Welcome to the Art, Cognition/Creativity and Emotion Research Group (ACErg)

Who we are

We are an interdisciplinary team of psychologists, artists and neuroscientists, investigating several aspects of human behaviour: from empirical aesthetics and creativity through to affective and cognitive behaviours, including judgement, decision making and evolutionary psychology. The wide range of studies we developed in our laboratories allows us to cast aside the dichotomy between internal and external factors (environmental, cultural and neurocognitive) that constrained interdisciplinary research in the past.

What we do

The research group has published a wide range of multidisciplinary studies in peer-reviewed international journals, book and book chapters, and has organised meetings and small art exhibitions, and has a thriving group of PhD students.

Our laboratories employ a wide range of equipment and methodologies (Biofeedback recorders, EEG, Eye-trackers, tDCS, Observation Labs, and assorted software) and research is also conducted through an extensive network of collaborators at national and international research institutions.

Staff

PhD students

Research topics

For details of each of the topics currently being investigated in our laboratories, check the individual pages of our members.

  • Empirical aesthetics (e.g. visual art, music, literature)
  • Behavioural finance (e.g. financial decisions, investments and trading)
  • Cognition (e.g. memory, vision, perception)
  • Creativity, curiosity and serendipity
  • Decision making and thinking (e.g. decisions-from-experience, learning, description-experience gap).
  • Emotions, empathy and mind reading (e.g. attachment, pet ownership, Theory of Mind in adults)
  • Empathy and Theory of Mind
  • Face recognition (collaboration, trust, cheating and deception)
  • Neurocognition (e.g. hemineglect, dementia, schizophrenia)
  • Warning labels and disclaimers

Research funding

  • Senior Research Advancement Fund (SRAF 2021): Enhancing learning with educational audiobooks. Fatima M Felisberti
  • CResCID 2021 grant: "Individual differences affecting dynamic emotion authenticity perception". Mircea Zloteanu & Fatima M Felisberti
  • Marie Skodowska-Curie Horizon 2020 grant: "Quality of experience management in emerging multimedia services". Fatima M Felisberti
  • British Academy Small Research Grant: Giulia Galli
  • CResCID 2021 grant: "Individual differences affecting dynamic emotion authenticity perception". Mircea Zloteanu

Events

Research Group open forum (online)

  • Wednesdays, 4 to 4.30pm (TBC): talks, presentations and discussions on diverse topics, from experimental findings to drafts of grant proposals and experimental designs. Please contact f.felisberti@kingston.ac.uk for details.

Representative publications

Please click on each member below for more information on their individual research publications.

Department of Psychology