Duration : Three to four years full-time The cognition subgroup explores core and applied areas of cognitive psychology such as attention, eye movements, memory, and language. Our research explores how human performance changes with experience, using eye-tracking methodologies to record differences. Examples include the difference between experienced and less experienced readers, first and second language users, and differences between novice and experienced car drivers. Our work on memory investigates the influence of emotional and threatening material upon recall and recognition. We are also using eye-tracking to investigate the cognitive processes that are used to comprehend combinations of text and graphics (eg advertisements, photograph captions in newspapers, and figure captions in textbooks. Our research in cognitive neuroscience focuses on two main areas, perception and action, and vision. Within perception and action we are particularly interested in understanding the psychological and brain mechanisms through which sensory information is bound together and used to plan and control human action. We are also interested in the recovery of function after brain injury. Our research in vision ranges from traditional visual psychophysics to computational modelling, electrophysiology and brain scanning. The School of Psychology is particularly well resourced to carry out research in cognitive neuroscience, with facilities for electrophysiology, structural and functional brain imaging (MRI and fMRI), dense-sensor EEG recording in both human adults and infants, transcranial magnetic stimulation studies, and numerous systems for tracking eye, hand, and body movements online.

Career Prospects and Employability Those who take up a postgraduate research opportunity with us will not only receive support in terms of close contact with supervisors and specific training related to your area of research, you will also benefit from dedicated careers advice from our Careers and Employability Service. Individual guidance appointments, career management training programme, access to resources and invitations to events including skills workshops and recruitment fairs are just some of the ways in which they can help you develop your full potential, whether you choose to continue within an academic setting or are looking at options outside of academia.