Contact us: 

Location: 1.18-1.20 Psychology  

Phone: 6488 3573

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PersonPercept

Research Questions:  

• Our research aims to understand the perceptual, cognitive, and neural mechanisms underlying person perception. This often involves studying faces, as they provide information about the identity, age, sex, race, attractiveness and mood of other people, but also involves studying the perception of bodies and voices. 

• In addition to our work with typically developing children and adults, my lab also investigates person perception in children and adults with atypical development, psychopathology, or brain injury. This includes studies of developmental disorders affecting face processing; neuropsychological studies of people with brain injuries affecting face identity recognition and expression recognition; and investigations into psychopathology affecting person perception.

• Recent questions examined in the lab: 

1. What is the role of visual attention in face perception?

2. How do we recognise facial emotion and regulate social behaviour?

3. Why can't some children and adults recognise facial identity? (see Prosopagnosia Research link for more details)

4. Discovering what underlies individual variability in the ability to recognise facial identity and facial expression in typical individuals.

5. Understanding how face perception skills develop in children. See SciFace for kids project.

See Publications for more details. 

Research Support:  

ARC Discovery Project. Palermo, R., Dawel, A., Sutherland, C., Bell, J., & Krumhuber, E. “Reading facial expressions from real and virtual humans”. (2022-24). 

People:  

Current

•  Romina Palermo

• Kate Crookes

Research Associate 

• Louisa Talipski

PhD

• Sarah De La Harpe (PhD). Co-supervised with Amy Dawel (ANU), Nic Fay and Rodrigo Becarra. 

  • 2021 UWA 3MT Thesis: Runner-Up. 

• Julia Haile (PhD). Co-supervised with Jason Bell and Amy Dawel (ANU). 

• Imogen Maher (PhD/MA Neuropsychology). Co-supervised with Briana Kennedy and Amy Dawel (ANU). 

• Ben Steward (PhD, Australian National University). External supervisor with Amy Dawel. 

• Lashindri Wanigasekera (PhD/MA Clinical Psychology). Co-supervised with Murray Mayberry, Diana Tan and Andrew Whitehouse. 

Alumni

Post-doc

• Jemma Collova (UWA). Co-supervised with Clare Sutherland. Now at the  School of Indigenous Studies, UWA. 

• Markus Neumann (UWA). Now at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Department of Aviation and Space Psychology, Hamburg, Germany. 

• Chiara Fiorentini (ANU). Co-supervised with Elinor McKone. Now at the Pole Autism Foundation; Psychologist at Hopitaux Universitaires de Genève. 

PhD

• Chloe Giffard (PhD/MA Clinical). "Face Identity Recognition Ability and Psychosocial Functioning in Children and Adults", 2024. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery and Gilles Gignac. 

  • 2024 Excellent student presentation, 50th Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference, Adelaide, Australia. 

• Dana Walker (PhD).  "An Investigation into the Association between Face Processing Abilities, Intelligence, and Autistic-Like Traits", 2023. Co-supervised with Gilles Gignac. 

• Saba Siddique. (PhD/MA Neuropsychology). "The Development of Children’s Impressions of Trustworthiness", 2023. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery and Clare Sutherland. 

• Derek Swe. (PhD) "Investigating social perception of faces by means of fast periodic visual stimulation with electroencephalography", 2023. Co-supervised with Clare Sutherland, Jason Bell and O. Scott Gwinn. 

• Ellen Bothe (PhD/MA Neuropsychology). "Factors underlying individual differences in facial expression recognition ability in the broader autism phenotype., 2022" Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Kaitlyn Turbett (PhD/MA Neuropsychology). "The Role of Serial Dependence of Facial Identity in Face Recognition", 2021. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery and Jason Bell. 

  • Dean's list - Honourable mention, recognising outstanding theses by the Board of the Graduate Research School. This is a rare award made to only a fraction of theses at UWA.

  • Awarded Best Student Talk award at the 2020 UWA Psychology Conference, and an ARC CCD Annual Workshop Highly Commended poster presentation. 

• Annabelle Nankoo. (PhD/MA Clinical Psychology). “Regulating emotions in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Is it a matter of time and executive control?”, 2021. Co-supervised with Jason Bell and Carmela Pestell. 

  • Awarded a 2020 student research award from the International Neuropsychological Society's Student Liaison Committee.

• Alice Tobin (PhD/MA Clinical Psychology). "Information processing in working memory: Evidence from a combined transcranial direct current stimulation and event-related potential approach", 2021. Co-supervised with Jason Bell and Patrick Clarke. 

