RESEARCH

I work at the intersection of human cognition and artificial intelligence, investigating the bidirectional relationship between human users and AI systems such as large language models. My research combines cognitive psychology, behavioural science, and computer science insights to understand how humans perceive AI and how the use of AI may affect human cognitive capabilities.

Current Projects

Human Perceptions of AI Consciousness

With Dr. Caroline Catmur, I investigate how humans attribute consciousness and mental states to AI systems. This research examines how Theory of Mind capabilities shape our perceptions of AI consciousness, focusing on how features like behavioural consistency, self-explanation abilities, and context-sensitivity influence these attributions. Our findings have important implications for developing appropriate safeguards against harmful over-attribution and creating guidelines for AI alignment that account for human tendency to attribute consciousness.

Effects of Generative AI on Human Cognition

In collaboration with Prof Dan Schacter and Microsoft Research, I lead a longitudinal study examining how generative AI tools impact software developers' cognition and memory. This work explores the complex relationship between AI assistance and human expertise, helping organizations understand how to integrate AI tools while preserving and enhancing their developers' expertise.

Past Projects

Cognitive-Based Cybersecurity (ReSCIND)

As part of an IARPA-funded project, together with consortium colleagues, we developed a new approach to cybersecurity that leverages cognitive psychology. Moving beyond traditional technical defences, we developed systems that exploit attackers' cognitive limitations and decision-making biases, creating adaptive defences that impose psychological costs on cyber attackers.

AI Readiness Platform

I have developed an evidence-based platform for measuring organisational AI readiness which combines behavioural science with practical metrics. This work has been instrumental in helping organisations build AI-trusting cultures while maintaining high-security standards, demonstrating how cognitive science insights can inform effective AI integration strategies.

PhD

As a firstgen, I am a proud recipient of a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from King’s College London. During my PhD, I investigated the neural and cognitive mechanisms that enable us to vividly recall the past and imagine the future - a process known as autonoetic consciousness. Through factor analysis of rich experiential data, I mapped the key dimensions that make an experience feel genuinely "lived" rather than merely recalled, such as the quality of mental imagery, spatial perspective, and emotional re-experiencing. This research combined cognitive science paradigms with computational techniques to understand how our brain constructs these vivid mental representations, revealing that the presence of certain features, like first-person perspective impacts whether we experience a memory as authentically "conscious" versus simply remembered information.

TEACHING 

I am an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I teach Research Methods, Statistics and Cognitive Psychology. 

My academic work has been generously funded by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience at King's College London and the Experimental Psychology Society.

COLLABORATIONS

I welcome collaborations at the intersection of human cognition and artificial intelligence. My expertise spans measuring AI's impact on human cognition and memory, understanding how humans attribute consciousness to AI systems, and developing frameworks for AI alignment. 

I'm also interested in projects that combine rigorous empirical methods with real-world applications, such as studying how professional knowledge workers (e.g., softaware developers) interact with and adapt to AI tools, or developing metrics for measuring AI's impact on human cognitive performance. 

For commercial partnerships, I offer evidence-based approaches to AI integration. I help organisations understand and measure how AI tools affect their workforce's capabilities while developing strategies to preserve and enhance human expertise.

I believe it is important to translate the findings of our work for the benefit of the wider public. I am open to opportunities to: 

• Write for digital media, blogs and articles

•  Conduct workshops  

•  Deliver talks

• Organize consultation panels