I am researching the effect of smoking abstinence on cognitive performance and craving in regular smokers. My goal is to ultimately develop a human behavioural model of tobacco withdrawal to test the effectiveness of new smoking cessation treatments.
I am researching language processing and in particular sentence processing: what mechanisms and resources are involved in the brain’s computation of how the component words of a sentence fit together, as it unfolds, to help us comprehend the meaning of the sentence? More specifically, my PhD primarily involves experiments on processing of negation in sentences and under what circumstances the presence of negation may disrupt incrementality of processing.
My research focuses on sexual harassment complaints procedures. Through a mixed methods approach I aim to explore the ways in which people respond to sexual harassment, how they decide which path to take (formal complaint, disclosure to a friend etc.) and the effects of each path on their wellbeing. At the moment I’m at the first stage of qualitative research, interviewing professionals who respond to sexual harassment complaints.
I am doing research on gender equality in the workplace, specifically I am investigating how to make the workplace a more even playing field for men and women. Unlike a lot of previous research I am not looking at what women can do to achieve this, but am focusing on men’s contribution, as these are the main power holders in the society at the moment which makes their contribution extremely valuable. This research is important as previous results have shown that not only women, but also men, and even their children, benefit from a more egalitarian society.
My research investigates face processing in the human brain, specifically exploring the functional inter-relationship between the processing of facial identity and facial expressions. In doing so I aim to draw conclusions about the nature of our mental representations of facial identity.
My research investigates the genetic and environmental influences that can help us explain why some adolescents experience higher levels of wellbeing than others. I am also interested in predictors of wellbeing throughout the lifecourse. My ESRC PhD studentship is in collaboration with the Department of Health, with the hope that my research will have direct implications on policy recommendations, and help to bridge the gap between research and policy making.
Abigail’s project examines environmental and genetic influences on adolescent wellbeing using a genetically informative design. The Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) is world leading in this field, frequently informing policy and often reported in the media. This project expands the impact of TEDS by analysing data collected on 5000 pairs of twins when they were 16 years old using a wide range of variables, including measures of wellbeing, personality characteristics, mental illness and cognitive and academic success. This novel research has great implications for policy, particularly education, and extends current knowledge on subjective wellbeing.