Dr. James AingeSchool of Psychology & Neuroscience

What is Psychology? Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Founding father of Psychoanalysis

NOT Psychology

What is psychology then?

What is Psychology?

Psychology is an academic and applied discipline that involves the scientific study of mental functions and behaviours (Wikipedia)

The scientific study of the nature, functioning, and development of the human mind, including the faculties of reason, emotion, perception, communication, etc.; the branch of science that deals with the (human or animal) mind as an entity and in its relationship to the body and to the environmental or social context, based on observation of the behaviour of individuals or groups of individuals in particular (ordinary or experimentally controlled) circumstances (Oxford English Dictionary).

What does this have to do with neuroscience?

Neuroscience is concerned with examining what the brain does and how the brain produces the mind and controls behaviour

Studying in St Andrews

BSc or MA honours degree in Psychology– Social, developmental and evolutionary psychology– Cognition and cognitive neuroscience– Perception

BSc honours degree in Neuroscience– Pharmacology– Neurodegeneration and ageing– Synaptic transmission

What sets St Andrews apart?

Committed to a research led teaching programme– Hands on experimental work from 1st year– Culminating in a individually supervised final year

research project

What do we research in the School?

Topics: Contrast, Colour, Contours, Objects, Faces, Attraction, Emotion, 3-D, Illusions, Movement, Action, Attention, Expectation, Learning.

Professor David Perrett(Perception)

“how to ensnare the senses”Your actions and thoughts control what you see!

Female MaleFace Shape

MaleFemale

Exaggerated differences & attraction

Dr Dhanraj Vishwanath(Perception)

3D space and object perception

What’s so special about 3D movies? How do we make 2D images appear in 3D?

David BrewsterPrincipal of St. Andrews 1837-59

RightLeft

Colour stereoscopic anaglyph

Can you produce this effect with one eye?

Participant 1

• With 1 eye it seems as if I can touch the raindrops. 3D illusion.

• It seems as if the leaves are coming out of the screen and pointing at me.

• With 2 eyes image very flat – definitely on a computer screen.

• Whereas the image with 1 eye looks like someone placed a plant in front of me.

Strabismus

Professor Richard Byrne (Evolutionary Psychology)

Evolution of cognitive and social behaviour

Gestural communication in non-human animals

Can elephants understand pointing?

Professor Steve Reicher(Social psychology)

Examines group behaviour and the relationship between individuals and the group

Research includes political and religious group behaviour Karma of the crowd

Dr James Ainge(Cognitive neuroscience)

How do we remember things that have happened to us? How do we know where are?

Neurons in part of the brain called the hippocampus fire when the rat is in a specific location (O’Keefe & Dostrovsky 1971 Brain Research)

Place cells (place fields)

The hippocampus as a cognitive map (O’Keefe & Nadel 1978)

Dr James AingeAdmissions officerSchool of Psychology & Neurosciencejaa7@st-andrews.ac.uk+44 1334 462057