Vision and Cognition
Colleagues in the Vision and Cognition research group explore fundamental issues of importance in vision and cognition. Whilst the majority of staff are in the School of Psychology, the group welcomes anyone with an interest in Vision and Cognition and has members from outside the School.
Our particular interests span face perception, multisensory integration, and visual search through to aesthetics, spatial memory, cognitive restoration and motor control.
The group provides a supportive environment in which colleagues and postgraduate students can discuss their research, receive feedback and share expertise.
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Lecturer in Psychology |
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Research Group Lead/Senior Lecturer in Psychology |
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Senior Lecturer in Psychology |
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Executive Dean Faculty of Human and Digital Sciences |
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Associate Professor in Psychology |
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Dr Robin Owen Senior Lecture in Sport Psychology |
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Senior Lecturer in Psychology |
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Prof Galina Paramei Emeritus Professor |
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Professional Tutor and Lab Manager |
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Lecturer in Psychology |
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Senior Lecturer in Psychology |
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Lecturer in Psychology |
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Head of the School of Psychology |
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Lecturer in Psychology
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PGR Students
Miss Georgina Bailey
Miss Nooshin Momenzadeh
Mr Maxime Ansell
Current Research Themes
The group is engaged in a number of projects focussed on a few key themes . These areas guide the recruitment of new colleagues and inform our impact-related activities.
Aesthetics, Art and Design
Dr Palumbo, Dr Trawinski, Dr Harrison, Dr Brielman, Dr Senna and Prof. Donnelly investigate aesthetics and preference, applied to the areas of art, urban and interior design. Projects in this area include collaborations with external partners such as National Museums Liverpool, Tate Liverpool, Williamson Gallery and Museum to tackle issues related to public engagement and decolonization of art spaces, Culture Liverpool (Liverpool City Council) to evaluate art interventions for the requalification of deprived urban areas, and Sefton Council in liaison with local charities to design a multisensory environment for individuals with intellectual and learning disabilities.
Cognitive Restoration, Nature and Environments
Another core theme investigates the broad impact of the environment on cognitive processes (Dr Thompson, Dr Harrison and Dr Clark). Current projects include investigations of the effects of green spaces, images of nature, and urban greenspace on restoration of cognitive processes such as attention and memory, in collaboration with external partners such as the National Trust
The impact of heat stress on firefighter cognition
In a 24-month project funded by the Fire Service Research and Training Trust, Dr Catherine Thompson and Dr Dan Clark are investigating the effects of live fire search and rescue situations on decision making and situational awareness of firefighters. Previous work has shown that acute heat stress can impair cognitive functioning, and this project explores this effect in more detail, measuring the effect of heat stress compared to other stressors, and examining potential risk factors that may make some individuals more vulnerable to the negative effects of high environmental temperatures. As part of this work, the team will be developing a test of cognitive readiness that could be used in the field. More details of this project can be found here.
Perceptual and Cognitive Processes
Another strand within the group (Prof. Wakefield, Prof. Donnelly, Dr Senna, Dr Thompson, Dr Palumbo, Prof. Paramei, Dr Davies, Dr Clark and Dr Zang) focuses on basic research using lab-based methods to study perceptual and cognitive processes. These include topics such as attentional habituation, colour vision, face processing, visual search, motion perception, memory for location and objects and multi-sensory integration. A further area of investigation uses eye tracking to understand the cognitive processes underlying natural reading, and the factors influencing where and for how long we fixate as we read text. using eye tracking to understand the cognitive processes underlying natural reading, and the factors influencing where and for how long we fixate as we read text.
These projects are more theoretical but also have implications for the wider world, such as understanding multisensory integration in visually-impaired and sight-restored individuals, attentional inhibition being applied to driving behaviours, colour vision impacting the perception of emotions, and how visual search tasks can be used to inform practice in airport security.
Perception and Cognition for Action
There is another section of the group (including Prof Wakefield, Dr Senna, Dr Owen, Dr Palumbo, Dr Davies, Mr Ansell, and Dr Clark) who are interested in how perception and cognition can be applied for action. These projects include work looking at: imagery in sporting contexts; motion perception and how this is affected by action; multisensory integration and the interaction/design of environments for spatial navigation.
