BSc Projects - Potential Supervisors 2022-23

1. Forgetting - although forgetting is often thought of as a unitary process, the way we forget might instead depend on the type of information we are required to remember. This project will measure forgetting to reveal how forgetting differs across stimulus types.

2. Integration - we are often able to intergrate related information, but the mechanisms that support this process are not well understood. This project will reveal the boundary conditions for integration - when and why it occurs.

I have a working relationship with a local Doggy Daycare where a small group of students can go to collect data for their projects. This will be a group project and students will need to be confident around dogs of all breeds and sizes. Places for this project are limited so please get in touch with me in advance to discuss your interest. 
I am also happy to discuss your own ideas and develop a study that addresses a mutual interest. I can be flexible in supervising a blend of group and individual projects. If you have an idea you wish to explore, come and chat with me about it! 

Please get in touch if you are interested in this type of project

alex.benjamin@york.ac.uk

I’m not officially starting at York until the 16th of May, and am away from the 27th of April to the 9th of May. I will hold two zoom drop-in sessions, or you’re welcome to contact me by email (alex.pike@york.ac.uk), but you might have to be a little patient whilst waiting for me to reply.  

Zoom drop-in sessions - 

Thursday 21st of April 12:00-14:00

https://york-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/94386934025?pwd=YUxmYUVIUFFlMHd6M2JBaS85aHQ4QT09

Monday 25th of April 10:00-12:00

https://york-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/91072850766?pwd=cWcyMjF5VkwxYVA3UCtBb2I4ZXhDZz09

I am interested in various forms of memory consolidation that result from sleep. This includes lexical integration, memory transformation, false memory creation and emotional memory consolidation.

More recently I have become interested in developing educational interventions that reduce the impact and influence of ‘fake news’.

I am happy to supervise behavioural experiments that disentangle the influences of sleep and time on memory consolidation. This could broadly relate to a number of areas within this remit, such as emotional or lexical memory consolidation, or a related project of your own devising (the literature is vast and varied!). Unlike other sleep researchers in this list our experiments would likely take place over one or two days outside the sleep lab (i.e. will be home-based rather than lab-based), and would not involve EEG. 

I am also interested in developing educational interventions to help people distinguish from ‘real’ and ‘fake’ news. This is a new and prescient interest I would like to explore further with a student.

alex.reid@york.ac.uk

I am happy to supervise projects in two areas:

1) Exploring factors that influence how we learn and generalise grammatical patterns in language.  I am open to discussing exactly what factors are explored, but potential areas are:
     a) Does language background/experience affect how grammatical patterns are learnt and generalised?  For example, if a person is monolingual or 
         bilingual, language proficiency, reading experience etc. 
     b) Does changing how grammatical patterns are presented affect how grammatical patterns are learnt and generalised? For example, changing how we train
         participants, how often they are trained and when.
     c) Do different grammatical patterns affect generalisation performance?

2) Exploring factors that relate to attitudes to reading and/or how this relates to education in healthy adults.  Again, I am open to projects that are broadly in this area but potential factors to explore are: language ability, language background, reading exposure, mentalising ability and attitudes to studying.

My main research interests are: bilingualism, language switching, language production, executive control, cognitive ageing.

I am interested in supervising projects on topics related to bilingualism (for example, how do bilinguals switch languages and choose which language to use?) or cognitive ageing (for example, how do older and younger adults differ in the way they use language?).

Some examples of possible questions are:
1) How do accents influence language processing? This project would investigate how pronunciation influences word processing and language switching in bilinguals. Specifically, it would compare how bilinguals process words in their non-native language (English) that are pronounced either with a British accent or with the accent of the bilinguals' mother tongue. 

2) How does the person you are communicating with influence your language production? This project would examine word production and language switching in bilinguals. It would investigate how a bilingual conversation partner influences the way bilinguals use and control their two languages (for example, how easily they switch languages or which language they use).

3) How does (monolingual) language production or comprehension change with age? This project would examine how language production or comprehension differs between younger and older adults. It could study, for example, how individual differences in daily-life social interactions could interact with language production/comprehension in younger and older adults.

