Dr Jansari got his degree in Experimental Psychology from King’s College Cambridge and then his doctorate at the University of Sussex where he conducted research on memory and amnesia. Following a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in the United States at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics working with Professors Antonio Damasio and Ralph Adolphs, he has created an extensive research programme, covering a range of issues in cognitive neuropsychology. His research has explored different aspects of memory loss, including the phenomenon of long-term amnesia and the development of rehabilitation regimes, the creation of a Virtual Reality assessment of brain damage, various aspects of face recognition and synaesthesia. In 2004, he was awarded the Cermak Award for best research in memory disorders by the International Neuropsychological Society and, in 2008, he was awarded a Media Fellowship by the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

• Programme Leader, MSc Psycholoogy Conversion Course
• Module Leader for PYM151: Cognitive Psychology and Psychobiology
• PhD supervisor

My major research concentrates on disorders of human memory. I am conducting detailed case studies of an epileptic patient who exhibits long-term amnesia (rapid forgetting of information over a period of a few weeks), a patient with a very selective short-term memory problem and a patient with a selective inability to remember numbers; at the International Neuropsychological Society’s annual conference in Brisbane in 2004, I was awarded the Cermak prize for best research in the field of memory disorders for my detailed case study of long-term amnesia. Additionally, I am developing a battery of tests to differentiate malingered amnesia from true memory impairment.

Since 2003, I have been developing of a new assessment of ‘executive functions’ using virtual reality (VR). This new assessment known as JAAM is able to assess problems following certain forms of brain damage that currently available standard tests are unable to. It has also been translated into Swedish, with translations into other languages (including Finnish, French, Dutch and Portuguese) currently under way. JAAM has also been used to show the impact of nicotine, alcohol, recreational ecstasy and even Androgen Deprivation Therapy for prostate cancer in brain-intact individuals.

My research on face recognition explores extreme abilities in this skill that is vital for survival. Individuals with prosopagnosia (or face blindness) have either always had difficulty in recognising familiar faces or do so because of suffering brain damage during adulthood. Some people, known as super-recognisers are at the other extreme of the spectrum and are able to recognise people with remarkable ease many years after meeting someone briefly. My research compares prosopagnosia and super-recognition to refine models of face recognition in the general population as well as to develop methods of rehabilitation for those with profound difficulties.

My final research project centres on synaesthesia or cross-sensory perception: in this condition, an individual upon hearing the word “Monday” will claim to see the colour red! Other research I conducted has included a collaboration with biomedical engineers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to investigate the potential positive impact of meditation to improve the EEG signals captured by Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) to control neuroprostheses; exploring neuro-biofeedback to improve wellbeing and seeing whether meditation can improve learning.

• BSc Psychology
• Graduate Diploma in Psychology
• MSc in Applied Positive Psychology
• MSc in Research Methods

• PY1003: Introduction to Psychology
• PY1006: Applications of Psychology
• PY2003: Cognitive Psychology and Psychobiology
• PY2007: Brain Damage, Behaviour and Mind