2025
- Yeh, C. S. H., Harrison, N., & Morris, T. H. (2025). Creativity-related elements of cognition and emotions influenced by videogames. Behaviour & Information Technology, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2025.2525303
- Michalik, T., & Trawinski, T. (2025). Impact of viewing time on aesthetic experience of Christian medieval Nubian wall paintings: an eye-tracking study with Sudanese and Western viewers. PAM, 34, 161-180. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.37343/uw.2083-537X.pam34.2.5.
- Liu, M., Li, S., Meng, Z., Wang, Y., Zang, C., Yan, G., & Liversedge, S.P. (2025). Development of orthographic, phonological and semantic parafoveal processing in Chinese reading. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.
- Trawinski, T., Zang, C., Palumbo, L., & Donnelly, N. (2025). Individuating experience moderates the effect of implicit racial bias on eye movements to other race faces: a cross-cultural study. Scientific Reports.
- Brielmann, A. A. (2025). How do we perceive style? Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
- Chuquichambi, E. G., Trawinski, T., Munar, E., & Palumbo, L. (2025). Reassessing the curvature effect in tables and chairs. i-Perception, 16(3), 20416695251341682.
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Thompson, C., Trawinski, T., Beevers, D., Harrison, N., & Donnelly, N. (2025). Characteristics of fascination: using eye-tracking to explore the impact of spatial frequency on the allocation of attention to nature and urban scenes. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 1–16.
- Felisberti, F., Parraga, A.C., & Harrison, N. (2025). Psychological determinants of aesthetic and affective preferences for nature and urban scenes: Anxiety, nature exposure, and mental imagery. Empirical Studies of the Arts.
- Law, J., Owen, R., Wakefield, C., & May, K. (2025). Barriers experienced by visually impaired rugby players when undertaking concussion assessment: a qualitative investigation. Research in Sports Medicine, 1-11.
- Senna I., Balestucci P., Piller S., Wiebusch D., Ernst M.O. (In Press). Postural stability and optic flow sensitivity following sight restoration from congenital bilateral cataracts. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
- Paramei, G., Ainsworth, C., Senna, I. (2025). Assessing chromatic discrimination in women using hormonal contraceptives. Journal of the Optical Society of America A, accepted (21/1/25)
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Paramei, G., Nwanedo, N., Owen, R., Zlatkova, M., Senna, I. (2025). Assessing chromatic discrimination in individuals varying in iris color and ethnic origin. Journal of the Optical Society of America A, 42, B56–B67
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Clark, D. P. A.& Donnelly, N. (2025). An exploration of the influence of animal and object categories on recall of item location following an incidental learning task. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 78, 474-489.
- Thompson, C., Ferrie, L., Pearson, S. J., Highlands, B., & Matthews, M. J. (2025). In the heat of the moment: the effects of extreme temperatures on the cognitive functioning of firefighters. Ergonomics, 68, 301-315.
2024
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Roberts, J. W., Wakefield, C & Owen, R (2024). Trajectory priming through obstacle avoidance in motor imagery – Does motor imagery comprise the spatial characteristics of movement? Experimental Brain Research. 243, 9
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Smillie, E., Mestry, N., Clark, D., Harrison, N., & Donnelly, N. (2024). The role of facial distinctiveness in the prioritisation of targets in disjunctive dual-target face search. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 9, 1-16.
- Thompson, C., Ferrie, L., Pearson, S. J., Highlands, B., & Matthews, M. J. (2024). Do extreme temperatures affect cognition? A short review of the impact of acute heat stress on cognitive performance of firefighters. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1270898.
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Horsfall, R., Harrison, N., Meyer, G., & Wuerger, S. (2024). Perceived Audio-Visual Simultaneity Is Recalibrated by the Visual Intensity of the Preceding Trial. Multisensory Research, 37, 143-162.
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Fu, Y., Liversedge, S. P., Bai, X., Moosa, M., & Zang, C. (2024). Word length and frequency effects in natural Chinese reading: Evidence for character representations in lexical identification. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 17470218241281798.
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Owen, R., Wakefield, C. & Roberts, J.W. (2024) Online corrections can occur within movement imagery: An investigation of the motor-cognitive model. Human Movement Science, 95. 103222
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Romano-Smith, S., Roberts, J. W., Miller, A. & Wakefield, C (2024). Theoretical explanations and the availability of information for learning via combined action observation and motor imagery: A commentary on Eaves et al. (2022). Psychological Research. 88, 1911-1914.