These behavioural studies can be run online or in the lab and can be completed individually or in groups. I would also be very happy to discuss project ideas from students.

angela.debruin@york.ac.uk

I study the origins of human social behavior, with a focus on how prosocial behavior is shaped by our psychology for acquiring culture and following social norms.

I am interested in supervising projects (particularly group projects) that explore how social norms, culture and psychology interact. Some examples of possible questions:
- Do social norms influence people's prosocial behaviour (i.e. generosity in charitable donations)?
- Do cultural beliefs (e.g. individualism/collectivism) influence how willing people are to conform in classic psychological measures (e.g. Asch's measure of conformity)?
- Does individualism/collectivism influence how willing people are to conform to social norms (e.g. for pro-environmental behaviour, for charitable donations)?

bailey.house@york.ac.uk

I am interested in supervising topics that use technology (e.g., video games, virtual reality) to study emotion and/or social interaction. 

cade.mccall@york.ac.uk

1. The relationship between depersonalisation, derealisation and intrusive thoughts in individuals prone to hallucination-like experiences
2. The impact of psychotic-like self-disturbances on paranoid thinking in nonclinical individuals
3. The extent to which psychological resilience may protect nonclinical individuals against psychotic-like experiences

Please note that I am more than happy to take a flexible approach and accommodate students' own interests. Please email me directly if you wish to discuss further.

The ultimate goal of my research is to help children learn. I am interested in questions such as: How does learning and memory change across development? How do these processes support language acquisition, and in turn contribute to the literacy skills that enable us to succeed in education? What are the consequences of learning difficulties on later wellbeing?

I would be happy to consider projects within these topic areas. This year, I am particularly keen to supervise projects that address the following questions:

• Does sleep support vocabulary acquisition from reading? This project would test a psychological theory of word learning in a naturalistic learning context. We could ask these questions of school-aged children or adults.
• How does memory formation change across adolescence? This project would test whether an adult memory paradigm is sensitive to changes in memory development that occur between childhood and adulthood.

These projects would suit students looking to develop research skills in developmental and/or cognitive psychology, as well as those interested in the educational application of psychological research.

We have been using smartphone games to collect data remotely from a large number of participants of different ages. The games (York Memory Games, YORMEGA:
https://www.york.ac.uk/psychology/staff/academicstaff/fm841/yormega/ )
are designed to address several hypotheses relating to working memory and distraction. Project students will be able to use these data and also collect more data (remotely) using the games if they wish. 

Adult psycholinguistics, speech perception, word recognition, the mental lexicon, sleep and memory consolidation.

Although I’m happy to supervise projects in all the areas listed, this year I would be particularly keen to conduct group projects looking at:
1) The effects of sleep on memory performance. 
2) Eyewitness memory.
3) How new words are stored in the mind.

gareth.gaskell@york.ac.uk

I am more than happy to offer a project that relates to issues broadly relevant to mental health. Titles of recent projects I've supervised include: 

• #Bodypositive: ‘Body positivity promoting’ imagery on Instagram and its effects on young women

• The Influence of Gender and Obsessive-compulsive Thoughts upon the Development of Exercise Fixations 

• Personality Traits and their Influence on Exercise Addiction and Appearance Management

• Internal vs. External Jogging: Comparing Exercise and Humour for Improving Affect

• Eating behaviour and Somatic Awareness: Is Self-Compassion a factor in both men and women?

• The effects of Familiarity and Information on Attitudes towards Mental and Physical Disorders.

• Generalisation of Attentional Focus on Food Intake to Related Activities
• An Investigation Into The Effects Of Cognitive Challenge On Snack Food Preference.
• Getting the timing right: effects of the scent of lavender on psychological state
• Weight consciousness as a function of personality
• Think Positive: Is Attributional Style a Predictor of Psychological Well-Being
• The effect of music mood and tempo on stress
• Why do we Donate? Examining the Influence of Personality and Marketing on Charitable Giving.

• Personality and Eating Attitudes: How Does Conscientiousness and Controlling Behaviour Link with Damaging Eating Behaviours?

• The effects of Familiarity and Information on Attitudes towards Mental and Physical Disorders.