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

1. Jansari, A., Miller, S., Pearce, L., Cobb, S., Tree, J., & Hanley, R. (under review). The man who mistook his neuropsychologist for a popstar: when configural processing fails in acquired prosopagnosia. Cognitive Neuropsychology.
2. Froggart, D., Jansari, A., Edgington, T., & Dawkins, L. (in press). Investigating the impact of nicotine on executive functions using a novel virtual reality assessment. Addiction.
3. Pasqualotto, A., Spiller, M.J., Jansari, A. S., & Proulx, M.J. (2013). Visual experience facilitates allocentric spatial representation. Behavioural Brain Research, 236(1), 175–179. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2012.08.042
4. Dienes, Z., Baddeley, R., & Jansari, A. (2012). Rapidly measuring the speed of unconscious learning: amnesics learn quickly and happy people slowly. PLoS One, 7(3), e33400. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0033400
5. Jansari, A.S., Froggatt, D., Edginton, T., & Dawkins, L. (2012). Investigating the impact of nicotine on executive functions using a novel virtual reality assessment. Addiction. doi:10.1111/add.12082
6. McGibbon, T., & Jansari, A.S. (2012). Detecting the onset of accelerated long-term forgetting: evidence from temporal lobe epilepsy. Neuropsychologia, 51(1), 114–122. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.11.004
7. Montgomery, C., Seddon, A.L., Fisk, J.E., Murphy, P.N., & Jansari, A. (2012). Cannabis-related deficits in real-world memory. Human Psychopharmacology, 27(2), 217–225. doi:10.1002/hup.1273
8. Roser, M.E., Corballis, M.C., Jansari, A., Fulford, J., Benattayallah, A., & Adams, W.M. (2012). Bilateral redundancy gain and callosal integrity in a man with callosal lipoma: a diffusion-tensor imaging study. Neurocase, 18(3), 185–198. doi:10.1080/13554794.2011.568505
9. Jansari, A., Rodway, P., & Goncalves, S. (2011). Identifying facial emotions: valence specific effects and an exploration of the effects of viewer gender. Brain and Cognition, 76(3), 415–423. doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2011.03.009
10. Montgomery, C., Ashmore, K. V., & Jansari, A. (2011). The effects of a modest dose of alcohol on executive functioning and prospective memory. Human Psychopharmacology, 26(3), 208–215. doi:10.1002/hup.1194
11. Montgomery, C., Hatton, N. P., Fisk, J. E., Ogden, R. S., & Jansari, A. (2010). Assessing the functional significance of ecstasy-related memory deficits using a virtual paradigm. Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental, 25(4), 318–325. doi:10.1002/hup.1119
12. Bate, S., Haslam, C., Hodgson, T.L., Jansari, A., Gregory, N., & Kay, J. (2010). Positive and negative emotion enhances the processing of famous faces in a semantic judgment task. Neuropsychology, 24(1), 84–89. doi:10.1037/a0017202
13. Jansari, A. (2010). In search of an ecologically valid measure of the dysexecutive syndrome: can virtual reality help rehabilitation? Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 42(4), 399.
14. Jansari, A.S., Davis, K., McGibbon, T., Firminger, S., & Kapur, N. (2010). When “long-term memory” no longer means “forever”: analysis of accelerated long-term forgetting in a patient with temporal lobe epilepsy. Neuropsychologia, 48(6), 1707–1715. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.02.018
15. Weber, M., Ring, C., Jansari, A., & Edwards, M.G. (2010). Do aggression and executive function influence sport concussion? Brain Injury, 24(3), 299.
16. Bate, S., Haslam, C., Jansari, A., & Hodgson, T. (2009). Covert face recognition relies on affective valence in congenital prosopagnosia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 26(4), 391–411. doi:10.1080/02643290903175004
17. Jansari, A., McGibbon, T., Haslam, C., & Anderson, S. (2009). Exploring the limits of memory rehabilitation using errorless learning and spaced retrieval in dense amnesia. Brain Impairment, 10(2), 240.
18. Jansari, A., Agnew, R., Duncombe, S., Illingworth, M.G., Edginton, T., Dawkins, L., … Bartfai, A. (2009). Using virtual reality for ecologically-valid assessment of executive functions. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 15(2), 105.
19. Tan, L.F., Jansari, A., Keng, S.L., & Goh, S.Y. (2009). Effect of mental training on BCI performance. In J.A. Jacko (Ed.), Human-Computer Interaction, Part II, HCI 2009. LNCS (Vol. 5611, pp. 632–635). Heidelberg: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-02577-8_69
20. Cappelletti, M., Jansari, A., Kopelman, M, & Butterworth, B. (2008). A case of selective impairment of encyclopaedic numerical knowledge or when December 25th is no longer Christmas day, but 20+5 is still 25. Cortex, 44, 325–336. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2006.07.005
21. Dampney, G., & Jansari, A. (2008). Is memory rehabilitation possible in older densely amnesic adults? A detailed case study of a post-encephalitic patient using errorless learning and a personal digital computer. Brain Impairment, 9(2), 222.
22. Edginton, T., Jansari, A., & Zacharia, H. (2008). The functional dissociations between immediate and delayed emotional memory processing following right temporal lobe damage. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 14(2), 88.
23. Edginton, T., Dawkins, L., Bradon, L., Nikolla, D., Herbert, C., & Jansari, A. (2008). An investigation of the effects of nicotine on executive processes using a virtual reality environment. Brain Impairment, 9(2), 207.
24. Jansari, A., Debreceni, K., Bartfai, A., & Eriksson, M. (2008). Swedish JAAM? Adaptation of a virtual reality assessment of dysexecutive syndrome to a new culture and language, Brain Impairment(9), 2.
25. Jansari, A., Miller, S., Pearce, L., Chan, J., & Nicholls, A. (2008). The man who mistook his neuropsychologist for a popstar: when configural processing fails in selective prosopagnosia. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 14(2), 117.
26. McGibbon, T.I., Jansari, A.S., & Gaskell, G. (2008). Say it again? The importance of repeated recall for ensuring consolidation in ‘Longterm Amnesia’ (LTA). Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 14(2), 70–71.
27. Renison, B., Ponsford, J., Testa, R., & Jansari, A. (2008). The use of virtual reality in assessment of executive function following traumatic brain injury. Brain Impairment, 9(1), 47.
28. Spiller, M., & Jansari, A. (2008). Mental imagery and synaesthesia: is synaesthesia from internally generated stimuli possible? Cognition, 109, 143–151. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2008.08.007

