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Dr Liz Moores

Liz Moores

Neurosciences Research Institute
School of Life and Health Sciences
Aston University
Birmingham B4 7ET
UK

Room number: SW510

email: e.j.moores@aston.ac.uk
telephone: +44 (0) 121 2044070
fax: +44 (0) 121 2044090

Senior Lecturer in Psychology

Member of the Clinical and Cognitive Neurosciences Research Group

Profile

In 1995 I was awarded a B.A. (Hons) from the University of Sheffield and was then fortunate enough to gain funding to study for a PhD in dyslexia with Prof. Rod Nicolson and Prof. Angela Fawcett. I worked hard and played hard in Sheffield for another four years - the final year of which I was employed as a temporary lecturer in statistics and research methods. It was time for a change! When my year was up and my PhD was under my belt I jetted off to the University of Verona for a year to do a post-doc in visual selective attention in humans with Prof. Leonardo Chelazzi. Many pizzas and two and a half years later (I liked it there!) I'm back in the UK and here at Aston University teaching Social Psychology and Statistics. I've been here six years now (the last three of which I've been the Undergraduate Programme Director for psychology) and have no plans to leave just yet.

Qualifications & Education

  • B.A. (Hons) in Psychology, University of Sheffield, 1995

  • European Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Science, International School of Advanced Studies, Trieste, 1998

  • PhD in Psychology, University of Sheffield, 1999

  • Postgraduate Professional Certificate in Learning and Teaching, Aston University, 2005

Employment

  • 1998 - 1999: Psychology Lecturer, University of Sheffield  

  • 1999 - 2001: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Verona

  • 2002 - present: Lecturer/ Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Aston University

I have also tutored at Open University Summer Schools.

Teaching activity

 I currently teach or supervise on:

  •  PY2232/ PY3350 Brain and Behaviour II

  • PY2238 Psychological Research Methods

  • PY3314 Final year project

  • PY3315 Combined Honours Literature Review

  • PY3345 Developmental Disorders

  • PY4100 Research Rotations

  • PY4030 Advanced Statistics

Research Interests

My main research interest are in dyslexia and visual selective attention.

My early research experience mainly involved investigations of different aspects of dyslexia, using a variety of methodologies within theoretical frameworks. I am continuing some of this work currently in conjunction with Dr Cristina Romani, Aston University.

I collaborate with Dr Jon Maxwell at the Institute of Human Performance in Hong Kong to investigate mechanisms of aggression in sport.

I am interested in what guides visual attention and in particular the role of long term and working memory in the guidance of visual attention.

I have performed some action research into learning and teaching, in particular I have been involved in helping to measure the benefits of a psychology placement year and in evaluating Year Zero.

Recent research funding

  • 2007 - £3780 from Prof A. Halsted with Dr Fiona Lacey and Dr Gareth Barnes for 2nd year SPSS movie guides and podcasts of lectures. (Co-Investigator)

  • 2006 - £3500 (Aston University widening participation group) Group Interventions for Dyslexic and Non-disclosed dyslexic students – further additional funding (Principal Investigator)

  • 2006 - £4056 (Aston University e-learning and flexible development funding for research into Using video examples in the teachig and assessment of psychological research methods) With Peter Reddy, Dr. Richard Cooke and Mr. Jon Wood (Co-Investigator)

  • 2006 - £52000 (Aston University widening participation group) with Mr Peter Reddy, Dr. Ian Richards and Dr. Caroline Witton for Applying Potential to Succeed measures to the selection of Access applicants from local and regional Colleges: A feasibility study. (Co-Investigator)

  • 2005 - £5499 Flexible Learning and Development Grant with Dr Gareth Barnes for developing second year statistical assessment on Web CT (Principal Investigator)

  • 2005 - £14150 (Higher Education Academy Psychology Network Departmental Teaching Enhancement Scheme) Mr Peter Reddy for research intoDeveloping generic competencies and self awareness in relation to personal development and reflective practice during an undergraduate sandwich placement. (Co-Investigator) 

  • 2005 - £3500 (Aston University widening participation group) Group Interventions for Dyslexic and Non-disclosed dyslexic students – additional funding (Principal Investigator)

