Chair in Psychology
- 51cg
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- Email Address
- louise.phillips@abdn.ac.uk
- Telephone Number
- +44 (0)1224 272229
- Office Address
School of Psychology
Room F23, William Guild Building
Kings College
Old Aberdeen
AB24 3FX- School/Department
- School of Psychology


Qualifications
- BSc (Hons) Psychology1990 - University of Edinburgh
- PhD Psychology1993 - University of Manchester
Memberships and Affiliations
- Internal Memberships
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- Course co-ordinator for PS3011 Psychological Assessment
- Steering group of Aberdeen Birth Cohort and Aberdeen Children of the 1950s
- Lead for the Aberdeen Ageing Well group
- External Memberships
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Vice-President of the European Cognitive Aging Society (EUCAS)
Member of British Psychological Society
Member of Experimental Psychology Society
Latest Publications
Self-reported social and motivational factors in health-related future intentions amongst older adults
European Journal of AgeingContributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Assessing empathy in adults: A Malay language validation and measurement invariance of the Empathy Quotient (M-EQ)
PloS ONE, vol. 21, no. 5, e0349335Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
- [OPEN ACCESS]
How social media use and abuse are related to social cognition and loneliness in older adults
European Journal of AgeingContributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Expression ambiguity leads to greater influence of predictive context during face emotion perception
Cognition & EmotionContributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Now you see it, now you don't: The age-related positivity effect to faces disappears in naturalistic settings
Emotion, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 707-716Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
- [OPEN ACCESS]
- [ONLINE]
- Research
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Research Overview
I am interested in adult aging, in particular the effects of aging on cognition, emotion and social functioning. In the Aging, Cognition and Emotion Lab we address questions about age differences in communication, looking at how younger and older adults might differ in: expression and interpretation of emotional signals, the use of eye contact and gaze following in social interaction, understanding and empathy for others' mental states. We often find age differences in these aspects of communication - so this raises issues around why there are age differences: Generational changes in social norms? Changes in neurocognitive function? Differences in experience and motivation? And what impact might such changes have for everyday life in relation to intergenerational engagement, social relationships and quality of life? I also love getting involved in interdisciplinary projects on aging, looking at links between cognition, mental health, physical health, genetics, brain changes and social functioning.
Research Specialisms
- Cognitive Psychology
- Gerontology
- Psychology of Communication
- Affective Neuroscience
- Psychology of Ageing
Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is , published under the licence.
Current Research
- Adult aging, social cognition and emotional skills
- Intergenerational communication
- Effects of degenerative diseases on social and emotional processing
- Age, planning and prospective memory
Funding and Grants
2027-2036: Leverhulme Trust Centenary Doctoral Programme on Social Connectivity in Later Life. (Lead applicant). REF DS-2026-01 Awarded £5,000,000. See here!
2023-2025: Leverhulme Trust (Applicants Yong & Phillips). Theory of Mind in older adults: Links to fiction, cognition and social function. Awarded £188,476.
2022-2026: Dunhill Medical Trust (Lead applicant). Building interventions to improve quality of life in old age. Multiple PhD Studentship Award. Awarded £199,564.
2018-2020: Newton-Ungku Omar Fund Institutional Links UK-Malaysia grant (Applicants Phillips and Yong). Social cognition and executive function in older adults in the UK and Malaysia: links to socio-economic factors. Ref: 331745333. Awarded £128,461.
2017-2021: ESRC (Applicants Phillips, Tatler & Henry). Adult aging and social attention: the role of cognitive decline and social motivation. Ref: ES/P005330/1. Awarded £500,492. https://www.socialattentionesrc.co.uk/
2015-2018: ESRC/BBSRC.(Applicants Haggarty, Murray, Phillips, Staff, Hocking, Ferguson-Smith & Richards). Imprinting methylation; early life influences and later cognition and mood. Ref: ES/N00048X/1. Awarded £446,636.
- Teaching
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Teaching Responsibilities
- Level 1 Lifespan Development
- Level 3 Psychological Assessment
- Level 4 option course: Emotion and aging in social cognition
- BM4301 The Science of Aging
- Publications
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Page 4 of 7 Results 76 to 100 of 162
Measuring the mind speed, control, and age
Oxford University Press (OUP). 304 pagesBooks and Reports: Books- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Investigating the "Deceiver Stereotype": Do Older Adults Associate Averted Gaze With Deception?
Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, vol. 67B, no. 2, pp. 178-183Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Processing orientation and emotion recognition
Emotion, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 39-43Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Adult aging and prospective memory: The importance of ecological validity
Prospective Memory: Cognitive, Neuroscience, Developmental, and Applied Perspectives. Kliegel, M., McDaniel, M. A., Einstein, G. O. (eds.). Taylor and Francis AS, pp. 161-185, 26 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Adult aging, processing style, and the perception of biological motion
Experimental Aging Research, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 169-185Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Moving beyond basic emotions in aging research
Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 279-286Contributions to Journals: Editorials- [ONLINE] DOI:
Lifespan aging and belief reasoning: Influences of executive function and social cue decoding
Cognition, vol. 120, no. 2, pp. 236-247Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
The cerebral blood flow correlates of emotional facial processing in mild Alzheimer's disease
Neuroscience & Medicine, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 6-13Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Specific impairments of emotion perception in Multiple Sclerosis
Neuropsychology, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 131-136Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Prospective memory, emotional valence and ageing
Cognition & Emotion, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 916-925Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Effects of Age on Cross-Modal Emotion Perception
Psychology and Aging, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 779-787Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Adult aging and executive functioning
Executive Functions and the Frontal Lobes: A Lifespan Perspective. Anderson, V., Jacobs, R., Anderson, P. J. (eds.). Taylor and Francis AS, pp. 57-79, 23 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI:
- [ONLINE]
Brief report: cognitive-regulation across the adolescent years
Journal of Adolescence, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 779-781Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Age-related differences in gaze following: does the age of the face matter?
Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, vol. 65B, no. 5, pp. 536-541Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Age-related changes in the integration of gaze direction and facial expressions of emotion
Emotion, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 555-562Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
The cognitive neuroscience of aging: new findings on compensation and connectivity
Cortex, vol. 46, no. 4, pp. 421-424Contributions to Journals: Editorials- [ONLINE] DOI:
Age-Related Changes in Detecting Happiness: Discriminating Between Enjoyment and Nonenjoyment Smiles
Psychology and Aging, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 246-250Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Emotion perception in Alzheimer’s disease and mood disorder in old age
Psychology and Aging, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 38-47Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Dismantling the “age–prospective memory paradox”: the classic laboratory paradigm simulated in a naturalistic setting
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, vol. 63, no. 4, pp. 646-652Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Emotional target cues eliminate age differences in prospective memory
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, vol. 63, no. 6, pp. 1057-1064Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Shifting Moods, Wandering Minds: Negative Moods Lead the Mind to Wander
Emotion, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 271-276Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Attentional lapses, emotional regulation and quality of life in multiple sclerosis
British Journal of Clinical Psychology, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 101-106Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Emotion Experience, Expression, and Regulation in Alzheimer's Disease
Psychology and Aging, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 252-257Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Evidence for deficits in facial affect recognition and theory of mind in multiple sclerosis
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 277-285Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Iowa gambling task impairment is not specific to ventromedial prefrontal lesions
Clinical Neuropsychologist, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 510-522Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: