Our attention and memory are limited resources even though it often feels that we are aware of everything and that we remember events exactly as they happened. I am fascinated with the way our attention and memory operate, and the way that some things - especially emotional information - tend to be attended and remembered with greater priority than other things.

In my research, I explore interactions between emotion and cognition. I'm also interested in way that individual differences - including age - can change the way people attend and remember. I often use behavioral, eyetracking, or neuroimaging techniques in my research to study these topics.

I completed my PhD in Psychology at UNSW Sydney with Steve Most and studied emotion-attention interactions, especially 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. I was awarded an NIH NRSA postdoctoral fellowship to study how age impacts emotion and attention and particularly studied the positivity effect - a fascinating pattern whereby older adults prioritise positive information more than younger adults.

At UWA, I am a 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.

Teaching

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

Service

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