Cognition and Neuroscience

Actively researched themes include cognitive development; attention and perception; memory; decision making; aspects of linguistic communication including sentence comprehension and production; discourse and dialogue; reading; embodied and situated approaches to cognition and communication; neurodevelopmental disorders; and sleep research.  

We incorporate various theoretical approaches and research methodologies in order to investigate cognitive processes and the corresponding neuroanatomical networks. Recently, the cluster has enjoyed a substantial growth, and the current projects cut across individual researchers’ interests and approaches.  

Research methods used by the cluster members cover a full spectrum of behavioural techniques, eye-tracking as well as neuroimaging methods including EEG and TMS. An example project is MapMe, a tool which has been developed to improve parental acknowledgement and understanding of childhood overweight and obesity. The intervention led to a reduction in children’s BMI and has now attracted further funding to for a large-scale trial with families recruited across 12 local authorities.  

The cluster’s research interfaces well with other research clusters providing opportunities for interdisciplinary work. Cognitive research at Northumbria has been supported by both intramural and external grants and research studentships. Our work features prominently at international conferences and in top ranking journals including Cognition, Journal of Neuroscience, Cortex, Journal of Experimental Psychology, Journal of Memory and Language. The cognitive research cluster members actively collaborate with researchers both domestically and internationally.