  • 2005 - £5499 Flexible Learning and Development Grant with Dr Gareth Barnes for developing second year statistical assessment on Web CT (Principal Investigator)

  • 2005 - £14150 (Higher Education Academy Psychology Network Departmental Teaching Enhancement Scheme) Mr Peter Reddy for research intoDeveloping generic competencies and self awareness in relation to personal development and reflective practice during an undergraduate sandwich placement. (Co-Investigator)

  • 2004 - £1500 (Aston University widening participation group) Group Interventions for Dyslexic and Non-disclosed dyslexic students (Principal Investigator)

PhD Supervision

I would be interested in supervising students with interests in dyslexia and visual attention or with interests in the relationship between memory and attention.

Recent Publications

Moores, E., Frisby, J.P., Buckley, D., Reynolds, E., and Fawcett, A.J. (1998). Vergence Control Across Saccades in Dyslexic Adults. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics, 18, 452 - 462.

Moores, E. and Andrade, J. (2000). Ability of dyslexic and control teenagers to sustain attention and inhibit responses. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 12, 520-540.

Moores, E., Laiti, L., and Chelazzi, L. (2003). Associative knowledge controls deployment of visual selective attention, Nature Neuroscience, 6, 182-189.

Moores, E., Nicolson, R.I. and Fawcett, A.J. (2003). Attentional Deficits in Dyslexia: Evidence for an Automatisation Deficit? European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 15, 321-348.

Moores, E. (2004). Deficits in Dyslexia: Barking up the wrong tree? Dyslexia, 10, 289-298.

Reddy, P.A. and Moores, E. (2006). Measuring the benefits of a psychology placement year. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 31, 551-567.

Maxwell, J.P. and Moores, E. (2007). The development of a short scale measuring aggressiveness and anger in competitive athletes. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 8, 179-193.

Maxwell, J.P., Moores, E. and Chow, C.C.F. (2007). Anger rumination and self-reported aggression amongst British and Hong Kong Chinese athletes: a cross cultural comparison. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 5, 9-27.

Moores, E. and Maxwell, J.P. (2008). The role of prior exposure on the capture of attention by items in working memory. Visual Cognition.

Reddy, P.A. and Moores, E. (2008). Widening Access to Higher Education: An evaluative case study of a foundation year alternative to Access, Psychology Teaching Review, 14, 51-64.

Maxwell, J.P. and Moores, E. (in press). Anger and aggression in competitive sport. In F.Columbus (Ed.). The Psychology of Anger. Hauppage, NY: Nova Publishing.

Maxwell, J.P., Visek, A.J., & Moores, E. (in press). Anger and aggression in Hong Kong Chinese athletes: Effects of gender, type of sport, and level of competition. Psychology of Sport and Exercise.

Maxwell, J.P. and Moores, E. (in press). Measuring aggressiveness and anger, but not aggression? A response to the CAAS critique. Psychology of Sport and Exercise

b) Commentaries

Richards, I.L., Witton, C., Moores, E., Reddy, P.A., Rippon, G. and Talcott, J.B. (2002). Comments on ‘The Dyslexia Ecosystem’: A Reply to Nicolson, Dyslexia, 8, 226-223.

Richards, I.L., Moores, E., Witton, C., Reddy, P.A., Rippon, G., Rochelle, K.S.H., Talcott, J,B. (2003). Science, Sophistry and ‘Commercial Sensitivity’: Comments on ‘Evaluation of an exercise-based treatment for children with reading difficulties’, by Reynolds, Nicolson & Hambly, Dyslexia, 9, 146-150.

c) Book Reviews

Moores, E. (2003). Phonology as cause, symptom and treatment?Early Reading Development and Dyslexia, by Valerie Muter, London: Whurr, 2003, 232 pages+ viii, ISBN 1 86156 327 2. Dyslexia, 9, 186-188.

