Department of Psychology
RCCN people
For more information and representative publications of a particular academic, please follow the link to their personal profile.
Dr Donna Rose Addis (PhD Toronto)
HSB 626 | ext 88552 | d.addis@auckland.ac.nz | Profile page
Research Interests: Cognitive neuroscience of episodic and autobiographical memory, future thinking, and the role of memory in identity. Neuropsychological and neuroimaging research in a variety of populations, including young and older adults, temporal lobe epilepsy, dementia and depression. Expertise in fMRI and network analyses.
Dr Suzanne Barker-Collo (PhD Lakehead)
721.308 (Tāmaki) | ext 88517 | s.barker-collo@auckland.ac.nz | Profile page
Research Interests: Neurorehabiliation, neuropsychology, clinical psychology, statistics.
Prof Michael Corballis (PhD McGill, FRSNZ)
HSB 661 | ext 88561 | m.corballis@auckland.ac.nz | Profile page
Research Interests: Cognitive neuroscience of visual perception, visual imagery, attention, memory, cerebral asymmetry of function, mental rotation. Evolution of language, and the theory that language evolved from manual gestures.
Prof Russell Gray (PhD Auckland)
HSB 655 | ext 88525 | rd.gray@auckland.ac.nz | Profile page | http://language.psy.auckland.ac.nz/
Research Interests: Evolutionary psychology, animal behaviour and cognition, nature/nurture debate, language evolution.
Dr Jeff Hamm (PhD Dalhousie)
HSB 628 | ext 88519 | j.hamm@auckland.ac.nz | Profile page
Research Interests: Mental transformations (such as mental rotation), semantic access of pictures and words, visual illusions, and visual attention.
Dr Michael Hautus (PhD Auckland)
HSB 609 | m.hautus@auckland.ac.nz | Profile page
Research Interests: Perception, psychophysics, sensory evaluation, diagnostic systems, neural networks, dyslexia. Expertise in the evaluation of sensory systems, data modelling, and programming.
Dr Annette Henderson (PhD Queens)
HSB 524 | ext 82521 | a.henderson@auckland.ac.nz | Profile page
Research Interests: Social cognition and language development in early childhood, including infants' understanding of behaviours involving shared intentions (e.g., collaboration, conventionality), children's understanding of linguistic and social conventions and how this shapes knowledge acquisition, parent-child conversations, theory-of-mind, and early word learning.
Dr Barry Hughes (PhD Wisconsin)
HSB 612 | ext 85265 | b.hughes@auckland.ac.nz | Profile page
Research Interests: Human perceptual-motor control with emphasis on the modelling of active touch and of spatial cognition. Application of these topics to the visually impaired is a specific interest. Has expertise and resources to support psychophysical, cognitive and movement analysis research.
Assoc Prof Ian Kirk (PhD Otago)
HSB 651 | ext 88524 | i.kirk@auckland.ac.nz | Profile page
Research Interests: Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience with emphasis on distributed neural systems involved in memory, language and motor control. Use of EEG (oscillatory activity and ERPs) and fMRI to investigate the temporal and spatial dynamics of neural processes underlying these cognitive processes. Atypical neural processing in a number of cognitive disorders (e.g. Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, Asperger's Syndrome, and Parkinson's disease).
Dr Anthony Lambert
HSB 650 | ext 88520 | t.lambert@auckland.ac.nz | Profile page
Research Interests: Visual attention, eye movements, conscious awareness, subliminal perception, implicit learning, laterality and the split brain. Resources include computer controlled facilities for investigating cognitive performance and equipment for studying eye movements and perception.
Assoc Prof Suzanne Purdy (PhD Iowa, DipAud Melbourne)
721.319 (Tāmaki) | ext 82073 | sc.purdy@auckland.ac.nz | Profile page
Research Interests: Auditory processing/language disorders and reading delay, audiology, electrophysiological assessment of auditory function in infants and children, objective assessment of hearing aid performance, aural rehabilitation in hearing impaired adults, infant speech perception.
Dr Lynette Tippett (PhD, DipClinPsych, Auckland)
HSB 635 | ext 88551 | l.tippett@auckland.ac.nz | Profile page
Research Interests: Cognitive changes in Alzheimer's Disease, Huntington's Disease, and Parkinson's Disease, neuropsychological representation of semantic memory, application of cognitive neuropsychology to rehabilitation of neurological populations. Expertise in neuropsychological assessment, and neural network modelling.
