Areas of Research

Supervising degrees

Working with this supervisor

Why do people process emotional information differently? Are there individual differences in the way that emotional information is attended to and remembered that increase one’s vulnerability to mood disorders? Are there individual differences that help protect one from mood disorders? How can cognition researchers distinguish between typical and atypical attention and memory for emotional information? My research is focused on answering these and related questions.

Many of our studies examine attention and memory biases in depressed, never depressed, and depression-vulnerable individuals, using eye gaze tracking to measure attention to emotional stimuli (e.g., Fernandez, Quigley, Dobson, & Sears, 2022; Newman, Quigley, Fernandez, Dobson, & Sears, 2019). We also use mood inductions and priming procedures to study interactions between attention, memory, and mood, in younger and older adults. My graduate students and honours thesis students are always collaborators in these studies. I also pursue research on attention and memory biases associated with body image and eating disturbances (with Kristin von Ranson), and research on cognitive and affective factors in disordered gambling (with Daniel McGrath). Visit the Cognition and Emotion Lab website for more information, or my Psychology profile page.