaningless. It is a profound and devastating impairment that raises essential questions about who and what we are as human beings.

If you could have dinner with any famous psychologist, past or present, who would it be and why? 
Oliver Sacks. I met him once, but we didn't get the chance to have dinner or share stories and ideas about unusual neurological impairments.

What are some of the coolest career opportunities in Psychology that students might not know about?   
I know people who graduated in Psychology that are in finance/business, influencers, work with AI, work with patients, work for sports clubs. There doesn't seem to be a limit to ambition when you have a high quality psychology degree.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received during your academic journey?
Study what makes you curious, not what you think you should.

What’s your favourite part about teaching Psychology at Bangor University?
The fact that we have a world-class team of researchers on the cutting-edge of science and technology, who are ideally placed to provide high quality training not only for wannabe scientists, but also practitioners, clinicians and anyone who wants to understand what is is to be human and apply that to real world settings.

Do you have any memorable stories from working with students or in your research?
I have stories, from working with people with neurological impairment, that can make you laugh and cry in equal measure. Unfortunately, I can't share them here, but would love to discuss them in tutorials.

Describe #PsychBangor in 3 words
Supportive, Ambitious, Unique.

What made you want to study Psychology?
I am of the generation that fell in love with Robbie Coltrane playing Fitz in the TV series 'Cracker' - I definitely wanted to be a forensic psychologist!

What's the most fascinating experiment or study you've ever worked on or learned about?
This has to be my PhD study. During my PhD I was researching a parenting intervention for the parents of young children living in the most deprived areas of Wales with the Centre for Evidence Based Early Intervention and I thoroughly enjoyed the data collection period. I had the privilege of visiting over 90 families in Wales at home across three time periods to not only gather data from parents, but also to conduct developmental assessment of children's capabilities and observe their parents interacting with them and coding these interactions for both warmth and hostility. This was a truly eye opening experience for many reasons. Firstly, I was able to see the difficult circumstances some families were living in in these deprived areas, but secondly I was able to witness great warmth, friendship and community across all areas of Wales- truly inspiring. In addition, we worked with a range of professionals from early years settings, CHAMS, and the Welsh Government to evaluate the programme which was great a great experience for a PhD student.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received during your academic journey?
The best piece of career advice I received was 'get over yourself!' As I was returning to study at Masters level, I had to present my MSc research at the postgraduate conference and I was so nervous I almost didn't go. Then a colleague at work told me to get over myself, realise that no one is that concerned about me, they'll all be worrying about their own presentations... and I'm probably the last thing they're thinking about. Harsh words, but it really is true. It taught me that we all have our own struggles, and when we are feeling self-conscious and this stops us doing things, we should be brave and realise that often we are all in the same boat, not feeling confident, but that we should never let this hold us back.

What’s your favourite part about teaching Psychology at Bangor University?
The wonderful people I work with, both staff and students. I have some amazing colleagues who make going to work everyday very easy, and we always have a lot of fun. Then every year we get a brand new set of students who bring their own ideas, backgrounds and passions with them and we get to support those students for the next 3 years of their lives. I particularly enjoy working with Year 3 students on their dissertations. This gives us a unique opportunity to design and complete a research project that is a really significant part of the student's degree and it is always a wonderful experience.

Do you have any memorable stories from working with students or in your research?
Favourite memory of conducting research has to be a 3 year old child sitting on my table that was covered in testing materials, and then peeing all over everything. Her mum was mortified, but I definitely saw the funny side.

Describe #PsychBangor in 3 words
Inspiring. Supportive. Impactful.