• Dielle Horne (PhD/MA Clinical Psychology). "A Systematic Investigation of Calorie Perception Accuracy and its Application in Experimental Research", 2020. Co-supervised with Jason Bell and Markus Neumann. 

• Laura McLaughlin Engfors (PhD).  "Factors Contributing to Individual Differences in Face Recognition Memory Ability ", 2020. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery and Gilles Gignac. 

  • Awarded a 2018 ARC CCD Student Exchange Award to visit Wellesley College, USA; the 2017 Graduate Women WA Joyce Riley Bursary; the 2017 Capstone Editing Conference Travel Grant for Postgraduate Research Students; and a ARC CCD Excellence in Research Student Award for an outstanding 2016 publication for her first PhD paper: "Individual differences in adaptive norm-based coding and holistic coding are associated yet each contributes uniquely to unfamiliar face recognition ability". 

• Ashton Roberts (PhD/MA Clinical Psychology). "The influence of social hierarchies on non-spatial attention in typically developed adults and adults with autistic-like traits", 2020.  Co-supervised with Troy Visser. 

  • Dean's list - Honourable mention, recognising outstanding theses by the Board of the Graduate Research School. This is a rare award made to only a fraction of theses at UWA.

  • Awarded College of Clinical Psychologists Student Prize for 2020.

• Joanna Alexi (PhD). An investigation of perceptual factors that influence body size estimation errors, 2020. Co-supervised with Jason Bell, Nadine Kloth and Sue Byrne. 

  • Jo's  first PhD paper - "Past visual experiences weigh in on body size estimation" was in the Top 100 Scientific Reports neuroscience papers in 2018. 

• Matthew Robson (PhD, UWA).  Perceptual mechanisms and expression recognition in congenital prosopagnosia, 2020. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery and Markus Neumann. 

• Rosi Hutchings (PhD, University of Sydney). Cognitive and neural mechanisms of face processing in frontotemporal dementia and primary progressive aphasia, 2018. Auxiliary supervisor, with Olivier Piguet and Fiona Kumfor. 

  • 2018 ARC CCD Student Exchange Award to visit UWA; and ARC CCD Excellence in Research Student Award for an outstanding 2017 publication for her PhD paper: "Disrupted face processing in frontotemporal dementia: A review of the clinical and neuroanatomical evidence."

• Laura Dondzilo (PhD, UWA). An investigation into the role of selective attention and rumination in eating disorder symptomatology, 2018.  Co-supervised with Jason Bell, Elizabeth Rieger and Sue Byrne. 

  • Finalist: 2017 FameLab and 2015 UWA Three-Minute Thesis competition. 

• Amy Dawel (MA/PhD Clinical Psychology, ANU). Face emotion processing and attention to eye-gaze: Typical development and associations with psychopathic and callous unemotional (CU) traits, 2015. Co-supervised with Elinor McKone and Richard O'Kearney.  

  • Australian Psychological Society Award for Excellent PhD Thesis in Psychology

• Michelle Marneweck (PhD/MPsych Clinical Psychology, UWA). Perception of facial expressions of emotion in Parkinson's Disease, 2014. Co-supervised with Geoff Hammond. 

  • Dean's list - Honourable mention. 

• Samantha Baggott (PhD, Macquarie University). The upside of anger: The role of attention in the processing of emotional facial expressions, 2012. Macquarie University. Co-supervised with Mark Williams and Anina Rich.

• Davide Rivolta (PhD, Macquarie University). Face processing in typical and congenitally prosopagnosic adults: Behavioural and neuroimaging investigations, 2011. Co-supervised with Mark Williams, Max Coltheart, and Laura Schmalzl. 

  • Higher Degree Research Excellence Award, Division of Linguistics & Psychology, Macquarie University.

• Ellie Wilson (PhD, Macquarie University). Face recognition in developmental disorders, 2010. Co-supervised with Jon Brock. 

  • Higher Degree Research Excellence Award, Division of Linguistics & Psychology, Macquarie University. 

• Megan Willis (PhD, Macquarie University). The cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying facial expression recognition and social decision-making, 2010. Macquarie University. Co-supervised with Darren Burke, Genevieve McArthur and Max Coltheart.

• Laura Schmalzl (PhD, Macquarie University). Fractionating face processing in congenital prosopagnosia, 2007. Co-supervised with Max Coltheart and Irina Harris. 

  • Higher Degree Research Excellence Award, Division of Linguistics & Psychology, Macquarie University. 

Honours, Masters, Doctor of Psychology & International Interns

• Maira Vicente Braga (Master of Clinical  Neuropsychology, UWA). The Structure of Facial Expression Recognition Ability in Children:

Evidence for General and Specific Factors 2023. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery and Gilles Gignac. 

