Swansea University - Cognition and Perception
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Cognition and Perception
The Cognition and Perception research group at the Department of Psychology.
Overview
This is a rapidly growing group with new members of staff joining each year to add to existing expertise in the areas of: attention and perception, reading and language, memory and implicit learning. In the area of Perception one line of work examines the perception and identification of static and dynamic visual objects and events and the nature of representations that mediate it. Another line of work examines attentional processing and its modulation by the presence of static and moving objects in the visual scene.
In the area of Learning and Memory one line work looks into the mathematical laws that describe and explain our understanding of rules, similarity and implicit learning, and in particular the individuals’ ability to form categories spontaneously and whether or not it is sensible to formulate an implicit/explicit distinction when examining accessibility to consciousness. Another line of work examines inhibitory processes in memory and forgetting in both theoretical and applied settings and inhibitory mechanisms in memory for actions and in visual object properties.
In the area of Reading and Language one line of research looks into reading, word production and recognition in mono- and bi-lingual speakers, first and second language acquisition, and children’s literacy acquisition and the skills required for successful reading, particularly working memory. A second line of work looks into the causes and mechanisms underlying developmental dyslexia, deep dyslexia in bilingual patients across shallow and deep orthographies and the role of brain hemisphere asymmetry in dyslexia. A third line of work looks into cross-cultural interpretation of icons, the skills underpinning children’s understanding of icons and signs and the representations underpinning aesthetic appeal of icons and symbols.
Members
| Dr Alan Beaton | Reading and developmental dyslexia; learning of foreign language vocabulary. |
| Dr Cristina Izura | Word production and recognition processes in monolingual and bilingual speakers. |
| Dr Emmanuel Pothos | Concept creation; implicit learning; rules vs. similarity; excessive drinking; overeating. |
| Dr Irene Reppa | Object recognition and visual attention; the role of emotion in visual processing; memory for objects and actions. |
| Dr Jo Saunders | Retrieval-induced forgetting; inhibitory processes; memory; conscious suppression and unconscious forgetting. |
| Prof Ian Thornton | Face perception; biological motion; localization; search & change. |
| Prof Toby Lloyd-Jones | Visual cognition; memory; cognitive neuropsychology (disorders arising from Alzheimer's disease) |
| Dr Jeremy Tree | Neuropsychology, aphasia, amnesia, prosopagnosia, stroke, dementia. |
Contact person: Dr Irene Reppa
Recent key achievements
Pothos, E. M. (2006). 24-month ESRC grant to study "A simplicity model of concept difficulty". Value: £90,457.
Saunders, J. & Reppa, I. (2006). ESRC grant to study "Inhibitory mechanisms in memory for actions". Value: £99,933.