The NUS Department of Psychology is proud to announce that A/P Eddie Tong has been named as a Fellow of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP). SPSP Fellows are recognised for their longstanding contributions to SPSP and the science of personality and social psychology. Read more about the 2023 SPSP Fellows here: https://spsp.org/news/spsp-news/2023-spsp-fellows-announced Our heartiest congratulations to A/P Tong ..read more

Area Journal Club Topic: Affordances and Neuroscience 19 September 2023 (Tuesday), 4pm AS4-02-08 Led by: Dr. Camilo Libedinsky   Abstract The concept of affordance is rapidly gaining popularity in neuroscientific accounts of perception and action. This concept was introduced by James Gibson to refer to the action possibilities of the environment. By contrast, standard cognitive neuroscience typically uses the concept to refer to (action-oriented) representations in the brain. This paper will show that the view of affordances as representations firmly places the concept in the subjec ..read more

NUS Psychology ’23 fresh graduate Tamara Tan co-founds 32 Pages, a ground-up initiative that aims to build children’s emotional resilience through literacy. Co-founders of 32 Pages, Chloe Ng (NUS Geography ’23) and Tamara Tan (NUS Psychology ’23), have developed a preschool literacy programme Little Readers, Big Dreams to expand access to learning and education in Singapore. The programme supports disadvantaged children’s diverse aspirations by inspiring a love for learning and imparting social and emotional competencies to nurture emotional resilience. Through multi-sensory phonics lessons an ..read more

Dr. Gonzalo Urcelay Competition and Facilitation in Human Learning 7 June 2023 (Wednesday), 3pm https://nus-sg.zoom.us/j/85184762986?pwd=OU40WGM4K2EvUkpxS1lqRjJEUlVZQT09 Meeting ID: 851 8476 2986 Passcode: 200008   Abstract: The observation that events compete during learning (a.k.a. cue competition phenomena) has been widely reported and these phenomena have become a gold standard that theories of learning need to account for. However, in some domains (i.e., spatial cognition) these effects have not been reliably observed, and recent discrepancies in the literature suggest that the obse ..read more

Dr. Peera Wongupparaj 9 May 2023 (Tuesday), 4pm AS4-02-08   Abstract: The prevalence of dementia in Thai older adults was approximately 18%. In addition, the number of older adults with dementia in Thailand would be 2.4, 3.5, and 8.6 times the numbers in Australia, Malaysia, and Singapore, respectively. Although dementia has no cure or effective treatment to stop its progression, early detection (i.e., a prodromal stage of dementia or mild cognitive impairment) and intervention might be a key. This research aimed to fulfill knowledge-practical gaps regarding the development of a tele-neu ..read more

We are pleased to announce that six of our graduate students have recently won the Graduate Students’ Teaching Award (GSTA) for Semester 1 AY2022/2023! Russell will also be placed on the Honor Roll, in view of his sustained high performance in winning the award three times. Congratulations to all six winners, who have done our department proud! Since Eelama, Khai Qing, Lionel, and Nadyanna are first-time winners, we also took the opportunity to find out what makes them such effective teachers. Eelama 1. What inspires you to teach? I have been very blessed in my journey so far to have be ..read more

Dr. Elias Garcia-Pelegrin Examining the Link between Gut Microbiota and Cognition in Two Distinct Models 4 April 2023 (Tuesday), 4pm AS4-02-08   Abstract: There is mounting evidence that intestinal microbiota communities and their genes (the gut microbiome) influence how animals behave and interact with their environment through the microbiome-gut-brain-axis. It is clear from manipulative experiments in lab rodents that alterations to their gut microbiota generate marked changes in cognitive and behavioral phenotypes including learning, memory, social behaviour and anxiety. However, one ..read more

Dr. Scott Griffiths TikTok and Eating Disorders: A Big Data Investigation 28 March 2023 (Tuesday), 4pm AS4-02-08   Abstract: TikTok is the fastest growing social media platform in history with ~1.5 billion users at the end of 2022. The algorithm that powers TikTok delivers videos to users by predicting what will make them maximally engage with the content. Our concern is that this algorithm is powerful enough to create echo chambers. In the context of eating disorders, vulnerable users are delivered increasing amounts of appearance-oriented content focused on dieting and appearance enhanc ..read more

Area Journal Club Topic: Moral Motives 18 April 2023 (Tuesday), 4pm AS4-02-08 Led by: Dr. Nina Powell   Abstract When people judge acts of kindness or cruelty, they often look beyond the act itself to infer the agent’s motives. These inferences, in turn, can powerfully influence moral judgements. The mere possibility of self-interested motives can taint otherwise helpful acts, whereas morally principled motives can exonerate those behind harmful acts. In this Review, we survey research showcasing the importance of inferred motives for moral judgements, and show how motive inferences ..read more

We are pleased to announce that A/P Melvin Yap is one of five recipients of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) Inspiring Mentor Award 2022! Launched in 2018, the annual FASS Inspiring Mentor Awards are conferred on Faculty and Administrative staff who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to mentoring their junior colleagues and whose mentorship has been especially impactful on the good conduct, performance and professional growth of their mentees. The Department of Psychology warmly congratulates A/P Yap ..read more