UOA 4: Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Staff conducting research: Professor Sarah Bate, Dr Peter Hills, Dr Nicola Gregory, Dr Rachel Bennetts, Dr Anna Bobak

People with the cognitive disorder prosopagnosia, more commonly known as face blindness, cannot recognise faces, which can severely affect their everyday lives.

BU research showed that, despite low awareness of the condition, prosopagnosia is more common than other, better-known developmental disorders such as ASD. BU researchers interviewed adults with the condition and parents of children displaying face recognition difficulties, which enabled them to develop a detailed analysis of the strategies people use to cope, and subsequently to create the first evidence-based list of recommendations for managing prosopagnosia.

In 2014 – following a House of Commons roundtable discussion where the BU team presented their research findings – the NHS formally recognised the condition. Subsequently, the first ever page on prosopagnosia was launched on the NHS Choices website, under the A-Z of conditions. 

The page links directly to the resources produced by the BU team, including a symptom checklist and evidence-based coping strategies. Since the page was launched in 2014, more than 20,000 people across the world have used the resources.

Staff conducting research: Dr Andrew Mayers, Dr Sarah Hambridge, Dr Emily Arden-Close 

Although longstanding concerns about the perinatal mental health of mothers have resulted in specialist service provision, virtually no attention had been given to the wellbeing of fathers.

BU research revealed a significant need for support in helping men to adjust to aspects of fatherhood, particularly in terms of the impact of a birth on their partner’s mental and physical health. The findings have played a key role in informing the NHS’s decision to introduce screening for new and expectant fathers, and subsequent educational interventions for health professionals, including obstetricians and health visitors.

The research clearly showed what support fathers required from health professionals to maintain good mental health in the early months of fatherhood. Dr Meyers has worked with perinatal health professional bodies throughout the UK, advising on training to meet these needs.

Staff conducting research: Professor Jan Wiener, Professor Anthea Innes, Dr Sarah Muir, Dr Shanti Shanker, Dr Ramona Grzeschik

BU’s Wayfinding Lab has developed a deep understanding of how ageing, both typical and atypical, affects the cognitive processes involved in spatial recognition. Professor Wiener’s expertise in the design of navigation tasks, environments and experimental levels was used in the design of a mobile gaming app, ensuring it could track age-related changes in navigational abilities.

The Sea Hero Quest app encouraged users to navigate complex virtual seascapes. In the process, they provided data on their own wayfinding ability and learned how it is affected by typical/atypical ageing. It reached more than 4.3 million users in 194 countries, making it one of the most successful citizen science projects ever conducted. 

The app established the value of BU laboratory research in the real world; raised awareness of spatial disorientation in atypical ageing and the importance of research in overcoming it; triggered diagnostic innovation; and provided new commercial domains for gaming developers.

Staff conducting research: Professor John McAlaney, Dr Emily Arden-Close, Dr Sarah Muir, Professor Raian Ali, Dr Nan Jiang, Professor Keith Phalp, Professor Angelos Stefanidis, Dr Huseyin Dogan 

The power and affordability of smartphones, together with the pervasiveness of digital technology, has massively increased time spent online. For people worldwide, particularly adolescents, high smartphone usage has negative effects on personal relationships, work, study and finances. In extreme cases, it may become a substantive digital addiction. 

BU researchers identified the critical importance of empowering individuals to take greater control of their smartphone usage. They showed how phones themselves could deliver intelligent, data-driven, harm-reduction strategies to people with moderate digital addiction. 

The team joined with commercial partners to develop SPACE – a smartphone app offering real-time harm-reduction strategies to promote self-control, allowing users to achieve a life/phone balance. It has been downloaded more than 2,000,000 times, received highly favourable user feedback, and improved wellbeing and productivity.