Image of eye-tracking in psychology lab

Cognitive Psychology

Research Activity

We conduct research into the fundamental processes behind human cognition, including reading, language comprehension, learning and long-term memory, working-memory, and visual attention. As well as its academic significance, our work has real-world impact, from informing educational practice to helping to tackle misunderstanding about climate science. To explore cognitive processes, we have the capacity to use state of the art technology in our dedicated research laboratories, such as high-resolution eye-tracking, EEG, and virtual reality. Members of our research group actively collaborate across the other research groups within the department, to understand the cognitive processes within social, developmental, and neuroscientific contexts.

Group Leader

Tom Beesley

Dr Tom Beesley

Senior Lecturer

Language and Cognition, Neuroscience and Neurocognition

C13, C - Floor, Fylde College

Members

John Towse

Cyber Security Research Centre (Psychology), Language and Cognition, Security Lancaster, Security Lancaster (Academic Centre of Excellence), Security Lancaster (Behavioural Science)

Padraic Monaghan

Developmental Research Group, Language and Cognition, Language Learning Research Lab

Kate Cain

DSI - Society, Language and Cognition

+44 (0)1524 593990 C24, C - Floor, Fylde College
Sally Linkenauger

Dr Sally Linkenauger

Senior Lecturer

Lancaster Intelligent, Robotic and Autonomous Systems Centre, LIRA - Society and Human Behaviour, Neuroscience and Neurocognition , Security Lancaster, Security Lancaster (Behavioural Science)

Robert Davies

Dr Robert Davies

Senior Lecturer

Language and Cognition

Francesca Citron

Dr Francesca Citron

Senior Lecturer

Language and Cognition, Neuroscience and Neurocognition

Katie Alcock

Dr Katie Alcock

Senior Lecturer

Developmental Research Group, Language and Cognition

+44 (0)1524 593833 C04, C - Floor, Fylde College
Amy Atkinson

Dr Amy Atkinson

Lecturer in Developmental Psychology

Developmental Research Group

News

The latest news from our research group

ESRC New Investigator Award

Congratulations to Dr Amy Atkinson who was awarded an ESRC New Investigator grant. The grant will use existing data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) to investigate the relationship between working memory in children and adults and various real-world outcomes (e.g. academic achievement, employment outcomes).

Award for Research Impact

Professor Kate Cain has been awarded the Staff Award in the Research Impact category for her outstanding work on reading and listening comprehension which has informed public policy and national and international practice in the teaching of reading and diagnosis and remediation of reading disorders.

New editorial position

Dr Francesca Citron has joined the journal Language and Cognition as a general editor from 1 June 2023.

ESRC Grant

Dr Tom Beesley has been awarded an ESRC research grant: “Known Unknowns and Unknown Unknowns: Coping with Different States of Uncertainty in a Changing World”. This project will focus on how different uncertain situations affect learning and the way attention is distributed to information in the environment.