Our research group brings together social, developmental, cognitive, and neuro-psychologists. We are enthusiastic about merging our different skills to address questions at the core of social-cognitive neuroscience. Our work stretches from behavioural studies of social cognition, through computational modelling of social decision making, to fMRI and patient studies of perspective taking, empathy, and pain. It includes developmental aspects of the “social mind” as well as studies of neuropsychological and neurodevelopmental disorders of social cognition. Our aim is to understand how social factors influence the mind and brain, and how the mind and brain support social interaction.

Resources and Postgraduate Training

The resources for conducting research in social cognition, neuropsychology and neuroimaging are all very accessible within the School. There are extensive facilities for running both group-based and laboratory-based social cognitive research to investigate the cognitive, motivational, and affective processes that can help to explain social psychological phenomena. Cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychological research is largely conducted in the Behavioural Brain Sciences Centre (BBSC). The centre was developed in 2000 and includes a TMS lab, two 128 channel ERP labs, three 3D motion analysis systems and several eye movement systems (including facilities for measuring eye movements simultaneously from two participants engaged in joint action). The Centre supports computational modelling and patient testing, including case-studies of patients with acquired brain lesions. The Birmingham University Imaging Centre (BUIC) was opened in September 2005 and houses a Phillips 3-Tesla field-strength magnet dedicated to functional imaging experiments. The BUIC includes equipment to deliver auditory, visual and somatic stimuli and a mock scanner for pre-scan testing and is further supported by a data analysis cluster within the BBSC. There is also access to a large (250+ and growing) panel of neuropsychological patients who have been screened for aspects of social cognition as well as for basic cognitive and executive processes.

Training in both the theory and practical aspects of social cognition and social neuroscience is available and includes guidance on all aspects of neuroimaging, from experimental design to data analysis. Funding for pilot neuroimaging studies is available through an application to the BUIC management committee.

People

Academic Staff

Name	Email [at]bham.ac.uk	Research Interests
Ian Apperly	I.A.Apperly	Theory of mind in neurologically intact adults, adults with brain injury, and typically and atypically developing children
Sarah Beck	S.R.Beck	Children’s and adults’ thinking about time, knowledge, and uncertainty
David Booth	D.A.Booth	Interpersonal and cultural aspects of health
Julie Christian	J.N.Christian	The application of attitude and intergroup process models to social service provision and use
Stuart Derbyshire	S.W.Derbyshire	The sick role, malingering, and pain that occurs in the absence of identifiable physical pathology
Dietmar Heinke	D.G.Heinke	Computational modelling of cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology, visual attention and object recognition, and social exclusion and stigma
Glyn Humphreys	G.W.Humphreys	The neural basis of social cognition, including stereotyping, apathy, empathy, and the engagement in joint action; neuropsychological and neurodevelopmental studies
Sotaro Kita	S.Kita	The psycholinguistics and psychology of communication, particularly the influence of gesture on language production and language comprehension
Chris Miall	R.C.Miall	Visually guided action; motor learning and motor coordination
Joe McCleery	J.P.McCleery	The neural basis of typical and atypical social-emotional, social-communicative, and language development
Ian Mitchell	I.J.Mitchell	Social reasoning deficits in Parkinson’s disease, Tourette syndrome, and offending behaviour
Chris Oliver	C.Oliver	Neurodevelopmental disabilities in genetic disorders (e.g, autism, Down’s syndrome)
Kimberly Quinn	K.Quinn	Face processing, social categorization, and identity recognition; stereotype representation and use; self-other overlap and representation
Brandon Stewart	Arriving Nov 09	Automatic and controlled components of stereotyping and prejudice

Research Staff

Name	Email	Lab(s)	Research Interests
Pia Rotshtein	P.Rotshtein		Neural mechanisms of identity recognition and facial expression encoding; the amydala and processing of threat-related stimuli

Postgraduate Research Students

Name	Email	Advisor(s)	PhD Topic
Jane Appleby	JEA482	Oliver,Beck	Executive function in children with developmental disorders
Victoria Baldwin	VNB873	Powell	Memory strategies in people with acquired brain injury
Gregory Carslaw	GXC243	Christian, Heinke	Agent-based modelling of social behaviour
Kevin Cassidy	KDC324	Quinn, Humphreys	Other-race effects in face processing
Fraz Chaudhry	FAC984	Quinn, Humphreys	Prospective person memory
Nicola Dennis	NLD303	Derbyshire	Social influences on the experience of pain; moral reasoning about health-related stigma
Charlotte Easter	CEE849	Apperly, Hansen	The functional and neural basis of adult Theory of Mind
Clare Eddy	CXE287	Mitchell, Beck	Social reasoning deficits in patients with Parkinson’s and Tourette’s
Caroline Gillett	CDG387	Miall, Quinn	Social-cognitive bases of motor movement interference and perception-action links
Amara Gul	AXG808	Humphreys, Dixon	Development of emotional intelligence
Kate Graham	KAG796	McCleery	Neural functioning in infants who are at increased risk for developing social-emotional disorders
Christine Haecker	CBH130	Meyer, Quinn	Processing of stereotype-relevant information
Sarah Houthuys	SXH558	Humphreys	Belief and desire reasoning in theory of mind
Laura Nice	LXN964	Powell	Route learning in people with acquired brain injury
Jody Osborn	JXO581	Derbyshire	Empathy and the experience of physical pain in the absence of external noxious stimuli
Nina Powell	NLP765	Quinn, Beck	Moral outrage and moral reasoning
Laurie Powis	LAP354	Oliver, Apperly	Social cognition in children with developmental disorders
Chrysi Stefanidou	CXS811	McCleery	The neural basis of social-emotional and language functioning in children with autism spectrum disorders
Shemeica Thomas	SDT192	Christian	Predicting homeless people’s use of social services
Jessica Wang	JJW616	Apperly	Automatic perspective-taking in adults
Alla Yankovskaya	AXY944	Humphreys, Booth	Mechanisms supporting the integration of configural and emotional information in faces
Julia Yukovsky	JXY904	Humphreys, Mevorach	Hemispatial neglect and its rehabilitation