Dr Heather J Ferguson

Lecturer in Psychology

Research interests

My primary research interest is in Cognitive Psychology. I am particularly interested in the interface between cognitive processes and social interaction, specifically the way that we access and represent other peoples’ perspectives during communication. I use a variety of techniques, including eye-movements, event-related brain potentials and reaction times to look at questions, such as:

  • How do adults understand and predict events in terms of other peoples’ mental states (e.g. their intentions, beliefs and desires)? And how quickly can they do this?
  • What happens when these intentions, beliefs or desires are at odds with our own knowledge of the world?
  • What makes this sort of thinking ‘special’ compared to thinking about more concrete, factual events? And are there gender differences in these abilities?
  • How do we separate reality from fantasy (say, in a fictional novel), and why do they get muddled up sometimes?
  • What factors makes ‘negated’ sentences easier or harder to understand?

Key Publications

Bindemann, M., Scheepers, C., Ferguson, H.J., & Burton, A.M. (in press). Face, body and centre of gravity mediate person detection in natural scenes. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance.

Ferguson, H.J., Scheepers, C., & Sanford, A.J. (in press). Expectations in counterfactual and theory of mind reasoning. Language and Cognitive Processes.

Ferguson, H.J., Sanford, A.J., & Leuthold, H. (2008). Eye-movements and ERPs reveal the time-course of processing negation and remitting counterfactual worlds. Brain Research, 1236, 113-125.

Ferguson, H.J., & Sanford, A.J. (2008). Anomalies in real and counterfactual worlds: An eye-movement investigation. Journal of Memory and Language, 58, 609-626.

Author h.j.ferguson@kent.ac.uk
Number to Show (most recent first) 500
Start Year 2000
End Year 0
Order of publications 0
Also view these in the Kent Academic Repository
Total publications in KAR: 0 [See all in KAR]

Teaching

SP305 Introduction to Psychology II

- Honorary Research Fellow at University College London, Division of Psychology & Language Sciences
- Member of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society
- Organiser of the PsychoLinguistics in the South East network (www.PsyLingSE.co.uk)
- Named applicant and Member of the Experimental Pragmatics Network in Europe, funded by an ESRC Early Career Researchers Training and Networking grant (£38,500)

Contact Details

Address:

School of Psychology
Keynes College
University of Kent
Canterbury
Kent
CT2 7NP
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)1227 827120
Fax: +44 (0)1227 827030
Email: H.Ferguson@kent.ac.uk
   
Office: Keynes A2.06
Office Hours: TBA