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

1. Cocchini, G., Watling, R., Della Sala, S., & Jansari, A. (2007). Pseudoneglect in back space. Brain and Cognition, 63(1), 79–84. doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2006.07.002
2. Edginton, T., Jansari, A., & Haslam, C. (2006). Retrograde affective memory loss: an investigation of a non-selective emotional autobiographical memory impairment post-right temporal lobe craniotomy. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 12(2), 3–4.
3. Jansari, A., Spiller, M., & Redfern, S. (2006). Number synaesthesia: when hearing ‘four plus five’ looks like gold. Cortex, 42(2), 253–258. doi:10.1016/S0010-9452(08)70350-2
4. Jansari, A., Miller, S., & Tree, J. (2006). When the whole HAS to be the sum of the parts: when configural processing fails in prosopagnosia and George Michael has to be recognised by his goatee beard. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 12(2), 83.
5. Jansari, A., Duncombe, S., Wong, C., & Murphy, L. (2005). In search of an ecologically valid measure of the dysexecutive syndrome: can virtual reality help? Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society Symposium on Rehabilitation, 6(2), 8.
6. Jansari, A., Cole, S., Darby, F., & McCarthy, R. (2005). An overworked central executive? Dissociations in working memory in a neuropsychological patient with a selective short-term memory disorder. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 11(2), 85.
7. Jansari, A., Davis, K., Firminger, S., Ward T., & Kapur, N. (2005). Evaluating subjective memory using the RCA paradigm in a patient with long-term amnesia. Journal of International Neuropsychological Society, 4(10), 26.
8. Simner, J., Ward, J., Lanz, M., Jansari, A., Noonan, K., Glover, L., & Oakley, D. (2005). Non-random associations of graphemes to colours in synaesthetic and non-synaesthetic populations. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 22(8), 1069–1085. doi:10.1080/02643290500200122
9. Jansari, A., Cole, S., & McCarthy, R. (2004). Selective short-term memory impairment following closed head injury: Possible role of the Central Executive. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 10(4), 52.
10. Jansari, A., Davis, K., Firminger, S., & Kapur, N. (2004). When Long-Term Memory Does not Necessarily Mean “Forever”: Evidence of Long-Term Amnesia in a Patient with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 10(4), 26.
11. Jansari, A., Agnew, R., Akesson, K., & Murphy, L. (2004). The use of virtual reality to assess and predict real-world executive dysfunction: can VR help for work-placement rehabilitation? Brain Impairment, 5(1), 110.
12. Jansari, A., Kruzycka, K., Quinn, F., Watts, C., Patterson, S., Cantagallo, A., … Gosling, A. (2004). Faking It! The Use of a Battery of Tests to Detect Malingered Amnesia. Journal of International Neuropsychological Society, 10(4), 20.
13. Watling, R., & Jansari, A. (2004). Developmental co-ordination difficulty: can a virtual environment be used to distinguish motor deficits from perceptual deficits in dyspraxia? Brain Impairment, 5(1), 106–107.
14. Adolphs, R., Jansari, A., & Tranel, D. (2001). Hemispheric perception of emotional valence from facial expressions. Neuropsychology, 15(4), 516524. doi:10.1037/0894-4105.15.4.516
15. Jansari, A., Adolphs, R., & Tranel, D. (2000). The valence-specific lateral bias for discriminating emotional facial expressions in free field. Cognition & Emotion, 14, 314–353. doi:10.1080/026999300378860
16. Jansari, A, Tranel, D. (1999). Are confabulations mis-combined elements of veridical events? Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18.
17. Jansari, A., & Parkin, A.J. (1996). Things that go bump in your life: explaining the reminiscence bump in autobiographical memory. Psychology and Aging, 11(1), 85–91. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.11.1.85

Non-peer-reviewed Journal Articles

1. Watling, R., & Jansari, A. (2005). Developmental co-ordination disorder: a battery of tests for children and adults. Dyspraxia Foundation Professional Journal, 4, 2–17.
2. Barrash, J, Jansari, A, Tranel, D. (1998). Cognitive defects in anterograde topographical disturbances. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts, 24, 2116.

