Psychology

Affective and Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group

The focus of this research group, which was initiated by the late Tony Gale in the 1990s, is on measuring nervous system functioning to understand behaviour, the brain, and brain-behaviour relations. Methodological interests range from neural processing (with EEG) to facial muscle movement (with EMG) and eye tracking. Brain-behavioural interests range from neural processing and personality traits, to emotional facial expressions, understanding visual attention and visual awareness. Nervous system functioning underpins emotion, which is especially evident within an Affective Neuroscience perspective. The Affective and Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, within the Centre for the Study of Emotion, were privileged to have Prof Jaak Panksepp as Honorary Leverhulme Visiting Professor, from 2002-2003.

Affective and Cognitive Neuroscience photo

Including research on: Psychophysiological measures of emotion-based learning; attention, scene scanning, visual search, perceptual reorganisation in ambiguous displays and attention and perception after brain insult; temporal dynamics of visual awareness, dynamic visuomotor integration, the role of auditory stimuli in visual performance and multimodal investigation of brain and behaviour; neural processing during anxious rumination, neural feedback to treat anxiety, variations in neural processing attributable to personality; genotypic variations in sensitivity to caffeine and its withdrawal, odour and learning; Psychophysiological markers of lying; facial muscle movement in humans, chimpanzees and rhesus macaques.

Research Example

In collaboration with Philip Corr (University of Swansea) and Soren Andersen (PeakMind Ltd), Dr Roger Moore has recently completed a study outlining physiological indices of anxiety during periods of anxious rumination. Their research has uncovered particular brainwave activity which increases dramatically when someone is ruminating about some current anxiety-provoking conflict which is ongoing in their life. The research team are now extending this project and, based on their results, are developing a neurofeedback protocol which in the future might be used as an alternative or complement to drug therapy and CBT to treat anxiety in a clinical setting.

Selected Publications

  • Carter, S. & Smith Pasqualini, M.C. (2004). Stronger Autonomic Response Accompanies Better Learning: A Test Of Damasio’s Somatic Marker Hypothesis. Cognition and Emotion, 18, 7, 901-911.
  • Hillstrom, A. P. , Husain, M., Shapiro, K. L., & Rorden, C. (2004). Spatiotemporal dynamics of attention in visual neglect: A case study. Cortex, 40, 433-440.
  • Moore, R. A. (2007). Ethical considerations for psychophysiology studies. Research Ethics Review. 3(2), 43-48.
  • Moore, R. A. , Gale, A., Morris, P., & Forrester, D. (2006) Theta phase locking across the neocortex reflects cortico-hippocampal recursive communication during goal conflict resolution. International Journal of Psychophysiology.  60, 260-273.
  • Stafford, L. D., & Yeomans, M. R. (2005). Caffeine deprivation state modulates coffee consumption but not attentional bias for caffeine-related stimuli. Behavioural Pharmacology, 16(7), 559-571.
  • Waller, B. M., Vick, S.J., Parr, L.A., Bard, K.A., Smith Pasqualini, M.C., Gothard, K. & Fuglevand,  A. (2006). Intramuscular stimulation of facial muscles in humans and chimpanzees: Duchenne revisited. Emotion, 6(3), 367-382.
  • Wong, J. H., Peterson, M. S., & Hillstrom, A. P. (2007). Are changes in semantic and structural information sufficient for oculomotor capture? Journal of Vision, 7, Issue 10, Article 3, 1-10.

External Collaborators

  • Sid Carter, University of Surrey
  • Nick Donnelly and Tamaryn Menneer, University of Southampton
  • Jason Wong and Matt Peterson, George Mason University
  • Annette Sterr, University of Surrey
  • Alexander Strobel, Johann wolfgang Goethe Universitaet Frankfurt am Main, Germany
  • Stefan Debener, MRC Institute of Hearing Research Southampton
  • Philip Corr, University of Wales, Swansea
  • Soren Andersen, PeakMind Ltd, Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • Roger Moore is also a member of the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory group based at University of Wales (Swansea)
  • Lisa Parr, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory Univesity (USA)
  • Andrew Fuglevand, University of Arizona (USA)
  • Anne Burrows, Duquesne University (USA)

Researchers and Projects

Kim Bard/Sid Carter:

•     Psychophysiological measures of emotion-based learning (EMG, HR, skin conductance)

Anne Hillstrom:

•     Attention, scene scanning, and search (eye-movements)
•     Perceptual reorganisation in ambiguous displays, and its effect on attention (EEG)
•     Attention and perception after brain insult (neuropsychology)

Roger Moore:

•     Neural processing during anxious rumination (EEG)
•     Development of neural feedback to treat anxiety (EEG)
•     Variations in neural processing attributable to personality (EEG)

Lorenzo Stafford:

•     Genotopic variations in sensitivity to caffeine and its withdrawal (genetics)
•     Odour and learning

Aldert Vrij/Sharon Leal:

•     Psychophysiological markers of lying (EEG, fMRI)

Bridget Waller:

•     Facial muscle movement in humans, chimpanzees and rhesus macaques

Facilities

  • 32-channel EEG system (NeuroScan)
  • 72-channel EEG system (BrainProducts)
  • 2 Contact Precision Instruments systems for the recording of electrodermal activity, heart rate, electromyographic activity, blood pressure, respiration and 8 channel EEG
  • 2 Head-mounted infra-red reflectance eye-tracking systems (Eyelink II SR Research Ltd. and ASL 501)
  • 1 Grass Polygraph

Contact Information

Dr Roger Moore

Address:
Affective and Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group
Department of Psychology
King Henry Building
King Henry I Street
Portsmouth PO1 2DY

Telephone: +44 (0)2392 846312
Fax: +44 (0)2392 846300