Debra Griffiths

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Debra Griffiths

Dr

  • 0.108B Lawrence Stenhouse Building

Personal profile

Biography

Dr Debra Griffiths joined UEA in 2013 as an Experimental Officer. She gained her BSc (Hons) in Psychology with Neuropsychology and PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience form Bangor University. She is the recipient of the 2015 British Psychological Society Cognitive Prize.

Indicative Publications

Coventry, K. R., Griffiths, D., & Hamilton, C. J. (2014). Spatial demonstratives and perceptual space: Describing and remembering object location. Cognitive Psychology. 69, 46-70.

Griffiths, D., & Tipper, S. P. (2012). When far becomes near: Shared environments activate action simulation. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 65(7), 1241-9.

Bach, P., Griffiths, D., Weigelt, M., & Tipper, S. P. (2010). Gesturing meaning: non-action words activate the motor system. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 4:214. 

Griffiths, D., & Tipper, S. P. (2009). Priming of reach trajectory when observing actions: hand-centred effects. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 62(12), 2450-70. 

Key Research Interests

Dr Griffiths's main research interest is spatial representation, particularly the role of space in language usage and memory. She is also interested in the distinction between peripersonal and extrapersonal space, and how our natural mapping of space is experienced in Virtual Reality. Other research interests include examining the relationship between action and perception, looking at how perceptual representation can activate and affect the motor system and subsequent movements. She is also interested in how emotional and social evaluations, such as trustworthiness, liking, and perception of an individual’s attributes can be influenced through experience and motor fluency.  

Teaching Interests

Dr Griffiths is the module co-ordinator for the department's very successful international summer school course PSYCH Research Abroad-Psychological Research in Practice. 

Dr Griffiths is currently teaching on the modules PSY-5002A, Psychology: Social, Developmental and Conceptual and Historical Issues, and PSY-5003Y: Research Design and Analysys II.

Key Responsibilities

Dr Griffiths is responsible for managing the department's online participant recruitment, through the SONA system.

Summer School Officer