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Roberts, J. W., Wakefield, C. & de Grosbois, J. (2024). Examining the equivalence between imagery and execution – Does imagery comprise the intended spatial trajectory? Journal of Motor Behavior. 57, 31-42.
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Trawinski, T., Palumbo, L., Begum, R., & Donnelly, N. (2024). The effect of social factors on eye movements made when judging the aesthetic merit of figurative paintings. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 21843.
- Brielmann, A. A., Berentelg, M., & Dayan, P. (2024). Modelling individual aesthetic judgements over time. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 379(1895), 20220414.
2023
- Moreno-Verdu, M., Hamoline, G., Van Caenegem, E., Waltzing, B., Forest, S., Valappil, A., Khan, A., Chye, S., Esselaar, M., Campbell, M., McAllister, C., Kraeutner, S., and Poliakoff, E., Frank, C., Eaves, D., Wakefield, C., Boe, S., Holmes, P., Bruton, A., Vogt, S., and Wright, D., & Hardwick, R. (2023). Guidelines for Reporting Action Simulation Studies (GRASS): proposals to improve reporting of research in Motor Imagery and Action Observation. Neuropsychologia, 192, 108733.
- Irene Senna Invited speaker at the BPS Cognitive Psychology Section Research Seminar, 27 August
- Catherine Thompson and Dan Clark hosted the BPS Cognitive Psychology Section Research Seminar, 26th-27th August 2025
- Tobiasz Trawinski appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
- Tobiasz Trawinski elected by members of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee to their Council (2025/26 Parliamentary session)
- Tobiasz Trawinski invited to the China International Conference on Eye Movements (CICEM), Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, Henan, China, October 18-19, 2025.
- Chuanli Zang invited to be a Keynote Speaker at the China International Conference on Eye Movements (CICEM), Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, Henan, China, October 18-19, 2025.
- Letizia Palumbo successful application to organise the next International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (IAEA) Conference in 2028 at Liverpool Hope.
- Irene Senna & Cesare Parise (UoL): finalists in the start-up competition “Build a Biotech”, organised by the Northwest Biotech Initiative in collaboration with the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Catalyst and the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre.
- Irene Senna: LOI for the Human Frontiers Science Program: Co-PI, together with Prof. Alessandro Moscatelli (Dep. of Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata and Santa Lucia Foundation), on the project “Sensory, motor, and cognitive basis of affective touch: top-down and bottom-up modulation”. If selected, we will be invited to submit a full grant proposal.
- Letizia Palumbo: LOI for the Human Frontiers Science Program: Co-PI, together with Prof. Prabhjot Singh Chani (Dep. of Architecture and Planning, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee), on the project “Biological and cognitive effects of circadian misalignment and environmental factors on students”. If selected, we will be invited to submit a full grant proposal.
- Aenne Brielmann: invited speaker/participant for Dagstuhl Seminar (part of Leipzig center for computer science) “Conveying the Essence via Abstraction: from ARt to AI” February 22-27 2026
- Neil Harrison: invited speaker for a research symposium on neuroscience and digital technology, Bath Spa University, June 2026
- Trawinski et al. (2024, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-72810-4) has been featured in the Tobii Annual Research Report 2024 as a “best-in-class” publication in psychology. It was selected from a pool of 1,447 publications published in 2024: https://www.tobii.com/resource-center/reports-and-papers/annual-research-report-2024
- Irene Senna: joined the Editorial Board of the journal Multisensory Research (MSR) (ISSN: 2213-4808).
- Irene Senna: Perception for action after sight restoration from bilateral cataracts. Invited speaker, School of Psychology and Sport, Bangor, UK, 5 December 2024
- Irene Senna: Invited speaker (talk and student workshop), Centre for Perception and Cognition (CPC), Southampton, 4-5 February 2025
- Letizia Palumbo: invited speaker (talk for doctoral seminar) Sapienza University, Faculty of Psychology, Rome 3-6 June 2025
- Tobiasz Trawinski (15 Jul 2024). How race influences our perception of art. The Guardian:
- Tobiasz Trawinski (25 Sept 2024). Historic racism still negatively affects the way paintings of black people are perceived – as our study shows. The Conversation: