Dr. Richard Dewhurst

Research Fellow

Contact Details:
Telephone: (+44) 1382 388258
Email: Richard Dewhurst

Postal Address:
School of Psychology
The University of Dundee
Dundee
DD1 4HN
Scotland, UK

Biography

I am currently working with Dr Martin Fischer at the University of Dundee. This is a post-doctoral postition and the project is entitled VALUE - Vision Action and Language Unified by Embodient. I completed my PhD at the University of Nottingham, under the supervision of Dr David Crundall (thesis title: Evaluating strategies for visual search and stimulus discrimination: implications for training eye movements). I am using the skills and knowledge I gained in eye movement research during my PhD to tackle research on the interplay between eye movements, motor control, and language processes - evidence suggests that these mechanisms are closely related with common underlying links (see Fischer, M. H., & Zwaan, R. A. (2008). Embodied language – A review of the role of the motor system in language comprehension. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 61(6), 825 – 850).

Research Grouping

Language, Cognition and Perception

Research Interests

PhD - University of Nottingham, Sept 2005 – July 2009

Research on training eye movements, based on a well known model of saccade generation (Findlay, J. M., & Walker, R. [1999]. Behavioural & Brain Sciences, 22, 661-721). The effectiveness of specific strategies for localising visual search targets was evaluated, as well as strategies for improving information acquisition when fixating (see, Dewhurst, R. & Crundall, D. [2008]. Perception, 37[11], 1729-1744). Experience with up-to-date eye-tracking equipment, including Eyelink II and 1000.

MSc - University of Nottingham, Oct 2004–Sept 2005

MSc., with distinction, in Psychological Research Methods. An excerpt from my MSc. thesis has been published (Crundall, D., Dewhurst, R., & Underwood, G. [2008]. Perception & Psychophysics, 70[2], 374-388). The focus was attentional deployment in perceptual discrimination. This is a UK research council recognised course, covering a wide range of transferable skills, including, but not limited to: Creating and publishing web pages; Visual basic for applications; Planning research and time management.

BSc - University of Wales, Bangor, Sept 1999-June 2002

Attained BSc. in Psychology with 1st class honours. My interest in cognition began at Bangor, where I specialised in Visual Perception, Neuropsychology, and Cognitive Neuroscience wherever possible.

Funding

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) – Successful '+3 competition studentship' application (3yrs stipend plus tuition fees, and research training and support grant). This award has funded my PhD studies.

Universitas 21 prize scholarship. This award is worth up to £1000, and funded a placement to work with Prof. Alan Kingstone and Jason Barton at the University of British Columbia in May 2007. As well as pursuing new avenues for my PhD, I had the chance to engage with patient work while visiting the Brain and Attention Research Lab. This research investigated the influence of low-level visual saliency on eye movements in a patient with visual agnosia, and has been accepted for publication (Foulsham, F., Barton, J., Kingstone, A., Dewhurst, R., & Underwood, G. [2009]. Neuropsychologia).

Graduate school travel prize successfully obtained from the University of Nottingham. This award is worth up to £1000 and funded my attendance at the European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP) to deliver a platform talk entitled,"Training eye movements: Integrating top down and bottom up influences in visual search" (Dewhurst, R. & Crundall, D. [2008]. Perception, 35, 8-8).

Three awards from the Experimental Psychology Society (EPS) to fund conference attendance (European Society for Cognitive Psychology [ESCoP] conference – poster presentation; two EPS meetings – one poster, one platform talk). Each award was worth up to £500.

Publications

Crundall, D., Dewhurst, R., & Underwood, G. (2008). Does attention move or spread during mental curve tracing? Perception & Psychophysics, 70(2), 374-388.
Dewhurst, R., & Crundall, D. (2008). Training eye movements: Can training people where to look hinder the processing of fixated objects? Perception 37, 1729-1744.
Foulsham, T., Barton, J. J., Kingstone, A., Dewhurst, R., & Underwood, G. (2009). Fixation and saliency during search of natural scenes: the case of visual agnosia. Neuropsychologia 47(8-9):1994-2003

Invited Presentations

University of Wales, Bangor. "Strategic advice in visual search-like tasks: implications for training eye-movements". Invited colloquia speaker for Dr. Paul Downing; 27th June, 2008.

University of Victoria, Canada: "Can training eye movements hinder visual search performance?" June 2007.

University of British Columbia, Canada: "Training eye movements: can training people where to look hinder the processing of fixated objects?" May 2007.