• Mercury Zheng (PhD student, University of Hong Kong), 2023. Visiting for two months to collaborate on an eye-tracking study. 

• Simarleen Kaur (Psych. Honours, UWA). The relationship between facial expression recognition and  facial impressions of trustworthiness, 2022. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Imogen Maher (Psych. Honours, UWA). Seeing social threat: Loneliness and emotion recognition, 2022. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Katie Perrella (Psych. Honours, UWA). The Relationship Between Alexithymia, Perception of Sad Expression Intensity, and Prosocial Behaviour, 2022. 

• Mirha Khan (Psych. Honours, UWA). Using Fast Periodic Visual Stimulation (FPVS) to Investigate Children’s Impressions of Implicit Facial Trustworthiness, 2021. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Mairead O'Connor (Psych. Honours, UWA). Is it in the Eyes? The Relationship between Autistic Traits and Emotion Recognition Ability, 2021. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Emmerson Robb (Psych. Honours, UWA). Exploring the Relationship Between Facial Identity and Facial Expression Processing Using Naturalistic Expressions, 2021. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Jordan Warburton (Psych. Honours, UWA). Gender Biases in Children’s Facial First Impressions, 2021. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Amonè Van Heerden (Psych. Honours, UWA). Are individual differences in the recognition of posed and naturalistic facial emotion associated with each other and with general cognitive ability?, 2021. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Andrew Brigden-Guthrie (Psych. Honours, UWA). Face It: Adult and Child Facial Dimensions Influence Judgments of Exclusion Differently, 2020. Co-supervised with Jemma Collova. 

• Cameron Gillman  (Psych. Honours, UWA). Whose Face is That? Face Identity Recognition, Shyness and Social Anxiety, 2020. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Catherine Rennison  (Psych. Honours, UWA). The Relationship Between Alexithymia, Looking at the Eyes and Recognising Emotional Facial Expression, 2020. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Gideon Sacks. (MA Clinical Psychology, UWA). The Efficacy of Rhythmic Training in Treating Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Systematic Review, 2020. Co-supervised with Jason Bell and Carmela Pestell. 

• Hanaa Idris (MA Clinical Psychology, UWA). The use of dynamic stimuli - Does it enhance the presence of an attentional bias? 2020. Co-supervised with Colin MacLeod. 

• Andrew Digges. (Psych. Honours, UWA). Examining Sensitivity to Race of Face in Serial Dependence of Face Recognition, 2019. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Dewi Anna Hanran-Smith. (Psych. Honours, UWA). Investigating Orientation Sensitivity of Serial Dependence of Facial Identity , 2019. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Jessica Muljohardjo. (Psych. Honours, UWA). Look me in the eyes: does eye attention mediate or moderate the relationship between alexithymia and recognizing facial expressions? 2019. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Anju Nakanishi. (Psych. Honours, UWA). The Implicit Nature of Facial Trustworthiness Inferences: Evidence from a Fast Periodic Visual Stimulation (FPVS) Approach, 2019. 

  • Award winning talk at the School of Psychological Science Honours Conference. 

• Maxine Radford . (Psych. Honours, UWA). Do Shyness and Social Anxiety Predict Facial Identity Recognition in Typical Adults?, 2019. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Jessamy Burton. (Psych. Honours, UWA). Do individuals with higher levels of autistic-like traits show weaker use of serial dependence?, 2018. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Bronte Donatti-Liddelow. (Psych. Honours, UWA). Are You for Real? The Relationship Between Facial Expression Genuineness Rating and Alexithymic Traits, 2018. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Saba Siddique. (Psych. Honours, UWA). Contribution Of Cognitive Development To Children’s Face Recognition Ability, 2018. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Shanèle Payart. Visiting student from the Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay, France, 3 months in 2018. 

• Chloe Giffard. (Psych. Honours, UWA). Autistic Traits and Face Identification Ability in Typically Developing Children, 2017. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Dana Walker. (Psych. Honours, UWA). The Relationship Between Face Identity Recognition, Social Anxiety, and Shyness in Typical Children, 2017. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Natasha Zint. (Psych. Honours, UWA). Individual Differences in Children's Face Recognition Ability: Contributions of Holistic Coding, Adaptive Coding, and General Cognitive Ability, 2017. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Natalie Kaiko (Psych. Honours, UWA). Individual Differences in Face Recognition Abilities and Autistic Traits in Typical Children, 2016. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Maira Vicente Braga (Psych. Honours, UWA). Are Social Anxiety and Shyness Associated with Face Identification Ability in Children?, 2016. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Charles Viska (Psych. Honours, UWA). Behavioural and ERP correlates of distractibility: are task-irrelevant faces special distractors?, 2016. Co-supervised with Markus Neumann. 

