School of Psychology Research Day - Schedule and Abstracts

School of Psychology Research Day

17 September 2014

Arthur Edwards Building, Room 1.01

Schedule of Events:

09:00 - 09:20   Registration

09:20 - 09:30   Welcome (Professor Nora Colton)    

                        Athena Swan (Dr Sharon Cahill)

09:30 - 10:55   Session 1: Research presentations (Chairs: Profs. Irvine Gersch, Cynthia Fu)

10:55 - 11:15   Tea Break

11:15 - 12:45   Session 2: Research presentations (Chairs: Dr Pippa Dell, Prof. Derek Moore)

12:45 - 13:45   Lunch (AE 2.06)

13:45 - 14:30   NIHR Research Design Service (Dr Dawn Carnes)

14:30 - 15:00   CANTAB (Mr David Hart)

15:00 - 15:20   Tea Break (CANTAB demonstration)

15:20 - 16:35   Session 3: Research presentations (Chairs: Dr Elizabeth Attree, Prof. Mark Davies)  

16:35 - 16:45   Qualitative Research (Dr Sharon Cahill)

16:45 - 16:55   UEL Data Repository (Mr Stephen Grace)

16:55 - 17:00   Research Management Team (Professors Mark Davies, Cynthia Fu)

Session 1 Presenters (Chairs: Professors Irvine Gersch, Cynthia Fu):

09:30 - 09:42   Kate Hefferon

09:42 - 09:54   Emma Chapman

09:54 - 10:06   Mark McDermott

10:06 - 10:18   Caroline Edmonds

10:18 - 10:30   Edith Steffen

10:30 - 10:42   Laura McGrath

10:42 - 10:54   Ashok Jansari

Session 2 (Chairs: Dr Pippa Dell, Professor Derek Moore):

11:15 - 11:27   Nina Robinson

11:27 - 11:39   Tim Lomas

11:39 - 11:51   Anna Stone

11:51 - 12:03   Donald Ridley

12:03 - 12:15   Dierdre Birtles

12:15 - 12:27   Lynne Dawkins

12.27 – 12.39  David Kaposi

Session 3 (Chairs: Dr Elizabeth Attree, Professor Mark Davies):

15:20 - 15:32   Elena Kushnerenko

15:32 - 15:44   Claire Jonas

15:44 - 15:56   Thoma Volker

15:56 - 16:08   Friederike Zimmerman

16:08 - 16:20   Davide Rivolta

16:20 - 16:32   Anjali Sankar

Abstracts

The Benefits of Bilingualism: Early Cognitive and Motor development in Children of East London

Dee Birtles, Research Fellow (IRCD)

Bilingualism benefits development of executive functions (EF) such as switching attention, inhibition and problem solving. Reports suggest early EF and fine motor skills are related and predictive of later academic achievement. This study explores the relationship between bilingualism, executive function and motor development in young children living in East London.

Exploring the effects of response inhibition training on cigarette-seeking behaviour

Emma Chapman, PhD student

Research conducted with abstinent smokers demonstrates a deficit in response inhibition (RI), as measured by a reduced accuracy and performance, and increased errors on tasks such as the anti-saccade task and continuous performance task. Such deficits can be reversed with the consumption of nicotine(Dawkins et al., 2007; Dawkins et al.,2009). Poor performance on a response inhibition taskduring a quit attempt has also been found to be predictive of relapse up to three months (Powell et al., 2010).  Thus smokersduring quit attempts are prone to deficits in RI if there is no, or halted, nicotine replacement therapy which leaves a smoker vulnerable to relapse, as they struggle to inhibit the urge to smoke (Dawkins et al., 2007). Training social drinkers on an initial RI task, to strengthen RI, has successfully reduced alcohol seeking behaviour in a subsequent bogus taste test (Jones et al., 2011). Thus the aim ofthe present study was to see whether such RI training in smokers (to improve RI), would lead to reduced cigarette seeking behaviour;a reduced preference for cigarettes over another reward, and a reduced desire to smoke.  Specifically, whether participants instructed to respond cautiously on a response inhibition task will show a reduced preference for cigarettes over chocolate compared to participants instructed to respond rapidly. Actual smoking behaviour (time until each participant’s next cigarette after study completion) will also be recorded.

