Michaelmas Term 2010
Professor Miles Hewstone - 23rd November 2010.
"Intergroup contact as a means for reducing prejudice"
Professor Hewstone has published widely in the general field of experimental social psychology. His major topics of research so far have been: attribution theory, social cognition, social influence, stereotyping and intergroup relations, and intergroup conflict. He is a former editor of the British Journal of Social Psychology, and co-founding editor of the European Review of Social Psychology. He has studied the background to the conflict and conducted a series of studies showing how, and under what conditions, positive, cooperative contact between individuals on either side of this divide can help to promote better intergroup relations. His current work centres on the reduction of intergroup conflict, via intergroup contact, stereotype change and crossed categorization.
Trinity Term 2010
Dr Sabine Bahn – 12th May 2010.
“Disease Biomarkers in first-onset Schizophrenia”
Dr. Bahn is a neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge studying the biological markers for schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder. She is the director of the Cambridge Centre for Neuropsychiatric Research which has conducted the largest and most comprehensive functional genomics studies of psychiatric disorders to date. Dr Bahn’s talk will present results from her lab’s biomarker discovery studies, which have identified a number of peptides and metabolites that distinguish first-onset paranoid schizophrenic patients from healthy controls. Her lab’s findings also suggest that such brain- specific alternations are intrinsic to the disease, rather than a side-effect of medication. More about Dr Bahn’s Research can be found here: http://www.biot.cam.ac.uk/sb/?n1=team
Professor Heather van der Lely – Wednesday 5th May 2010
Professor Heather van der Lely is the Director of the Centre for Developmental Language Disorders and Cognitive Neuroscience. She has conducted research into specific language impairment (SLI) with distinct behavioural and genetic underpinnings and has provided support for the existence of a relatively pure form of this disorder – Grammatical(G)-SLI. This supports the view that language is not one system but multiple systems or “components” (including syntax, morphology, phonology) that can be differentially impaired. Behavioural and brain-imaging investigations reveal that, more specifically, hierarchical structures in grammatical components affecting syntax, morphology, and phonology are impaired alongside normal auditory, and non-linguistic processing (the Computational Grammatical Complexity (CGC) hypothesis).
Hilary Term 2010
Professor Simon Baron-Cohen – 8th February 2010.
“The Foetal Testosterone Theory of Autism”
Simon Baron-Cohen is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Cambridge and Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge. He is also the Director of the Autism Research Centre (ARC) in Cambridge. Autism affects males much more often than females. The explanation for this must either lie in diagnostic practice, hormones, or genetics, or a mix of all three. In the talk he summarized work from his lab from three lines of investigation: (1) The role of foetal testosterone (FT) in later social and communication development, and in the development of autistic traits. (2) The evidence for hormone dysregulation in autism. (3) The association between candidate genes that regulate testosterone, and autism. These three lines of research suggest FT is a key factor underlying social development and may play a part in autism. Converging evidence for the link between testosterone and autistic traits comes from rare medical conditions where FT is elevated (such as Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia). The discussion ties these different lines of evidence together.
Michaelmas Term 2009
"Comparative Cognition: Lessons from Corvids and Children."
Professor Nicola Clayton – 18th November 2009.
Professor Nicola Clayton is a researcher at the University of Cambridge into Comparative Cognition amongst apes (primates) and crows (corvids). Her ground-breaking research at the interface between animal behaviour, experimental psychology and neuroscience has revealed complex social behaviour in corvids, such as food-caching and stealing (with auditory planning as well as visual), episodic-like memory, and synchronism between mates. The occurrence amongst corvids of qualities believed unique to primates implies an independent evolution of intelligence.
Trinity Term 2009
Dr Bridget Waller – 19th May 2009.
"Universal facial expression: How do basic emotions emerge from variation in facial muscle signatures?"
Dr Bridgett Waller is a member of The Centre for the Study of Emotion and the Animal Behaviour Research Group. The overarching focus of her work is the evolution of social communication. She is particularly interested in human and non-human primate facial expression and emotion, and how these signals contribute to sociality and social bonding. She is currently Comparing emotional expression across species – GibbonFACS.
Hilary Term 2009
Professor Peter Halligan – 4th Mar, 2009.
"Brain Insights : Evidence from Visual Neglect, Hysteria and Phantom"
Professor Halligan (Cardiff University) attempts to understand how neuropsychological/psychiatric disturbances can be explained in terms of and inform pre-insult processing systems. While clinically useful, traditional neurological and psychiatric nosology offer little prospect of explaining the psychological mechanisms without reference to normal psychological systems. He has researched some of the most peculiar and fascinating psychological disorders- visual neglect, phantom limbs and hysteria.
Michaelmas Term 2008
Gloria Laycock – 30th Oct, 2008.
Director of the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science at University College London (UCL), and runs UCL’s Centre for Security & Crime Science. She is an internationally renowned expert in crime prevention, and especially situational approaches which seek to design out situations which provoke crime. In 1999 she was awarded an International Fellowship by the United States National Institute of Justice in Washington DC. She was also appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.
Tim Gill – 11th November 2008.
One of the UK’s leading thinkers on childhood and an effective advocate for change. His work focuses on children’s play and free time. He was the Director of the Children’s Play Council (now Play England) from 1997 to 2004 and also led the first government-sponsored UK-wide review of children’s play. He has had articles published by the Guardian, the Independent, the Ecologist, parenting magazines, Nursery World and academic journals, and appears regularly on radio and television. He is on the international advisory board for Children’s Geographies.
Dr. Bahn is a neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge studying the biological markers for schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder. She is the director of the Cambridge Centre for Neuropsychiatric Research which has conducted the largest and most comprehensive functional genomics studies of psychiatric disorders to date. Dr Bahn’s talk will present results from her lab’s biomarker discovery studies, which have identified a number of peptides and metabolites that distinguish first-onset paranoid schizophrenic patients from healthy controls. Her lab’s findings also suggest that such brain- specific alternations are intrinsic to the disease, rather than a side-effect of medication. More about Dr Bahn’s Research can be found here:
http://www.biot.cam.ac.uk/sb/?n1=team
