Colin MacLeod

BSc(Glas), MPhil (Lond), DPhil (Oxon)

Professor

telephone   +61 8 6488 3273

email    colin@psy.uwa.edu.au

Research interests
Clinical theorists have attributed emotional disorders to cognitive idiosyncrasies, while cognitive theorists have developed models which suggest that emotional states will be associated with pervasive information processing biases throughout the cognitive system. Both clinical and cognitive models predict the existence of processing biases favouring emotionally congruent information in attention, comprehension and memory.

Current research uses cognitive-experimental paradigms to test such hypotheses, and focuses on several related questions including: To what extent are such biases automatic? What is the relative involvement of state and trait variables? Is susceptibility to mood congruency effects a vulnerability factor for emotional disorders? The most recent extension to this work includes assessing the causal basis of this association, by evaluating the possibility of modifying emotional vulnerability through the direct manipulation of selective information processing.