• Prue Watson (Psych. Honours, UWA). Are individual differences in holistic processing associated with face recognition ability in children?, 2016. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Frederik Bergmann. Visiting student from the University of Bonn, Germany 2016. 

• Jayden Greenwell-Barnden. Volunteer student in the lab, 2016. 

• Sascha Huis. Visiting student from the University of Utrecht, Netherlands 2016. 

• Dielle Horne. (Psych. Honours, UWA). Event-Related-Potential Markers of Coding Individual and Group Identity in Own- and Other-Race Crowds of Faces, 2015. Co-supervised with Markus Neumann.

• Sarah Lin. (Psych. Honours, UWA). The Relationship Between Anxiety and Face Recognition Ability in Children, 2015. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Kaitlyn Turbett. (Psych. Honours, UWA). Examining the Processes Contributing to Individual Differences in Face Recognition Abilities in Children, 2015. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Joshua Davis. (MA Clinical Psychology, ANU). Social and attention-to-detail sub-clusters of autistic traits differentially predict looking at eyes and face identity recognition ability, 2015. Co-supervised with Elinor McKone, Richard O'Kearney and Deborah Apthorp.

• Xujia Han. (Psych. Honours, UWA). Is Face Recognition Ability in 8-year-old Children Associated with Individual Variation in Face-Coding Mechanisms or General Cognitive Abilities? 2014. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery. 

• Meg Purton. (Psych. Honours, UWA). Processing Emotions in Crowds: Investigating Ensemble Representations in Sets of the Same Identity and Mixed Identity. 2014. Co-supervised with Markus Neumann.  

• Vanessa Tan. (Psych. Honours, UWA). Is there an Association between Expression Recognition Ability and Social Anxiety in Children? 2014. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery.

• Sina Hahn. Visiting student from the University of Düsseldorf, Germany, 2014. 

• Francesca De Bonis. Visiting student from the University of Florence, Italy, 2013. 

• Rachel Emiechel. (Psych. Honours, UWA).Individual Differences in Facial Identity Recognition: Are Individual Differences in Ensemble Coding and Adaptive Coding possible contributors? 2013. Co-supervised with Markus Neumann.

• Ryan Ng. (Psych. Honours, UWA). Does Ensemble Coding Depend on Exemplar Coding for Averaging Facial Identity? 2013. Co-supervised with Markus Neumann.

• Jessica Lewandowsky. (Psych. Honours, UWA). The Contribution of Holistic Coding and Adaptive Coding to Individual Differences in Expression Recognition Ability, 2012. Co-supervised with Linda Jeffery.  

• Ellen Maclaine. (Psych. Honours, UWA). Are Attentional Biases to Facial Expressions Associated with Trait Hypomania?, 2012.     

• Robyn Peterson (Doctor of Psychology, Macquarie University) Social cognitive abilities of people with borderline personality disorder, 2012. Co-supervised with Robyn Langdon.

• Elliott Christian. (Psych. Honours, ANU). Individual differences in psychopathy moderate the facilitation for facial emotion recognition in visual scene context, 2011.

• Tolga Tez. (Psych. Honours, ANU). Is holistic processing involved in face recognition ability? 2011.

• Kirsty Lones O'Connor (Psych. Honours, ANU). The development of a test to measure individual differences in facial expression matching and labelling, and the relationship between facial and vocal emotion recognition, 2010.

• Joshua Davis (Psych. Honours, ANU). Assessment of individual differences in facial expression and identity recognition, and their relationship with social anxiety, 2010.

• Bronwyn Hall (Psych. Honours, ANU). The Dynamic Face Recognition Test: Assessing individual differences in face memory ability, 2010.

• Peter De Lissa (Masters, Macquarie University). Sex differences in facial expression processing in adolescents and adults: An ERP study. Awarded summa cum laude at the University of Maastricht, Netherlands, 2007.

• Samantha Baggott (Psych. Honours, Macquarie University). The effects of affect: Are facial expressions processed involuntarily? 

  • Australian Psychological Society Prize for Honours in Psychology, 2007.

• Sophie Kercher (Psych. Honours, Macquarie University). The effect of facial expression on attractiveness: A behavioural and event-related potentials study, 2007. Co-supervised with Genevieve McArthur.

• Christopher Sewell (Psych. Honours, Macquarie University). Attentional biases for facial affect vary with time but not with level of social anxiety: An event-related potential study, 2006. Co-supervised with Genevieve McArthur.

• Arielle De Sousa (Psych. Honours, Macquarie University). Processing of face information: The relationship between identity and emotional expression, 2005. Co-supervised with Darren Burke.