Current research in my lab focusses on mechanisms involved in memory and forgetting. Although people usually view forgetting as something undesirable (a loss of memory), in many instances it is highly adaptive to forget. One example is wanting to suppress unpleasant, distracting, or hurtful memories. Another example is needing to update no-longer needed information with new information. In my lab we are interested in the cognitive and neural processes that subserve cognitive control over memory and adaptive forgetting, as well as how these processes are effected by sleep.
Another long-term research interest of mine is high-level vision and selective attention. For example, I am interested in how we recognise objects and how we integrate different visual attributes into a coherent visual percept that shapes our conscious experience. I am also interested in how selective attention influences object and scene processing.
In my lab, we use a variety of techniques, including behavioural experiments with normal individuals (typically 1st year Psychology students), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and some forms of brain imaging.
