School of Psychology - News

School of Psychology - October 2011

 To mark its centenary, the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland established a highly prestigious scheme of visiting professorships.  Only one award is normally offered each year across all disciplines in all Scottish universities and by attracting nominees of the highest academic standing, the aim is to benefit not only the host university, but also the broader Scottish university community.  The scheme aims to contribute to academic and scientific developments across the Scottish universities as a whole and to attract senior scholars of high distinction who, by their very presence, will confer benefits on the Scottish universities.

The Carnegie Centenary Professorship for 2011 was awarded to Professor Keith Rayner from the University of California, San Diego, with his tenure in Scotland hosted by the School of Psychology.  Professor Rayner has been one of the world’s foremost researchers in cognitive psychology for more than 30 years.  He is especially well known for his work on language processing and the control of eye movements during reading and performing cognitive tasks.  He is one of the world’s leading experts on the process of reading and he has also had a major impact on educationalists and vision scientists.

Scotland’s already strong reputation in cognitive psychology, vision science and education has been boosted by Professor Rayner’s visit this year, both in terms of new collaborative research with Dr Ben Tatler, Dr Wayne Murray and other members of the School of Psychology and interactions at meetings in Scotland and, more recently, at a meeting of the world’s foremost experts on eye movement research, in Marseille in August.   Professor Rayner said: “I have found my time in Scotland extremely enjoyable and productive.  I look forward to continuing to collaborate with many colleagues in Dundee and across the Scottish universities.”

As his tenure in Scotland drew to an end, he delivered a major public lecture in the University’s Dalhousie Building on 13 September 2011.  In this talk, entitled ‘Words, Faces and Places: Cultural and Cognitive Influences on Eye Movements’ Professor Rayner considered the controversy as to whether culture influences where and what people focus on when they look around their world.  He discussed how cognitive processes and culture may influence where we look and how long we look for and considered research on eye movements and language processing of Chinese readers compared to readers of English before moving on to talk about face processing and arguing that cognition, rather than culture, influences how we see a scene.

Although Professor Rayner is now back in San Diego, the legacy of his visit continues with on-going research collaboration and the stimulus of many congenial and productive discussions both here and with colleagues at nearly all the Scottish universities.

School of Psychology - October 2011

 The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) recently announced that it had appointed the first members of the new ‘RSE Young Academy of Scotland’.  This is the first of its kind in the UK and will be part of a growing movement of Young Academies across the world.  Dr Ben Tatler, along with two colleagues from the College of Life Sciences, was named together with some of the most able and innovative young academics, entrepreneurs, artists and professionals as members of this exciting initiative which aims to stimulate creative ideas and collaborative working that will help address some of the key challenges facing Scotland and contribute to solving some of the global challenges of the 21st Century.

Ben has established an international reputation as a leading researcher in the natural approach to vision and visual psychology.  His work has revealed key insights into both why we look where we do and what we represent and remember about the world around us.  At news of the announcement Ben said “The Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy is a fantastic opportunity to get involved in shaping the future of science in Scotland and to ensure that the public and policy makers are aware of the breadth and quality of science that is conducted in Scotland.”

The average age of this first group of members is 36 with over 40% of the group women.  They cover a wide range of expertise from biologists, geoscientists and engineers to lawyers, social scientists and entrepreneurs.  The Young Academy will be officially launched at a ceremony in Edinburgh in November.