Assoc Prof Karen Waldie (PhD, Calgary)
HSB 623 | ext 88521 | k.waldie@auckland.ac.nz | Profile page
Research Interests: Developmental neuropsychology, neural basis of developmental disorders (e.g., dyslexia, dysphasia, ADHD, mental retardation), laterality, longitudinal research, statistics, language development.
Dr Vanessa Lim (PhD Melbourne)
Neuroimaging Lab Manager & Research Fellow (Academic)
HSB 616 | ext 88516 |v.lim@auckland.ac.nz | Profile page
Role: Vanessa is responsible for the RCCN's High Density EEG facility and assists with fMRI research within the RCCN. Vanessa is also supervisor using behavioural methods, EEG, & fMRI to investigate movement disorders and music processing.
Virginia Hogg (MA(Hons), DipClinPsych)
Research Fellow with Dr Lynette Tippett
HSB 332 | ext 83072 | virginia.higg@xtra.co.nz
Projects: Clinical Investigations into Huntington's Disease.
Reece Roberts (PhD Candidate, Auckland)
Research Assistant for Dr Donna Rose Addis
HSB 332 | ext 83072 | rrob042@aucklanduni.ac.nz
Projects: Age-Related Neural Changes in Remembering and Imagining
Episodic Simulation of Specific and General Future Events - an fMRI Study
Gjurgjica Badzakova-Trajkov (PhD Auckland)
Supervisor: Prof Michael Corballis
HSB 518 | x88515 | g.badzakova@auckland.ac.nz
Research Interests: In a general sense, my research interests lie in the field of neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience. I am particularly interested in four specialised areas: 1) functional and structural cerebral asymmetry of the human brain, especially language; 2) language lateralization and representation in bilingual individuals; 3) mechanisms of cognitive control in monolinguals and bilinguals alike; and 4) disorders such as dyslexia in children and adults alike. The research I am interested in combines behavioural, neuropsychological, electrophysiological, and magnetic resonance imaging techniques.
Gavin Hunt (PhD Massey)
Supervisor: Prof Russell Gray
HSB 6 | x 84790 | grhunt10@hotmail.com
Research Interests: My principal research interest is the manufacture and use of tools by the New Caledonian crow, Corvus moneduloides. The tool behaviour of these birds has features in common with human tool behaviour. These include the manufacture and use of hooked tools, fashioning of distinct types of tools, a high degree of standardisation in the shapes of fashioned tools, shaping tools to a definite "plan" stored in memory and lateralization of tool manufacture at the population level. These features are unknown in the tool behaviour of other nonhumans. My research is based around (i) describing the tool behaviour of crows, and (ii) determining the underlying neural and cognitive mechanisms that have allowed these birds rather than our closest relatives to converge with humans in specialized and/or advanced aspects of tool behaviour.
Sharon Buxton
Primary Supervisor: Dr Lynette Tippett
HSB 314 | ext 83072 | ShazB@xtra.co.nz
Research Topic: Emotional processing in Parkinson's Disease and its impact on social interactions
For my PhD research, I am investigating the recognition of facial and prosodic emotional expressions in participants with Parkinson's disease (PD) and age, education and gender-matched controls. Individuals with PD had no difficulty identifying expressions on 100% emotion faces, but were impaired on recognition of morphed emotional expressions. PD participants were also impaired overall on emotion identification by prosody. These data suggest that PD induces subtle dysfunction of emotional processing affecting both facial and prosodic stimuli.
Lindsay Hearne
Primary Supervisor: Prof Michael Corballis
HSB 307 | ext 88636 | lhea010@aucklanduni.ac.nz
Research Topic: Neural and Cognitive Processes Underlying Synaesthesia
Synaesthesia is a relatively rare condition, where certain stimuli (e.g., tastes, music, letters or numbers) are accompanied by unusual perceptions. The most common form, grapheme-colour synaesthesia, is for letters to have colours. My research involves investigating the underlying neural and cognitive processes giving rise to synaesthesia. A behavioural study is investigating how the synaesthesia of grapheme-colour synaesthetes affects the colour to letter binding that normal vision entails. I also used fMRI to investigate the brain activation associated with the multiple kinds of synaesthesia, and am using EEG to examine the brain activity of grapheme-colour synaesthetes when viewing congruent and incongruently coloured letters.
