The Cognitive Impairment Research Group (CIRG) conducts research examining cognitive impairment across a range of health issues.
Health issues include:
- suicidal behaviour
- psychiatric disorders e.g. OCD, depression, ADHD, autism, schizophrenia
- chromosomal disorders e.g. Williams and Down’s syndrome
- other health conditions such as stroke, Parkinson’s disease and dementia
We use a range of qualitative and quantitative measures to examine cognitive impairment including eye-tracking, driving simulation, neuropsychological measures, and neuroimaging methodologies.
Current projects
- Sinéad Rhodes and James Thomson are examining the role of executive functions in the pedestrian decision making of children with ADHD. They are working with external collaborator Dr. David Coghill (Psychiatry, University of Dundee).
- William McGeown is investigating cognitive and behavioural symptoms in ageing and dementia with Prof Annalena Venneri (Neuroscience, University of Sheffield).
- Stephen Butler is examining how individuals with autism perceive human gaze cues with collaborator Dr. Thusha Rajendran (Psychology, Heriott-Watt University).
- Jo Saunders is carrying out research on mindfulness with Louise McHugh (University College Dublin) and Ben Storm (UC Santa Cruz).
- Sinéad Rhodes and Susan Rasmussen are carrying out a study examining cognitive factors and mental health, self-harm and suicidal behaviour in the LGBT population with Dr. Karen Lorimer (Sexual Health Team, GCU)./li>
- Louise Brown is working with Dr Richard Allen (University of Leeds) and others exploring associative (“binding”) deficits in working memory in younger and older adults.