Dr Heather J FergusonLecturer in Psychology |
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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 |
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 |
| Tel: | +44 (0)1227 827120 |
| Fax: | +44 (0)1227 827030 |
| Email: | H.Ferguson@kent.ac.uk |
| Office: | Keynes A2.06 |
| Office Hours: | TBA |