Dr Mark Hurlstone
Senior Lecturer in PsychologyResearch Overview
I am a cognitive scientist interested in human short-term and episodic memory. I am especially interested in how people remember order information over the short-term, and the relationship between mechanisms of verbal short-term memory, language perception, and production. My research uses behavioural experiments and computational modelling to address these issues. Another line of research uses insights from psychology and behavioural economics to identify the psychological factors that promote and inhibit individual and collective action on environmental (e.g., biosecurity and climate change) and public health (e.g., vaccination) problems. I address these issues using experimental surveys, economic games, and game-theoretic models.
Career Details
I completed my undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of Leicester (2001-2004) before completing a Master’s degree in Reading, Language, and Cognition (2005-2006) followed by a PhD on short-term memory (supervisors: Graham Hitch and Alan Baddeley, 2006-2010), both at the University of York. After post-doctoral stints at Cardiff University, working on auditory distraction (with Rob Hughes and Dylan Jones, 2011-2012), and The University of Western Australia (with Carmen Lawrence and Steve Lewandowsky, 2012-2014), working on climate change communication, I became a Lecturer at The University of Western Australia (2014-2020), where I directed the Behavioural Economics laboratory—a multidisciplinary laboratory exploring human behaviour with respect to the environment. In July 2020, I took up a Lectureship in the Department of Psychology at Lancaster University.
Research Interests
My research interests revolve around the following three areas:
- Human memory: Short-term and working memory; serial recall memory; free recall memory; sequence learning; relationship between time and memory.
- Cognitive modelling: Computational and mathematical modelling of cognitive processes; model evaluation and selection issues; models of choice behaviour and response time.
- Behavioural economics: Using behavioural insights to increase the supply of public goods including global climate protection, biosecurity outbreak prevention, herd immunity from disease, and reducing demand for irrational health products.
Current Teaching
- PSYC201: Cognitive Psychology
- PSYC204: Research Methods 1: Experimental Methods in Psychology
- PSYC214: Statistics for Group Comparisons
- PSYC304: Project
- PSYC370: The Psychology of Cooperation
- PSYC481: Psychological Aspects of Advertising
Qualifications
- BSc Psychology (Hons.), University of Leicester (2001-2004)
- MSc Reading, Language, and Cognition, University of York (2005-2006)
- PhD Experimental Psychology, University of York (2006-2010)
Web Links
For more information about my research see my personal website.
PhD Supervision Interests
If you are interested in doing a PhD under my supervision—and your research interests align with my own—then please get in contact with me to discuss possible opportunities. I am always on the look out for conscientious and bright students with a keen interest in conducting psychological research. In the first instance, please email me with an expression of interest outlining your research interests and the kind of project you would like to undertake. I am also sometimes able to offer laboratory placements to undergraduate students in my lab to provide some hands on experience of conducting psychological research. If you are interested in such opportunities then please get in touch with me.