• An Investigation into the Relationship Between Personality Traits, Exercise Addiction and Appearance Concern

gavin.phillips@york.ac.uk

I am interested in several areas related to:

1) wellbeing including wellbeing and religion; student general wellbeing; help-seeking behaviour in undergraduates; and wellbeing across genders

2) public opinions of forensic psychology issues spanning all aspects of the Criminal Justice System, and the various individuals that play a role in this system (e.g. offenders, victims, police and prison officers)

Wellbeing and religion: In this area, I am particularly intrigued by how conceptualisations of God influence wellbeing. These can include the complexity of how one views God; the images used to represent God; and the degrees of attachment to God. However, I will also be interested in exploring how being religious or having some form of religious commitment influences wellbeing.

Student general wellbeing: In this area, I have a particular focus on the thinking patterns that students utilize that help them to adapt to the university experience and/or develop higher levels of resilience. Other predictors of wellbeing outside of thinking patterns are also welcomed.

Help-seeking behaviour in undergraduates: In this area, I would be interested in exploring how students seek help, comparing the impact on wellbeing of, for instance, formal help-seeking to other forms of help-seeking (such as social support). Please feel free to consider non-traditional conceptualizations of help-seeking such as prayer.

Wellbeing across genders: In this area, I am eager to explore how wellbeing differs not only between males and females but also across different orientations and genders.

Public opinions concerning forensic psychology issues: In this area, I am happy to supervise projects exploring the role of gender and race on judgements of offender guilt; levels of agreement for changes in the current laws; and evaluations of the efficacy of current rehabilitative programmes. However, there are a range of other issues that can be explored, so please get in touch to discuss your particular interests. 

karisha.k.george@york.ac.uk 

karla.evans@york.ac.uk

I am happy to supervise projects across various forms of communication/discourse analysis, using qualitative or mixed methods. My principal interests are political debates (including Prime Minister's Questions), broadcast interviews, and political speeches. I can also supervise projects focused on nonverbal communication.

Please get in touch to discuss specific research proposals, or I can advise on study options once I know your areas of interest. Projects might have a topical focus, for example, the COVID-19 pandemic or Brexit.

Recent projects include: An analysis of the Downing Street daily briefings; A gender-based study of political interviewer toughness; Speaker-audience interaction in the speeches of Greta Thunberg; Equivocation by Premier League football managers; An analysis of prejudice within Black Lives Matter discourse; Detecting deception in appeals for a missing person.

Projects this year include (but are not limited to) addressing the following questions:

1. What is the most important social information we derive from observing other peoples' actions? We will use 'Motion Capture' information to animate computer avatars to use as stimuli during experiments that can be conducted either in the Laboratory or via Online platforms.
2. How do Autistic traits impact social perception? We will determine how people with high and low degrees of autistic traits perceive human actions, and examine how autistic traits can enhance perceptual judgements. This research can be performed in the Laboratory or Online.

I am interested in two general areas, the psychology of learning in Higher Education and also in the psychology of religious belief.

Psychology of learning in Higher Education: I am interested in the application of concepts from Education Psychology to learning in higher education. This includes looking at the ways in which motivational and emotional states influence learning at university. I will consider most projects in this general area but topics I am current interested in are

1) What factors lead to students have difficulties with academic writing

2) What predicts academic self-handicapping

Psychology of Religion: I am also interested is various aspects of the psychology of religion. In the past I have supervised projects on the impact of religion on quality of life and the way in which people process religious information. I will consider most projects in this general area

paul.bishop@york.ac.uk

philip.quinlan@york.ac.uk

Our daily interactions with the world and other people critically depend on our conceptual knowledge of what objects are and what words mean. However, it is not sufficient to know what objects are, we must learn to use this knowledge flexibly to achieve different goals. This mean extracting the specific features of a concept that are relevant for a task, for instance, the features needed to move a piano and not those required to play the piano. We have various behavioural tasks that we can use to assess this ‘semantic control’ ability, yet we lack understanding of its development, and the effect that impaired semantic control may have early in life. In particular, there is some evidence that semantic control may be affected in autism, leading to delayed comprehension.