Book Chapters

1. Jansari, A. (2005). Cognitive neuropsychology. In N. Braisby (Ed.), Cognitive psychology: a methods companion. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2. Jansari, A. (2004). The use of neuropsychology as a research methodology in cognitive psychology. In N. Braisby (Ed.), Methods in cognitive psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Conference Papers

1. Jansari, A., & Goncalves, S. (2005). Processing of facial emotions: Support for the Valence Specific Hypothesis and an exploration of the effects of gender of face. Paper presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, New York, USA.
2. Spiller, M.J., & Jansari, A. (2005). Mental Imagery in Synaesthesia — does seeing the mental image of an inducer in the mind’s eye result in a synaesthetic experience? Paper presented at the UK Synaesthesia Association, UCL, London.
3. Wolowiec, T., & Jansari, A. (2005). Sex, Brain Gender and Synaesthesia: Do Male Synaesthetes Have Female Brains? Paper presented at the UK Synaesthesia Association, UCL, London.
4. Jansari, A., & Redfern, S. (2004). The “colour of a sum” can speed up mathematical ability: A bizarre case of number synaesthesia. Paper presented at the 3rd Australian Conference for Cognitive Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuropsychiatry.
5. Jansari, A., Davis, K., & Kapur, N. (2004). Faking it! Using accuracy and reaction times to develop a battery for detecting malingered amnesia. Paper presented at the First Joint Conference of the European Neuropsychological Societies, Modena, Italy.
6. Jansari, A., Cole, S., & McCarthy, R. (2004). Selective short-term memory impairment following closed head injury: Possible role of the Central Executive. Paper presented at the International Neuropsychological Society, Brisbane, Australia.
7. Jansari, A., Davis, K., Firminger, S., & Kapur, N. (2004). Evaluating subjective memory using the RCA paradigm in a patient with Long-Term Amnesia. Paper presented at the International Neuropsychological Society, Brisbane, Australia.
8. Jansari, A., Gosling, A., Patterson, S., Kruzycka, K., Quinn, F., Watts, C., et al. (2004). Faking it! Using accuracy, reaction times and GSR measures conjointly to discriminate malingered amnesia from true memory impairment. Paper presented at the International Neuropsychological Society, Brisbane, Australia.
9. Jansari, A. Agnew, R. , Akesson, K., & Murphy, L. (2004). Using Virtual Reality to create an ecologically-valid measure of real-world problems in patients with dysexecutive syndrome. Paper presented at the Symposium on Rehabilitation, Uluru, Australia.
10. Watling, R., & Jansari, A. (2004). Developmental Co-ordination Difficulty: Can a virtual environment be used to to distinguish motor deficits from perceptual deficits in dyspraxia? Paper presented at the Symposium on Rehabilitation, Uluru, Australia.
11. Jansari, A., Cocchini, G., Watling, R., & Della Sala, S. (2003). Pseudoneglect in imagined backspace: A novel finding using a virtual reality paradigm. Paper presented at the ESCOP, Granada, Spain.
12. Jansari, A. Davis, K., & Kapur, N. (2003). When long-term memory does not necessarily mean “forever”: Evidence of Long-Term Amnesia (LTA) in a patient with temporal lobe epilepsy. Paper presented at the BPS Cognitive Section, Reading, UK.
13. Tsagaraki, H., Jansari, A., Burton, A., & Kapur, N. (2003). Accelerated forgetting in a case of transient epileptic amnesia: an effect of insufficient consolidation. Paper presented at the BPS Cognitive Section, Reading, UK.
14. Watling, R., Cocchini, G., Jansari, A., & Della Sala, S. (2003). Pseudoneglect in imagined backspace. Paper presented at the BPS Cognitive Section, Reading, UK.
15. Jansari, A., Gosling, A., & Samlal, A (2002). Faking it: The amount of coaching CAN make a difference to successful malingered amnesia. Paper presented at the BPS Cognitive Section, Kent, UK.

• Member of the Experimental Psychology Society (EPS)
• Member of the British Neuropsychological Society (BNS)