Isabelle Haberling
Primary Supervisor: Prof Michael Corballis
HSB 307 | ext 88636 | i.haberling@auckland.ac.nz
Research Topic: Structural and Functional Asymmetries in Twins
Various cognitive functions such as language and visuo-spatial processing are lateralized in the human brain. Combining functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), I hope to gain insight into the relationship between functional and structural asymmetries. In addition, the study of identical and non-identical twins gives me the opportunity to assess genetic influences onto brain structures.
Sarina Iwabuchi
Primary Supervisor: Assoc Prof Ian Kirk
HSB 313 | ext 88421 | sarinaiwabuchi@gmail.com
Research Topic: Cerebral Lateralisation and Interhemispheric Communication
I am interested in the broad area of human cerebral lateralisation and interhemispheric communication. Specifically, I am investigating the link between structural and functional cerebral asymmetries utilising various neuroimaging methods including EEG, fMRI, and DTI.
Iwabuchi, SJ, Kirk, IJ. (2009) Atypical interhemispheric communication in left-handed individuals. Neuroreport, 20, 166-169.
Victoria Martin
Primary Supervisor: Dr Donna Rose Addis
HSB 331 | ext 83072 | victoria.martin@gmail.com
Research Topic: The Role of the Hippocampus in Future Thinking
I am interested in the episodic memory system and how it is used when we imagine future experiences. It is now clear that many of the brain structures important for remembering the past are also recruited when we think about possible future events. In my current research, under th supervision of Dr. Donna Addis, I am using fMRI to look at the unique role of the hippocampus in future thinking, examining its involvement in the successful encoding of these future events.
Narisa Marrett
Primary Supervisor: Dr Anthony Lambert
HSB 307 | ext 88636 | n.marrett@auckland.ac.nz
Research Topic: The Effects of Aging on Visual Attention and Perception
My experiments so far have suggested that in a simple cueing environment, both older and younger adults are able to orient their attention appropriately in response to bilateral letter cues. However in a more complex cueing situation, whilst younger adults continue to orient appropriately, older adults fail to do so. Both age-groups show intact perceptual cue-discrimination in simple and complex cueing environments. Further research has suggested that the older adults may be experiencing 'dual-task deficits', and I am currently using EEG to further investigate age-related changes in visual attention and perception in the bilateral cueing situation.
Bradley Patten
Primary Supervisor: Dr Jeff Hamm
HSB 309 | ext 87387 | bradley.patten@gmail.com
Research Topic: The Relationship between Space and Time in the Human Mind
Time and space are related. As things get further away it takes longer to get to them, as they get closer in space they also get closer in time. Given this, how do we know whether it is space that informs our conception of spatial layouts, or time? I hope to begin to answer this question. Working memory tasks requiring responses based on space and time will be used. Also, teleportation in virtual environments will be used to disrupt and manipulate the association between space and time. Follow up memory tests will assess the nature of underlying representations and determine whether there is a greater spatial or temporal influence. EEG and fMRI will be used to compare and contrast underlying neural activity.
Mei Peng
Primary Supervisor: Dr Michael Hautus
HSB # | ext 88636 | mpen038@aucklanduni.ac.nz
Research Topic: Individual Differences in Olfactory Perception
My research interest is studying the variation of people's olfactory perception. Previous research has confirmed the great variability in human's sensory odour perception, including odour detectability, intensity judgements, hedonic responses etc. The current research intends to examine the inter-individual and Intra-individual differences in odour sensitivity separately and jointly to provide a "bigger picture" of olfactory system. Through establishing the phenotypical similar group with respect to olfactory acuity, it also will open up the possibility of investigating the genetic basis of olfactory variability.
Reece Roberts
Primary Supervisor: Prof Michael Corballis
HSB 325 | ext 88636 | rrob042@aucklanduni.ac.nz
Research Topic: The Nature of Representations in Visual Working Memory
My research centres on visual working memory, attention and binding of visual features. Some theorists argue that items are represented in visual working memory as bound units that store information about all the visual features of a remembered item. Others propose that visual working memory stores information in independent visual feature channels (e.g. colour information is stored independently of information about that object's orientation). Using a series of change detection tasks, I have found evidence for the latter hypothesis. My experiments also suggest an important role for attention in maintaining information in visual working memory.