I am interested in supervising projects that use (in person or online) behavioural measures to consider key questions in our understanding of semantic control. These may include:

• How does semantic control develop through adolescence?
• Does semantic control ability differ in participants with autism?
• Are all tasks of semantic control tapping into the same process? Are some measures better?

I would also be interested in supervising projects that use meta-analyses of secondary neuroimaging data to assess whether semantic control depends on similar or different brain regions to executive control of other cognitive domains (e.g., episodic memory, syntax). This would be well suited to students who are particularly interested in learning more about the brain.

I would be happy for students to work individually or in small groups.

Rebecca.jackson@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk

(Note, I will be based in York when the projects start).

I am interested in projects that look at

1. How people judge the trustworthiness of faces and whether this is  associated with more general feelings of suspicion and mistrust of others.
2. Whether people higher in visual imagery, or who tend to report feeling spaced out or dissociated are more likely to report seeing or hearing things than others. 

Anthropogenic risk. Many of the most pressing problems facing humanity are human in origin. I am interested in aspects of decision making and behaviour that expose humanity to these risks, especially extinction risks posed by nuclear weapons, synthetic biology, and misaligned AI.

Mind perception. Ethical consideration of others (humans, robots, rocks) often depends on whether or not we view them as conscious. My research examines cues that inform attribution of consciousness to others in everyday life.

I am happy to supervise projects in these areas. I also encourage to students to develop their own project ideas.

I'm broadly interested in two areas:

1. Interaction between social psychology and technology
2. Teaching and learning in Higher Education

This year, I'm particularly interested in any projects on

1) The Dark Triad and negative online dating behaviours (e.g. catfishing, ghosting)

2) Parasocial Interaction and online influencers

3) Social anxiety and group work in Higher Education

Alternatively, if you have any of your own ideas that fit within my areas of interest, please feel free to email me and we can have a chat about them.

sally.quinn@york.ac.uk

In this project we will use data from an exiting longitudinal study on children’s mathematical development one the first few years of primary school.  The proposed project is on children’s performance on the so-called number line estimation task. In this task children are asked to put numbers (e.g. 23, 67..) on a number line going from left to right with 0 on the left and 100 on the right. In the project we will investigate the developmental change over time on this task and how it relates to mathematical development and other domain-general skills (e.g. language skills, executive functions, motivation and math anxiety).

I offer projects investigating the perception and memory of actions and movies and their relation to language. I am also interested in the relationship between speaking fluency and other cognitive functions.

Some example questions are:

1. How does language use affect event perception and memory?
2.  Does speech fluency relate to non-verbal inhibition skills?

These studies use learning and memory tests that can be internet-based.

silvia.gennari@york.ac.uk

Possible topics this year:

• Learning a new language based on statistical regularities.
• Effects of distraction (any kind!) on speech comprehension.
• Individual differences in understanding speech in noise.
• Voice and identity recognition.

sven.mattys@york.ac.uk

I have an interest in a variety of projects related to human-animal relations, prejudice, ideologies, and group relations. All my work is quantitative (i.e. experiments or surveys). I am open to discuss any projects from below.

Current topics:

• Ideologies: ideological thinking and cognitive biases i.e. how ideologies change how we think
• Human-animal relations: Such as the psychology of eating meat
• When good people do bad things: consumption of morally troublesome products (i.e. sweatshop clothing, mobile phones etc.)
• Intragroup prejudice: such as women having negative attitudes of other women
• Sexual objectification: seeing or treating people as sex-objects

thomas.davies@york.ac.uk 

I am developing new approaches to testing spatial memory as a way to diagnose and monitor early Alzheimer's Disease. This combines psychophysics and VR/3D "games" programming.

More generally, I am interested in the way different kinds of information are represented and processed in the brain, and especially in spatial cognition (e.g., how we find our way, how we know where we are, why do we get lost?), memory and the hippocampus. I use neuroimaging techniques together with experimental psychology and computational modelling to investigate these issues.

Your project might involve investigations of scene processing (i.e., how we recognize places based on vision) or aspects of memory. If you have programming experience it may be possible to do a project involving aspects of computational modelling or novel VR/3D-based tasks.