First vs. Second Generation E-Cigarettes:  Predictors of Choice and Effects on Tobacco Craving and Withdrawal Symptoms

Lynne Dawkins, Senior Lecturer

This study aimed to explore predictors of e-cigarette device choice in 100 e-cigarette naïve smokers and to compare a ‘first’ and ‘second-generation’ devices for reduction of tobacco craving and withdrawal symptoms (WS).  Abstinent smokers were initially presented with two ECs; a ‘cigalike’ (disposable) and a second generation ‘eGo’ and asked to choose which they would use in a quit attempt.  None of the variables entered (gender, age, tobacco dependence, prior e-cigarette use or impulsivity) significantly predicted choice.  There was a statistically significant reduction in urge to smoke and WS after using the EC but no interaction with EC type.  First-generation e-cigarettes can be as effective as second generation devices at least in the short term.

Thirst moderates the effects of acute water supplementation on cognitive performance

Dr Caroline Edmonds, Senior Lecturer

This study investigated effects of acute water supplementation on cognitive performance. Subjective thirst moderated the effect of drinking on speeded responding, with faster performance after drinking only for those who were initially thirsty. These results suggest that water supplementation may reduce the central processing resources consumed by the feeling of thirst.

Posttraumatic growth and Breast Cancer

Kate Hefferon, Senior Lecturer

Posttraumatic Growth (PTG) is the phenomenon of surpassing previous levels of functioning than which existed before a traumatic event occurred. This presentation will review a collection of studies conducted by the author on the experience of PTG following breast cancer diagnosis as well as current and future projects within the PTG Research Unit.   

Where's the Boss?  JEF^©: A New Ecologically-Valid Assessment of Executive Functions

Dr Ashok S Jansari, Reader

Acquired brain injury (ABI) can lead to a constellation of higher-order executive problems, which can significantly impact everyday behaviour. Although some neuropsychological assessments are able to objectively assess these impairments, increasingly, clinicians are finding that a subset of their patients pass these tests whilst still exhibiting difficulties in day-to-day living. Calls have therefore been made to develop assessments that are more sensitive and that are more ecologically-valid (Norris & Tate, 2000; Chaytor & Schmitter-Edgecombe, 2003; Wood & Rutherford, 2004). Virtual Reality (VR) technology offers an opportunity to address some of the limitations of the traditional tests. The Jansari assessment of Executive Functions (JEF^©) is a new tool developed to address these issues through a series of experiments in the 'real world' and then VR.

JEF^© is a role-playing task set within a standard business office which mimics aspects of the Multiple Errands Task (MET). Performance is evaluated on subtasks designed to test eight constructs central to executive function: Planning, Prioritisation, Selective-Thinking, Creative-Thinking, Adaptive-Thinking, Action-Based Prospective Memory (PM), Event-Based PM and Time-Based PM. A series of experiments will be presented where the sensitivity of JEF for assessment executive functions in adults with TBI is evaluated. Then experiments demonstrating its utility as an experimental tool for investigating the impacts of a range of chemical substances on brain-intact individuals will be described. Finally, the development of a children's version, JEF-C^© will be described and the results from studies using this to assess executive functions in typically developing, atypically developing and brain-injured children will be described.

In conclusion, it will be suggested that JEF^©  and JEF-C^© are safe ecologically-valid tasks that show great potential for becoming standard assessments of executive functions. Due to performance being evaluated across eight constructs, they also offers post-assessment tool for targeting specific vocational rehabilitation. Further, it can be used for evaluating theoretical models of executive functions. Currently, clinicians in Australia, New Zealand and India are using JEF in their clinical investigations while clinicians in France, Brazil, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Israel, Italy and Holland are using JEF^© or JEF-C^© in their local languages to explore appropriateness for their cultures.

