Bio:
I have a B.Sc in Psychology with Neuropsychology from the University of Wales, Bangor and an M.Sc in Cognitive Neuroscience from Aston University. I recently completed a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at Liverpool John Moores University. My interests lie in research of sociability and how we can use neuroscientific methods to measure responses to different social stimuli particularly tactile interactions.
I have experience of working in mental health rehabilitation, aiding individuals to reintegrate into society after a lengthy stay at a mental hospital. I also helped in the physical and mental rehabilitation of individuals with TBI. Through this work I helped to create and maintain a unique system to monitor the progress and development of rehabilitation interventions.
My Ph.D research looked at individual differences in sociability and how they impacted responses to affective touch. I aimed to determine whether objective measures of affiliative responses to CT and non-CT touch can help us to understand potential risk factors in early development that may lead to developmental disorders and possible ways to encourage a typical development of social and emotional well-being. I have special interest in electophysiological measures of neural activity and using this to understand the neural patterns of different cognitive functions and the differences in these measures between different populations.
My supervisory team were:
Dr. David Moore and
I am a member of:
The International Association for the Study of Affective Touch (IASAT) and The British Association of Cognitive Neuroscience
Currently I am a lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University, teaching on neuropsychology modules in the areas of perception, cognitive neuroscience and research methods.
Research Area(s):
Director of studies: Susannah Walker