Moores, E. (2004). The Whats, Whys and Hows of Supporting Dyslexic Students. A review of “Learning Disabilities in Higher Education and Beyond: An International Perspective” edited by Susan A. Vogel, Gila Vogel, Varda Sharoni and Orit Dahan, USA: York Press, 2003, 384 pages + xv, ISBN 0 912752 74 2. Dyslexia, 10, ??-??.

d) Published Abstracts

Maxwell, J.P. and Moores, E. (2007). The development of a short scale measuring aggressiveness and anger in competitive athletes. Annual Conference of the Brisith Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Journal of Sport Sciences, 25, p317

Presentations

September 2007. Rochelle, K.S.H., Reddy, P. and Moores, E. (2007). Competencies, employability, reflective learning, scholarship and personal development: Issues in Psychology undergraduate learning and teaching. Paper at The 15th Improving Student Learning Symposium, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, 3–5 September 2007.

July 2007. Rochelle, K.S.H., Reddy, P. and Moores, E. (2007). Employability, life-long learning and competencies at work and in recruitment: Implications for UK Psychology undergraduate learning and teaching.Paper at Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) conference, Adelaide, July 2007.

September 2006. Reddy, P. and Moores, E. (2006). Embedding a placement year within the psychology curriculum to enhance learning and employability and develop self awareness, reflective practice and generic competencies. Poster at the 14th Improving Student Learning Symposium, University of Bath, 4-6 September 2006.

June 2006. Bicknell, A., Moores, E., Reddy, P., Richards, I. and Witton, C. (2006). Potential, Personalityand Prediction in Widening Participation: Progress on a risk assessment approachto increasing access without unfairly raising aspirations. Poster at the 3rd. Psychology Learning and Teaching Conference, York St. John University College, 27-29 June 2006.

March 06. Beyond the Homunculus: Attention as effect. Invited Seminar Speaker, University of Sunderland.

November 05. Moores, E. Audiences and Attention: An investigation of Social Influence and Perceptual Load.Invited Seminar Speaker, University of Kent at Canterbury.

September 05. Moores, E. Beyond the homunculus: attention is attracted by items in working memory regardless of their utility. Paper presented at the BPS Cognitive Section Conference, Leeds.

July 2005 Richards, I., Bicknell, A., Moores, E., Reddy, P. and Witton, C. (2005). Potential to succeed: Dyslexia, Higher Education and Employment. Poster presented at 3rd International Multilingualism & Dyslexia Conference: 'Multilingual & Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Dyslexia'. Limassol, Cyprus 14-16 July 2005.

April 04:� Identifying Potential to Succeed: Improving the recruitment and retention of students with non-traditional qualifications and access routes in HE. Bicknell, A.,Hughes, N., Richards, I., Witton, C., Moores, E., Reddy, P. and Talcott, J. Poster presented at the 2nd Psychology Learning and Teaching Conference, Glasgow.

April 04: An analysis of the benefits of a sandwich placement year in a psychology degree. Reddy, P. and Moores, E. Paper presented at the 2nd Psychology Learning and Teaching Conference, Glasgow.

March 04: Deficits in Dyslexia: Barking up the wrong tree? Moores. Poster at Sixth British Dyslexia Association International Conference, Warwick.

Sep 03: Audiences and Attention: An Investigation of Social Influence and Perceptual Load. Hazelhurst and Moores. Poster at BPS conference, 4th September 2003, Reading.

Sep 01: Do Associations in Long-Term Memory Influence the Deployment of Selective Attention Across Visual Arrays? Poster at ESCOP/BPS conference: 6 September 2001, Edinburgh.

Sep. 99: ‘Attentional Deficits in Dyslexia: Evidence for an Automatisation Deficit?’. Moores, Nicolson and Fawcett. Paper presented at British Psychological Society Cognitive Section Meeting, York.

Sep. 99: ‘Sustained Attention to Response Task: a role for attention, automaticity or response inhibition?’ Moores, Andrade and Hunt. Poster presented at British Psychological Society Cognitive Section Meeting, York.

July 98: ‘Shifting Attention Deficits in Dyslexia?’ Paper presented at Parceval Hall Annual Working Memory Conference.

Sep. 97 : ‘Comparison of Dyslexic and Control Readers on a Shifting Attention Task’. Moores, Nicolson and Fawcett. Paper presented at 4th World Congress on Dyslexia, Macedonia, Greece.

Sep. 97:‘Dyslexic Adults Can Control Vergence Angle During Saccades’. Moores, Frisby, Buckley, Nicolson, Fawcett and Reynolds. Poster presented at 4th World Congress on Dyslexia, Macedonia, Greece.