Can training letter-colour synaesthesia affect memory for words?

Dr Clare Jonas, Research Fellow

Grapheme-colour synaesthetes are known to show a particular memory profile for word lists. This study investigated whether that memory profile is also seen in people trained over a week-long period to make letter-colour associations. Results hint that this is likely, but a longer training period may be necessary to bring out significant results.

Quantitative, qualitative and beyond.

David Kaposi, Senior Lecturer

The presentation will be about how a comprehensive methodology aspiring to unpack human meaning needs to utilize both quantitative and qualitative methods as well as acknowledge their limitations. It will argue therefore for a method moving deeper and deeper in understanding, and stopping only when no more theoretically illuminating insight may be gathered from the data. This approach will be demonstrated on a media sample, The Times newspaper’s rendering of the Israeli army’s use of the chemical substance white phosphorous.

Brain responses to audiovisual speech mismatch in infants are associated with individual differences in looking behaviour. 

Kushnerenko, Elena¹*, Research Fellow; Tomalski, Przemyslaw^1,2*; Ballieux, Haiko¹;  Ribeiro, Helena¹; Potton, Anita¹; Axelsson, Emma L.¹;  Murphy, Elizabeth¹ and Moore, Derek G¹.

Research on audiovisual speech integration has reported high levels of individual variability, especially among young infants. In the present study we tested the hypothesis that this variability results from individual differences in the maturation of audiovisual speech processing during infancy. A developmental shift in selective attention to audiovisual speech has been demonstrated between 6 and 9 months with an increase in the time spent looking to articulating mouths as compared to eyes (Lewkowicz & Hansen-Tift, 2012; Tomalski et al., 2012). In the present study we tested whether these changes in behavioural maturational level are associated with differences in brain responses to audiovisual speech across this age range. We measured high-density event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to videos of audio-visually matching and mismatched syllables /ba/ and /ga/; and subsequently examined visual scanning of the same stimuli with eye-tracking. There were no clear age-specific changes in ERPs, but the amplitude of audiovisual mismatch response (AVMMR) to the combination of visual /ba/ and auditory /ga/ was strongly negatively associated with looking time to the mouth in the same condition. These results have significant implications for our understanding of individual differences in neural signatures of audiovisual speech processing in infants, suggesting that they are not strictly related to chronological age but instead associated with the maturation of visual scanning, and develop at individual rates in the second half of the first year of life.

The LIFE model: A conceptual map for applied positive psychology

Tim Lomas, Lecturer

Since its emergence in 1998, positive psychology has flourished. Among its successes is the burgeoning field of applied positive psychology (APP), involving interventions to promote wellbeing. However, the remit of APP is currently unclear. As such, we offer a conceptual map delineating the terrain that APP might conceivably cover, namely, the LIFE (Layered Integrated Framework Example) model. The model is based on Wilber’s (1997) Integral Framework, which features the four main ontological ‘dimensions’ of the person. We then stratify these dimensions to produce a comprehensive conceptual map of the person, and of the potential areas of application for APP. For example, we deconstruct the collective dimensions of Wilber’s framework using the levels of Bronfenbrenner’s (1977) experimental ecology. The result is a detailed multidimensional framework which facilitates a comprehensive approach to promoting wellbeing, and which charts a way forward for APP.

The development and validation of the multidimensional mortality awareness measure and model (MMAMM).

Professor Mark McDermott, Oona Levasseur (UEL) and Dr. Kathryn Lafreniere (Windsor University, Canada)

For each of eight literature-identified conceptual dimensions of mortality awareness, questionnaire items were generated, producing 89 in all. 359 participants responded to these items and to questionnaires measuring health attitudes, risk-taking, rebelliousness and demographic variables. Multivariate correlational analyses investigated the underlying structure of the item pool and the construct validity as well as the reliability of the emergent empirically derived subscales. Five components, rather than eight, were identified. Given the item content of each, the associated mortality awareness subscales were labelled as: legacy, fearfulness, acceptance, disempowerment, and disengagement. Each attained an acceptable level of internal reliability. Relationships with other variables supported the construct validity of these empirically derived subscales and more generally of this five-factor model.  In conclusion, this new multidimensional measure and model of mortality awareness extends our understanding of this important aspect of human existence and supports a more integrative and optimistic approach to mortality awareness than previously available. 

