My research examines how language is learned, represented and used in the context of memory, perception and action. I use behavioural experiments, eye tracking and cognitive-neuroscience methods, with an interest in how physiological state and individual differences shape cognitive performance.
Word learning and memory
How does a newly learned word become part of our vocabulary? I study how new words interact with existing knowledge, and how sleep, waking rest and the spacing of learning affect that process. Related work examines how memories change when they are retrieved and how sleep affects their subsequent consolidation.
- Lexical integration of novel words without sleep (2013). PDF
- Markers of automaticity in sleep-associated consolidation of novel words (2015). PDF
- Sleep preserves original and distorted memory traces (2018). PDF
- How well do children remember fast-mapped words? (2025).
Respiration and cognition
This work examines relationships between breathing and cognitive performance, including memory consolidation, visual search and visuospatial attention. Projects investigate both the route of breathing and the timing of events within the respiratory cycle.
Speech perception and production
I investigate how perceptual and motor systems contribute to spoken-language processing, and how speech categories adapt through experience. This includes work on learning new words and phonotactic constraints, and on the contribution of premotor cortex to phoneme judgements and comprehension.
- Acquiring novel words and their past tenses (2012). PDF
- The selective role of premotor cortex in speech perception (2013). PDF
- Plasticity of categories in speech perception and production (2022).
Language and visual attention
How do people combine language with what they see? I use eye tracking and behavioural tasks to investigate how descriptions of events direct attention and evoke representations of motion and space.
- Spatial and linguistic aspects of visual imagery in sentence comprehension (2007). PDF
- To dash or to dawdle (2013).
- Event processing in the visual world (2016). PDF
Measurement and research methods
I work on measurement precision, individual differences and the consequences of analytic decisions. Current doctoral research examines the reliability and structure of verbal fluency measures, and how AI assistance affects students’ quantitative analysis, trust and responsibility.
- Developmental psychologists should care about measurement precision (2022).
- Data from an international multi-centre study of statistics and mathematics anxieties (2023).
- Same data, different analysts (2025).
See the full publication list and current research students.