Psychology

Profile

Background

I graduated from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid with a BSc in Psychology in 1995. After graduating I worked as a researcher in the Hospital de la Princesa (Madrid) and in the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. In 1997 I moved to Britain to work at the University of Kent on a research project investigating early signs of autism. Soon after, in 1998, I started my doctorate in Psychology investigating cognitive abilities in children with autism. Since the completion of my doctoral thesis at the University of Durham in 2001, I worked as a lecturer in Psychology in York St John College and the University of the West of England until I took my post here in September 2008.

Teaching Responsibilities

Year 1 Tutor
Autistic Spectrum Disorders (Level 3 Unit co-ordinator)
Developmental psychology (Level 2)
Psychology and communication (Level 1)

Research interests

My main research interests fall within the area of cognitive development with a particular focus on developmental disorders such as autism. Most of my research has explored how children with autism and typically developing children integrate perceptual and contextual information. Recently, I have developed on how socio-cultural factors affect the development of executive functioning and perceptual biases. For more information on past and current research projects visit: http://www.port.ac.uk/departments/academic/psychology/research/autismresearchnetwork/

Recent Publications

More recent publications

Conference Presentations

López, B. & Stoet, G. (2010). Task-switching in Autistic Spectrum Disorders.BPS Annual meeting; Cognitive Section  (Cardiff, UK).

López, B. (2010).  Social origins of perceptual impairments in autism. Paper presented at the Psychology and
Education workshop, co-funded by ICSSR-ESRC-NWO in Bangalore (India).

Stoet. G. & López, B. (2010). Task switching, inhibition, and executive control in children with autism. Paper presented at the
Experimental Psychology Society Annual Conference in Granada (Spain).

Manzanero, A.L., López, B., Aróztegui, J. & El‐Astal, S. (2010). Autobiographical memory for trauma. Paper presented at the
Experimental Psychology Society Annual Conference in Granada (Spain).

López, B. & Stoet, G. (2008). Failure on task-switching performance in ASD depends on working memory and not attentional shifting. 7th International Meeting for Autism Research (London, UK).

Manzanero, A., López, B. & Contreras, M. J. (2008). Efectos de interferencia en el reconocimiento de personas: exactitud, discriminabilidad y sesgo de respuesta. IV Congreso de Psicologia Jurídica y Forense (Murcia, Spain).

Manzanero, A., López, B. & Contreras, M. J. (2008). Remember/Know paradigm as accuracy indicator in person recognition. 18th Conference of the European Association of Psychology and Law (Maastricht, Netherlands).

Farley, A., López, B. & Saunders G (2007) Self-understanding in adolescents with Asperger’s Syndrome. Meeting of Autism Research UK (Milton Keynes, UK)

Farley, A., López, B. & Saunders (2007). Self-understanding and experience in relation to theory of mind, inner speech and verbal mental age in adolescents with Asperger’s Syndrome. BPS Annual Conference: Developmental Section (Plymouth, UK).

López, B. (2005). Global impairments in autism: Global or specific deficit? XIIth European Conference on Developmental Psychology (Tenerife, Spain)

López,  B., Rivers, I. Noret, N. Macrae, H. & Richards, A. (2005). Mental health consequences of bullying in children with special educational needs. SCRD Biennal Meeting (Atlanta, USA).

López , B.,  Rivers, I., Noret, N., Macrae, H. & Richards, A. (2004). Mental health consequences of bullying in children with special educational needs. (Leeds, UK)

Macrae, H. & López , B. (2004). Long-term effects of regular use of cannabis in memory: Transfer or encoding impairments? BPS Annual Conference: Cognition Section (Leeds, UK)

López, B. & Leekam, S. (2002). Central coherence examined: Are context and global processing one and the same thing? BPS Annual Conference: Developmental Section (Brighton, UK).

López, B. & Leekam, S. (2000). Perceptual abilities in autism: The effects of contextual scenes in object identification. BPS Annual Conference: Developmental Section (Bristol, UK).

López, B., Donnelly, N. Hadwin, J. & Leekam, S. (1999). Effects of cueing on face processing: Evidence from typically developing children and children with autism. IX Conference of the European Developmental Psychology Society (Spetses, Greece).

 López, B., Leekam, S., Donnelly, N. & Hadwin, J. (1999). Face perception in children with autism: local or global bias? SRCD meeting (Alburquerque, USA).

Leekam, S., López, B. & Moore, C. (1998). Gaze following in infants with autism. XVth Biennial ISSBD Meeting (Bern, Switzertland).

Gómez, J.C., López, B. & López, E. (1996). Aplicaciones practicas de la teoría de la mente en la evaluación e intervención de niños y niñas autistas. V Conference of Autisme-Europe (Barcelona, Spain). 

Invited Presentations

López, B. (2010). Origins of executive functioning difficulty in autism. University of Bath

López, B. (2010).  Current trends in autism research. Gaspar Hauser Centre for Autism, Mallorca, Spain.

López, B. (2010).  Development of autism. Faculty of Psychology, Universidad de Mallorca, Spain.

López, B. (2009). Task-switching abilities in ASD. Department of Psychology, Glasgow Caledonian University.

López, B. (2003). Individual differences in context use in autism. Annual Meeting of the Scottish Autism Research Group, Glasgow.

López, B. (2003). Integration levels in the use of context: Evidence from the study of children with autism. Department of Psychology, University of Oxford.

López, B. (2003). Global and context processing in autism. Department of Psychology, University of York.

López, B. (2002). Reviewing the assumptions of central coherence theory. Department of Psychology, University of Durham.

López, B. (2002). Central Coherence theory: An alternative explanation of autism? Department of Psychology, University of Nottingham.

Research Grants

Marie Curie Initial Training Networks (ITN). March 2011-March 2014.Approx £385.911. In collaboration with Vasu Reddy and Alan Costall and University of Heidelberg, Universidad de San Sebastian, University of Copenhagen, University of Munich, University of Parma, University of Aarhus, University of Hertforsdhire, University of Central Florida, University of Chieti, Springer Science and Business Media BV, Interactie Academie and LEGO.

UG Nuffield Summer Bursary (July 2010). £1080.

UG Nuffield Summer Bursary (July 2009). £ 1.080.

British Psychological Society (2008-2010). Research seminar series. £2,900. In collaboration with Vasu Reddy and Emma Williams (University of Surrey) and Graham Shaffer (University of Reading).

Brown, López, B. & Haslum, M. (2006-present). EEG patterns related to perceptual attention in typically developing children and children with autism between age 7 and 15 year. PhD bursary from the University of the West of England.

Kennard, J. and López, B. (2003). Social exclusion and mental health. Granted by the Social Exclusion Unit, Department of Health. £5,000.

López, B., Rivers, I. and Kennard, J. (2004). Long-term effects of cannabis use in everyday life memory. Granted by York St John College. £14,500.

López, B., Rivers, I. and Kennard, J. (2003). Mental health and bullying in children with special needs. Granted by York St John College. £12,000.