Spaces of crisis: Service users' experiences of distress in everyday spaces.
Laura McGrath, Lecturer
Following the closure of the asylums in the 1990s, and the succeeding twenty years of pushes towards social inclusion in mental health services, institutional spaces dedicated to mental health are increasingly rare and hard to access. One consequence of these changes is that the majority of service users now experience their most extreme experiences of distress, or crisis, in everyday, community spaces, rather than specialised institutional spaces. Drawing on two sets of data, interviews and autobiographies, this paper examined what kinds of spaces service users' seek out to negotiate their distress when living in the community. Two patterns were found - some participants described moving home to seek sanctuary from a hostile world, while other participants described moving outside to escape from overwhelming experiences. These patterns of movement were tied to types of distressing experiences, and these experiences raise questions for the current provision of crisis services.

Sixty eight and counting - how many ' theories of leadership are enough'?

Donald Ridley, Principal Lecturer

Dinh et al (2014) identify 68 different theories of leadership: Is it plausible that sixty eight established theories of leadership, spread over 6 levels of analysis are likely to lead anywhere useful? While  all of the approaches are, of course, meritorious in some shape or form, the goals of leadership study are quite diffuse. The emergence of (a) so called strategic theories of leadership (Dinh et al 2014) (b) of the distinct sub discipline of ‘leadership development’ (Day et al 2014) and (c) the notion of e-leadership ( Avolio et al 2014) are examples of reactions to this: People are trying to make sense of a complex corpus of knowledge by defining their own context. This brief presentation argues that the study of leadership has been pursuing a path of ‘knowing that’ about leadership instead of ‘knowing how’ about leadership. Consequently the study of leadership has erred to far towards the generic, minimizing contextual factors to such an extent that the theories provide little coherent or effective guidance in real world situations such as leadership development, analysis of leadership behavior and indeed selection of leaders. 'The Cloud Chamber' method for studying leadership is outlined as a disambiguating strategy to reduce the obfuscatory confusion that surrounds the study of leadership at this time.

Abnormal fMRI activity in both the “core” and “extended” face network in congenital prosopagnosia

Dr Davide Rivolta, Senior Lecturer

The ability to identify faces is mediated by a network of cortical and subcortical brain regions in humans. It is still a matter of debate which regions represent the functional substrate of congenital prosopagnosia (CP), a condition characterized by a lifelong impairment in face recognition, and affecting around the 2.5% of the general population. Here, by adopting functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), we investigated face, object, body and body part neural representation in a group of seven CPs and ten healthy control participants. Using multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) of fMRI data we demonstrate that CP neural activity within the “core” (i.e., lateral occipital lobe and fusiform gyrus) and “extended” (i.e., anterior temporal cortex) face regions shows reduced ability in discriminating between faces and objects. This CP aberrant pattern of fMRI activity was also seen in the right parahippocampal cortex. In contrast, the face-body, face-body part, object-body and object-body part comparisons were within the normal range in CP. Therefore, these findings demonstrate diffuse network disruptions in CP which encompass both the “core” and “extended” face regions.

Spiritual listening: Using A Little Box of Big Questions as a tool for promoting change and reflection opportunities with young people with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties and moderate learning difficulties.

Nina Robinson, Postgraduate Student

The importance of listening to young people with SEN has become increasingly recognised during the years. This is considered ethically relevant due to the empowerment this provides as well as legally relevant due to the new Children's Act (2014). This presentation will discuss using of A Little Box of Big Questions with young people with MLD and SEBD to elicit views about their lives, set goals and elicit change.

Machine learning based classification in depression: using neuroimaging measures to identify markers of diagnosis and prognosis.

