Dr Emily Farran

  • Qualifications and position:
    • PhD
    • Reader in Developmental Psychology
  • Faculty:
  • Department:
  • Summary:
    • I am interested in visuo-spatial cognition in typical and atypical populations. My current research in Autism Spectrum Disorder, Developmental Coordination Disorder, Down Syndrome and Williams syndrome includes the areas of navigation and route learning in real-world and virtual reality environments, drawing, problem solving, mental imagery, perceptual grouping and texture segmentation, location memory and depth perception. My lab, the Cognition, Genes and Developmental Variability lab (CoGDeV Lab) is part of IOE's Department of Psychology and Human Development.
  • Teaching:
    • Methodology and Statistics
      Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience
      Atypical Development
      Developmental Psychology and Psychobiology
  • Research Projects:
  • Postgraduate Research:
    • I am always looking for enthusiastic, intelligent students to join my group and study for a PhD.
      Have a look at the CoGDeV Lab website to meet the team. If you are interested, please feel free to contact me.
      Research supervision:
      First supervisor to Kerry Hudson (CASE ESRC funded 1+3) 2006 –2010
      First supervisor to Susie Formby (University of Reading 1+3 studentship) 2006 -2010
      First supervisor to Hannah Broadbent (CASE ESRC funded +3) 2010-2013
      First supervisor to Joanne Camp (Bloomsbury +3 studentship) 2010 -2013
      Second supervisor to Amy Ashton (ESRC funded 1+3) 2010-2014
      First supervisor to Suzy Cooper (Philanthropic funding +3) 2011-2014
      Second supervisor to Jamie Lingwood (ESRC funded +3) 2011-2014
  • Professional Activities:
    • Member of the Experimental Psychology Society.
      External PhD examiner: Department of Psychology, Stirling, 2007; Department of Psychology, Oxford, 2011.
      External examiner: Speech Science and Speech Communication, UCL. 2006-2011.
      Conference organiser. The 3rd Williams Syndrome Workshop, Reading, 2006.
      Scientific American Mind, 17(4), p. 9: 'Babies Organise Sight' 2006.
      Member of Editorial Board: Developmental Neuropsychology.
      Reviewer for: American Journal on Mental Retardation, British Journal of Developmental Psychology, Cognitive Processing, Cortex, Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, Developmental Neuropsychology, Developmental Science, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Memory, Mind and Language, Neuropsychology, Neuropsychologia, Vision research, Pearson Education, ESRC, BBSRC, MRC, Nuffield Foundation, British Academy, Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), GIS-Institut des Maladies Rares.
  • Conferences/presentations:
    • Farran, E.K. (2009). Route learning in typical and atypical development; Using landmarks, remembering the sequential order of turns, and understanding the spatial relationship between locations on a route. Keynote speech as winner of the Neil O'Connor award. British Psychological Society Developmental Section Annual Conference, September 2009.

      Farran, E.K. (2009) Learning a route: route knowledge, relational knowledge and memory for landmarks in individuals with learning difficulties Department of Psychology invited speaker, University of Lille, France, June 2009.

      Farran. E.K., Blades, M., Tranter, L., Boucher, J.(2008). Finding your way. How can we help individuals with Williams syndrome to learn a route? Invited speaker, Autours des Williams, International Meeting, Disney Resort, Paris, France, April, 2008.
  • Languages Spoken:
    • French; basic
  • Languages Written:
    • French; basic
Dr Emily Farran

Contact details

Contact details

Publications

  • Farran, E.K. and Karmiloff-Smith, A. (Eds) (in press) Neurodevelopmental Disorders Across the Lifespan: A Neuroconstructivist Approach. Oxford University Press.
  • Farran, E.K., Courbois, Y., Van Herwegen, J., Blades, M. (in press) 'How useful are landmarks when learning a route in a virtual environment? Evidence from typical development and Williams syndrome', Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
  • Farran, E.K. & Brosnan, M. (2011) 'Perceptual grouping abilities in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder; the importance of grouping type and of development.', Autism Research 4, 283-292.
  • Hudson, K. & Farran, E.K. (2011) 'Drawing the Line: Graphic Strategies for Simple and Complex Shapes in Williams Syndrome and Typical Development', British Journal of Developmental Psychology 29, 687-706.
  • Mengue-Topio, H. Courbois, Y., Farran, E.K., Sockeel, P. (2011) 'Route learning and shortcut performance in adults with intellectual disability: A study with virtual environments', Research in developmental disabilities 32, 345-352. .
  • Van Herwegen, J., Farran, E.K., Annaz, D. (2011) 'Item and error analysis on Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices in Williams Syndrome', Research in Developmental Disabilities 32, 93-99. .
  • Farran, E.K., Branson, A. & King, B.J. (2011) 'Visual search for basic emotional expressions; impaired detection of anger, fear and sadness, but a typical happy face advantage in autism', Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders 5, 455-462.
  • Freeman, K., Williams, T.I., Farran, E.K. & Brown, J.H. (2010) 'Williams syndrome: the extent of agreement between parent and self report of psychological difficulties', European Journal of Psychiatry 24, 167-175.
  • Farran, E.K., Blades, M., Boucher, J. & Tranter, L.J. (2010) 'How do individuals with Williams Syndrome learn a route in a real world environment?', Developmental Science 13, 454-468.
  • Full list of publications (pdf, 156KB)