• The University of Western Australia (M304), 35 Stirling Highway,

    6009 Perth

    Australia

Calculated based on number of publications stored in Pure and citations from Scopus

Personal profile

Biography

Even though our attention and memory are limited resources, it often feels that we are aware of everything and remember events exactly as they happened. I am a cognitive researcher interested in the way attention and memory operate.

I completed my PhD in Psychology at UNSW Sydney with Steve Most to study emotion-attention interactions, including emotion-induced blindness. I then went to complete a postdoctoral position at the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California with Mara Mather and studied how age impacts emotion and attention. During this time I started studying the positivity effect - an intriguing tendency for older adults to prioritise positive information more and negative information less than younger adults.

At UWA, I am a senior lecturer in the School of Psychological Science and director of the PECAN (Perception, Emotion, Cognition, Ageing, and Neuroscience) Lab. In my lab, we study a range of topics including emotion-cognition interactions, the positivity effect and age-related changes in cognition, ways arousal impacts cognition more generally, and potential neural mechanisms involved.

Roles and responsibilities

Teaching

  • Cognitive Neuroscience (PSYC2217)
    - Unit Coordinator & Lecturer, 2025
  • Psychology: Mind and Brain (PSYC1101)
    - Lecturer, 2020-present
    - Unit Coordinator, 2020-2024
  • Human Neuroanatomy and Neuropsychology (PSYC5539)
    - Unit Coordinator, 2020-2021

Service

  • UWA School of Psychological Science Undergraduate Education Committee
    (2023-present)
    - Deputy Chair, 2025
    - Unit Equivalence Advisor, 2023 & 2025
  • UWA School of Psychological Science Inclusion & Diversity Committee
    (2023)
    - Undergraduate Education Representative, 2023
  • UWA School of Psychological Science Research Committee
    (2020-2022)
    - Deputy Chair, 2022
    - Adjunct Officer, 2021
    - Participant (“Sona”) & Equipment officer, 2020-2021
  • UWA School of Psychological Science Statistics and Research Methods Working Group
    (2022)

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being

Research expertise keywords

  • Cognitive psychology
  • Attention
  • Emotion
  • Ageing

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics where Briana Kennedy is active. These topic labels come from the works of this person. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
  • 1 Similar Profiles

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or