Anjali Sankar, PhD Student

Neuroimaging studies in depression have extensively explored the structural and functional brain abnormalities in patients during an acute episode and its subsequent modulation with treatment. Despite these advances, nonresponse to treatment still remains a major concern. Moreover, at the present time, the diagnosis of depression is based solely on clinical signs and symptoms, and there are no biological tests that are used to diagnose the disorder or to predict clinical response to a particular treatment or the course of the illness.  For neuroimaging findings to be clinically applicable, it is important to identify markers that can predict diagnosis and clinical response with high accuracy at the level of the individual. It is possible to apply methods of analysis to structural and functional brain data in order to determine what would be expected for a particular individual along with a measure of how likely that outcome may be. One of the most frequently applied set of analysis methods is machine learning, such as support vector machine (SVM). In this talk, I will discuss recent findings on neuroimaging based biomarkers in depression and also present results from my current work on the potential of structural neuroanatomy in classifying acutely depressed patients and predicting clinical remission.

Sense-of-presence experiences and meaning-making in bereavement

Edith Steffen, Lecturer

Sensing the presence of the deceased is a common cross-culturally reported experience in bereavement that has tended to be made sense of within Western bereavement scholarship and psychology in general in terms of hallucinatory or illusory phenomena. However, perceivers tend to report this experience as veridical and beneficial, and recent theoretical approaches to bereavement, particularly the continuing bonds perspective, have emphasized the potentially adaptive value of this phenomenon. This presentation briefly reports on two empirical studies in this area: 1. A qualitative investigation of the experience and meaning-making based on interviews with 12 participants, using Thematic Analysis, 2. A family case study exploring meaning-making in a bereaved family where one member reported this experience, employing an ethnographic framework and using interpretative pluralism for data analysis. While sense of presence was reported as positive by all perceivers, those who made sense of it within (socially sanctioned) spiritual or religious frameworks derived greater benefit from it including post-traumatic growth. Some key challenges and implications as well as new lines of enquiry are identified.

Perceptions of people with facial disfigurement

Dr Anna Stone, Senior Lecturer

There is little previous research into the emotions invoked by the perception of facial disfigurement. Two experiments investigated self-reported emotional reactions to photographs of people with attractive, unattractive or structurally disfigured faces (between-participants). In Experiment 1 participants viewing disfigured faces reported raised levels of sorrow and curiosity compared to unattractive and attractive faces, but not raised levels of negative emotions. In Experiment 2 the level of perceived anonymity for the participant was manipulated. There was more negative emotion and less positive emotion reported under conditions of relatively high anonymity, compared to low anonymity, and this was specific to disfigured faces, suggesting that self-reports are influenced by social desirability. Trait empathy was associated with sorrow and negative emotions when viewing disfigured faces. Disgust sensitivity was associated with negative and sorrow emotions and inversely associated with positive emotions, suggesting that it may not be specific to disgust and closely related emotions.

Face-specific Capacity Limits under Perceptual Load

Dr. Volker Thoma, Senior Lecturer

Face recognition is considered to proceed without attention. My research shows that categorization of a famous face – but not names – is facilitated when it is congruent with a peripheral face. This effect is eliminated if an additional face is shown – even if presented upside-down, indicating that recognition has capacity limits that are determined by non-configural (non-holistic) properties of faces.

Have we met before? Perceptual face learning and the importance of person knowledge

Friederike Zimmerman, Research Fellow

Face recognition involves a series of processing stages from the perceptual analysis of a face to the retrieval of biographic person knowledge. When encountering a new person, we not only memorize perceptual information (i.e., how a face looks like) but also biographic person knowledge (i.e., someone’s name and personal information) which is often also accompanied by an emotional response (e.g., positive or negative encounter). I will present behavioural and electrophysiological (EEG/ERP) data on both perceptual face learning and the transition from unfamiliar to familiar faces, as well as the role of biographic and/or emotional information for our ability to successfully remember a face. I believe new insights into processes that can boost our ability to memorize new faces will be very useful for individuals with severe face processing impairments.