Dr. James Ainge
School of Psychology & Neuroscience
What is Psychology?
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Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
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Founding father of
Psychoanalysis
NOT Psychology
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What is psychology then?
What is Psychology?
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Psychology is an academic and applied discipline that involves the
scientific study of mental functions and behaviours (Wikipedia)
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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?
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Neuroscience is concerned with examining what the brain
does and how the brain produces the mind and controls
behaviour
Studying in St Andrews
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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?
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Committed to a research led teaching programme
– Hands on experimental work from 1st year
– Culminating in a individually supervised final year
research project
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What do we research in the School?
Professor David Perrett
(Perception)
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Topics:
Contrast, Colour, Contours, Objects,
Faces, Attraction, Emotion,
3-D, Illusions, Movement,
Action, Attention,
Expectation, Learning.
“how to ensnare the senses”
Your actions and thoughts control what you see!
Face Shape
Female
Male
Female
Male
Exaggerated differences & attraction
Dr Dhanraj Vishwanath
(Perception)
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3D space and object perception
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What’s so special about 3D movies?
How do we make 2D images appear in 3D?
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David Brewster
Principal of St. Andrews 1837-59
Left
Right
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)
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Evolution of cognitive and social behaviour
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Gestural communication in non-human animals
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Can elephants understand pointing?
Professor Steve Reicher
(Social psychology)
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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)
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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 Ainge
Admissions officer
School of Psychology & Neuroscience
jaa7@st-andrews.ac.uk
+44 1334 462057