Research themes

Research activity in the School of Experimental Psychology is organised into three research themes:

The school takes a multidisciplinary approach to research, with staff working in collaboration with colleagues from all other faculties in order to address fundamental questions of psychology through an experimental lens. Strong links exist in particular with the School of Social and Community Medicine, the School of Clinical Sciences, Computer Science and CRIC Bristol. Our research aims to advance thinking in the context of industry, healthcare, education and society. Researchers have access to a wide range of state of the art facilities, including structural and functional imaging, psychopharmacology laboratories, eye movement and motion capture equipment, and electroencephalography (EEG).

Cognitive Processes

Cognitive Processes

Areas of current focus:

  • Language production, perception, and comprehension
  • Typical and atypical cognitive development
  • Memory encoding, storage and retrieval
  • Social cognition and evolutionary social psychology
  • Vision: from basic perceptual processes to social perception
  • Tactile Action and Perception

Cognitive Processes

Brain, Behaviour, and Health

Brain, Behaviour, and Health

Areas of current focus:

  • Eating behaviour, dietary learning and obesity
  • Emotional processing and mood regulation
  • Neuropsychology, brain injury and ageing
  • Tobacco, alcohol and caffeine use

Brain, Behaviour, and Health

Decision-making and Rationality

Decision-making and Rationality

Areas of current focus:

  • Selecting the appropriate movement response
  • How properties of the environment shape decisions
  • Structuring the world to facilitate good decisions
  • Food choice and dietary decisions
  • The origins of supernatural beliefs

Decision-making and Rationality