Peter Dixon

I am interested in a wide range of topics in cognitive psychology and related areas. Here are some examples:

Memory and Action
Research in my lab demonstrates that selecting an appropriate action in any given situation involves memory. I am conducting research on the nature of that memory and how it interacts with visual information and task goals.

Cognitive Control
An important problem for understanding cognition is how we control our mental processes. I am investigating this problem using two kinds of approaches: task switching, where different tasks are performed from one trial to the next, and mind wandering, where we assess the extent to which someone is performing the task that they intend to at any given time.

Memory and Literature
In reading and appreciating literary texts, one needs to be able to remember information read in one part of a story so that it can be used in understanding another part. Current accounts of memory in reading do not provide a good account of how this is done with literary materials, and I am studying alternative ideas about memory that might apply.