Dr Ute Leonards

Summary

My main research interests lie in the Cognitive Neurosciences, in particular in the investigation of the neural mechanisms underpinning visual perception and attention, and their dependence on context. The definition of context ranges from visual environment over action, memory (and other executive functions) to personality traits and social interaction. My work covers the investigation of perceptual and attentional changes over the entire life span in healthy volunteers and various groups of neurological and psychiatric patients. Moreover, I am interested in the interaction between humans and robots.

Current grants

• Leonards, U., Haworth, J., Tales, A., & Burn, J. (2012 – 2013). Identifying the causes for increased falls in dementia – a pilot study in healthy older and younger volunteers. (BRACE Charity).
• Munafo, M., & Leonards, U. (2012). Plain Tobacco Packaging. (University of Bristol; Enterprise and Impact Development Fund; Ref EIDF016)
• Eder, K., Leonards, U., & Charlesworth, A. (2011-2012). Safe and Trustworthy Autonomous Assistive Robots (STAARs). (University of Bristol~: IAS research workshop scheme)
• Leonards, U. (2011-2012). Joint attention – a psychology driven approach to solve a major challenge in robotics? (EPSRC additional sponsorship fund for women leadership)
• Ludwig, C.J.H., Burn, J.F., Leonards, U., & Bull, D.R. (2010-2014). Bristol Vision Institute Laboratory for Perception and Action. (Wellcome Trust Equipment grant WT089367AIA).
• Harrad, R.A., & Leonards, U. (2010-2011). Binocular interactions in normal vision – a pilot study. (Above and Beyond Charities, Fund 54528)
• Leonards, U. (2011-2012). Attention deficits in children with traumatic brain injury – linking experimental Psychology, CRIC, and Frenchay/BRI. (University of Bristol: IAS – TNRF)
• Bauld, L., Hammond, D., Leonards, U., & Munafò, M. (2011). Effects of Plain Packaging on Neural Response to Health Warnings. (Action on Smoking and Health)

Links within Bristol

• Brain Injury and Neurodenegerative Disease - Interdisciplinary Neuropsychology Group (BINDING)
• BRACE Charity
• Bristol Neuroscience
• Bristol Research and Innovation Group for Health (BRIG-H)
• Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL)
• Bristol Vision Institute(BVI)
• Bristol Vision and Movement Laboratory
• Clinical & Academic Network for Translational Research & Education in Neuropsychology(CANTREN)
• Clinical Research and Imaging Centre (CRIC)
• NeuroEducational research network (NEnet)

Collaborations outside Bristol include:

• Dr Hiroshi Ashida (Kyoto University, Japan)
• Dr Robert Fearns (Bath Spa University, UK)
• Professor Liane Kaufmann (Innsbruck Medical University, Austria)
• Professor Tim Meese (Aston University, UK)
• Dr Marco Merlo (University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland)
• Professor Klaus Oberauer (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
• Dr Tatsuya Yoshisawa (Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Japan)
• ProfessorJohannes Zanker (Royal Holloway University of London, UK)
• Dr Daniele Zavagno (Università di Milano-Bicocca, Italy)
• Professor Hub Zwart (Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands)

Biography

After a degree in biology (Dipl. Biol.) at the University of Mainz, Germany (1985-1991), I worked in research at the Max-Planck-Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt, Germany (1991-1997). I completed a PhD (Dr.rer.nat.) on the interaction of temporal and textural cues in visual perceptual grouping at the University of Mainz in 1994, followed by two post-doctoral periods at the College-de-France in Paris, France (1997-1998), and at the Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven, Belgium (1998-1999), studying the neuronal basis of visual attention and of oculomotor functions with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Between 1999 and 2003, I held a tenure research position at the Neuroimaging Unit within the Department of Psychiatry, University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland. In April 2003, I joined the School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol.

Teaching

Experimental Psychology:

• Year 3 Neuropsychiatry
• Msc Neuropsychology Functional Neuroanatomy and Neuroscience Methods
• MSc Neuropsychology Research Projects

PHD students supervised and co-supervised

• Craig Hedge “Attention shifts in Memory and Perception”
• Olivia Maynard “Visual Search and Tobacco Packaging”

Keywords

• visual perception
• visual attention
• vision and action
• locomotion
• joint attention and action
• eye movements
• neuropsychology
• ageing
• Alzheimer's disease
• schizophrenia
• traumatic brain injury in children
• visual psychophysics
• human - robot interaction
• functional magnetic resonance imaging
• EEG

Expertise

My main research interests lie in the Cognitive Neurosciences, in particular the investigation of the neural mechanisms underpinning visual perception and attention, and their dependence on context. The definition of context ranges from visual environment over action, memory (and other executive functions) to personality traits and social interaction. My work covers the investigation of perceptual and attentional changes over the entire life span in healthy volunteers and various groups of neurological and psychiatric patients.

Memberships

Organisations

School of Experimental Psychology

Other sites

• Neuroscience

Experimental Psychology staff

• Experimental Psychology academic staff

Research themes

• Cognitive Processes
• Brain, Behaviour, and Health

Research groups

• Neuropsychology and Neuroimaging Group
• Perception Group

Selected publications

• Munafo, M, Roberts, N, Bauld, L & Leonards, U 2011, ‘Plain packaging increases visual attention to health warnings on cigarette packs in non-smokers and weekly smokers but not daily smokers’. Addiction, vol 106., pp. 1505 - 1510
• King, D, Rowe, A & Leonards, U 2011, ‘I trust you - hence I like the things you look at: Gaze cueing and sender trustworthiness influence object evaluation’. Social Cognition, vol 29., pp. 476 - 485
• Porter, G, Leonards, U, Wilcock, G, Haworth, J, Troscianko, T & Tales, A 2010, ‘New insights into feature and conjunction search: II. Evidence from Alzheimer’s disease’. Cortex, vol 46., pp. 637 - 649
• Porter, G, Leonards, U, Troscianko, T, Haworth, J, Bayer, A & Tales, A 2010, ‘Shadow processing in ageing and Alzheimer's disease’., pp. 1154 - 1154
• Porter, G, Tales, A & Leonards, U 2010, ‘What makes cast shadows hard to see?’. Journal of Vision, vol 10., pp. 1 - 13
• Howard-Jones, P, Bogacz, R, H., YJ, Leonards, U & Demetriou, S 2010, ‘The neural mechanisms of learning from competitors’. Neuroimage, vol 53., pp. 790 - 799
• McBride, J, Leonards, U & Gilchrist, I 2009, ‘Flexible target representations underlie repetition priming in visual search’. Visual Cognition, vol 17., pp. 655 - 678
• Vincent, B, Baddeley, R, Correani, A, Troscianko, T & Leonards, U 2009, ‘Do we look at lights? Using mixture modelling to distinguish between low- and high-level factors in natural image viewing’. Visual Cognition, vol 17., pp. 856 - 879
• Leonards, U & Mohr, C 2009, ‘Schizotypal personality traits influence idiosyncratic initiation of saccadic face exploration’. Vision Research, vol 49., pp. 2404 - 2413

Read more >

Recent publications

• Hedge, C & Leonards, UB 2013, ‘Using eye movements to explore switch costs in working memory’. Journal of Vision, vol 13.

View complete publications list in the University of Bristol publications system