Jay Shin
Primary Supervisor: Dr Anthony Lambert
HSB 307 | ext 88636 | mj_shin@hotmail.com
Research Topic: I am interested in the processes responsible for moving visual attention from one location to another. My research undertakes a detailed examination of the perceptual features of cue objects, in order to determine which features can or cannot trigger a rapid attention shift. The research also examines the relationship between conscious awareness and visual orienting in response to peripheral cues.
Miriam Stocks
Primary Supervisor: Dr Michael Hautus
HSB 307 | ext 88636 | m.stocks@auckland.ac.nz
Research Topic: Sensitivity of Sensory Tests with Varying Product Complexity
My research interest is the area of product complexity; for example, taste products can be simple (e.g., sucrose dissolved in water) or complex (e.g., soups having multiple flavour components). The aim of this research will be to determine which sensory test gives the greatest sensitivity to the stimulus differences during testing for different levels of stimulus complexities. I am also investigating the decision strategy adopted by participants. For the Beta (ß) strategy, a participant sets a fixed criterion and makes a decision from the evidence available from the product being tested, and where that evidence falls about this criterion. With a Tau (t) strategy, a participant compares the sensory difference between two stimulus classes. Some research suggests that a t strategy is used for simple stimuli and a ß strategy is sometimes used for complex stimuli. As a result, different sensory tests are better suited to different products.
Callum Thorpe
Primary Supervisor: Assoc Prof Ian Kirk
HSB 313 | ext 88421 | callum.thorpe@gmail.com
Research Topic: Presurgical Lateralisation of Language and Memory in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy using fMRI
The overall goal of the proposed research is to facilitate decision making around neurosurgery for people with temporal lobe epilepsy through the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine the laterality of language and memory allowing clinical teams to assess the potential impact neurosurgery may have on an individual's memory and language.
Steve Wannenburg
Primary Supervisor: Dr Karen Waldie
HSB 313 | ext 88421 | s.wannenburg@auckland.ac.nz
Research Topic: Typical and Atypical Development of Executive Functions from childhood through to young adulthood
Ian Cressy Wells
Primary Supervisor: Dr Jeff Hamm
HSB 309 | ext 87387 | icwells@hotmail.com
Research Topic: Cognitive Neuroscience of Object Recognition
I am investigating object recognition using a cognitive neuroscience approach. My interests are in the hierarchy of recognition from basic identification to specific and the detailed identification of objects and in the structures and functions (i.e., capabilities) of the brain. At the moment I am employing mental rotation and novel stimuli to investigate the characteristics of objects that are identified at various hierarchies and to investigate the effect of experience or expertise in recognition. I am always looking for volunteers to run experiments. If you are interested and would like to volunteer please contact me.
- Wells, I. & Hamm, J.P. (2009). Flanker compatibility effects and rotated object identification. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63, 33-9
- Lambert, A., Roser, M., Wells, I., & Heffer, C. (2006). The spatial correspondence hypothesis and orienting in response to central and peripheral spatial cues. Visual Cognition, 13, 65-88
- Lambert, A., Wells, I., & Kean, M. (2003). Do isoluminant color changes capture attention? Perception & Psychophysics, 65, 495-507.
Carolyn Wu
Primary Supervisor: Assoc Prof Ian Kirk
HSB 313 | ext 88421 | carolyn.wu@auckland.ac.nz
Research Topic: Musical training facilitates sensorimotor integration.
Musical training produces established links between auditory and motor areas of the brain. I am studying these auditory-motor associations in trained musicians as well as non-musicians who undergo a brief period of piano training. This will enable the investigation of brain plasticity within across domains. I will be exploring short-term and long-term training effects on the brain using a variety of techniques including electroencephalography, functional magnetic resonance imaging, behavioural studies and electromyography. My other research interests include focal hand dystonia, absolute pitch, and music cognition in general.
- Wu CC, Kirk IJ, Hamm JP, Lim VK. (2008). The neural networks involved in pitch labeling of absolute pitch musicians. NeuroReport, 19, 851-854.
