School of Psychology
University of Hertfordshire
College Lane
Hertfordshire
AL10 9AB

Tel : 01707 285282
Fax : 01707 285073

Email :

k.laws@herts.ac.uk

Telephone:

01707 281137

Location:

1H250, CP Snow

My personal home page or work area

Subject Area :

Cognitive Neuropsychology

Research

Member of Research Group: Neuropsychology and Behavioural Neuroscience

Following a variety of neurological (and psychiatric) problems, some people show 'category-specific' deficits i.e. they display preserved/lost knowledge for specific categories of item (e.g. animals, tools, body parts). Professor Laws research uses a variety of approaches to examine why these selective deficits occur and what they might tell us (if anything) about the organisation of knowledge in the brain and mind. In particular, he and his collaborators examine such deficits in a variety of disorders (Alzheimer's disease, Herpes Simplex Encephalitis, Lewy Body dementia, schizophrenia); they also examine category biases in normal healthy subjects; and finally, also use connectionist models to explore these unusual deficits.

Professor Laws also examines the role of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. In particular, deficits and abnormalities in semantic memory, epsiodic memory, executive functioning and language.

Finally, another main line of research involves exploring methodological problems in cognitive neuropsychology. This includes, for example, issues relating to the empirical demonstration of dissociations and ultimately, how we empircially document dissociations and double dissociations.

Teaching

Professor Laws is Program lead for the MSc Research Methods in Cognitive Neuropsychology.

Publications

Lynch, D., Laws, K.R., & McKenna, P.J. (in press). Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for major psychiatric disorder: does it really work? A meta-analytical review of well-controlled studies. Psychological Medicine

Laws, K.R., Duncan, A & Gale, T.M (in press). ‘Normal’ semantic-phonemic fluency discrepancy in Alzheimer's disease? A meta-analytic study. Cortex

Adlington R.L, Laws KR, & Gale, T.M (in press). The Hatfield Image Test (HIT): A new picture test and norms for experimental and clinical use. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology

Moreno-Martínez F.J., & Laws K.R (2008). No category specificity in Alzheimer’s disease: a normal aging effect. Neuropsychology, 22, 485-490

Laws, K.R. & Kokkalis (2007). Ecstasy (MDMA) and memory function: a meta-analytic update, which will be published in Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental

Laws K.R., Adlington R.L., Gale T.M., Moreno-Martinez F.J., Sartori G. (in press). A meta-analytic review of category naming in Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychologia

Administrative and Professional

Committee member of the BPS Cognitive Psychology Section
Chartered Psychologist
Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society
Member of the Experimental Psychological Society
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Member of the British Neuropsychological Society
Member of the British Neuropsychiatric Association
Associate Member of Behavioral and Brain Sciences