I graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2004 with a BSc in Psychology. I stayed at Nottingham to complete my PhD in Cognitive Psychology and graduated in 2008. My PhD thesis investigated the role of attention in memory for emotional events. From November 2008 until August 2011 I worked as a Research Fellow for the University of Warwick. In September 2011 I started a full-time lecturing position here in Psychology and in September 2017 I was promoted to Senior Lecturer.
Professional memberships and activities
Member of the Experimental Psychology Society
Academic qualifications
- Certificate in Continuous Professional Development (Research Supervision – PG), 2016
- Postgraduate Certificate in Higher and Professional Education, Staffordshire University (Distinction), 2013
- PhD in Psychology, University of Nottingham, 2008
- BSc (hons) Psychology (First Class), University of Nottingham, 2004
Expertise
My expertise is in Cognitive Psychology and Quantitative Research Methods.
Research interests
My interests are broadly in the area of attention and memory. I am particularly interested in how human emotion influences attention and memory performance. For example, do we remember positive and negative events more easily than neutral, everyday events? Is this because we pay more attention to emotional events when they occur? I am also interested in how mental wellbeing influences attention and memory process. My research often using eye-tracking devices as a measure of visual attention.
Teaching
I teach and supervise on various undergraduate and postgraduate modules, including module leadership on our UG Psychology courses and our MSc Psychology (conversion) course.
Publications
- Humphreys, L., Higgins, S., & Roberts, E. V. (2022). Task demands moderate the effect of emotion on attentional capture. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218221075146
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- Knott, L. M., Howe, M. L., Toffalini, E., Shah, D., & Humphreys, L. (2018). The role of attention in immediate emotional false memory enhancement. Emotion, 18(8), 1063.
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- Humphreys, L., Giudice, S., Jennings, P., Cain, R., Song, W. and Dunne, G. (2011). The Influence of Company Identity on the Perception of Vehicle Sound. Ergonomics, 54(4), 338-346.
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- Humphreys, L., Underwood, G., & Chapman, P. (2010). Enhanced Memory for Emotional Pictures: A Product of Increased Attention to Affective Stimuli? European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 22(8), 1225-1247.
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- Underwood, G., Humphreys, L., and Cross, E. (2006). Congruency, saliency and gist in the inspection of objects in natural scenes. Eye movements: A window on mind and brain. Roger van Gompel, Martin Fischer, Wayne Murray, & Robin Hill (Eds).
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- Underwood, G., Foulsham, T., Van Loon, E., Humphreys, L., & Bloyce, J. (2006). Eye movements during scene inspection: A test of the saliency map hypothesis. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 18(3), p321-342.
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My work has been included in a chapter by G. Underwood - Eye fixations on pictures of natural scenes: Getting the gist and identifying the components (2005), Cognitive Processes in Eye Guidance, G. Underwood (Eds). p163-187