Making Sense of the World

We often think about how things could have turned out differently, e.g., ‘if I had forgotten my umbrella I would have been soaked’. But what is the purpose of these ‘if only’ thoughts and do they affect our behaviour and how we feel? I will argue that there is a certain predictability to how we think ‘if only’ but that we can influence how we feel by guiding these ‘if only’ thoughts. I will also present evidence that young children may not fully understand us when we present them with these “coulda, woulda, shoulda” messages.

At any one time, we can only view a small part of the text in detail, so we move our eyes in order to provide a series of visually detailed snapshots that we then cleverly integrate together. I will explain how we use our eyes when we read, and how eye movements can be used to reveal the mechanisms underlying how we read. Then two post-doctoral researchers in my group, Kayleigh Warrington and Ascensión Pagán, will explain more about some of the exciting research projects currently underway in our laboratory.

Our brains are made of a huge number of cells that talk with each other to control our bodies and behaviours. We will see how brain cells are connected by extremely small structures called synapses. Synapses use little bubbles filled with substances, called neurotransmitters, to transform electrical signals into chemical ones. This process is the basis of how we perceive the world around us and interact with it.