Contact details
Department of Psychology
Lancaster University
Lancaster
LA1 4YF
Email: m.hurlstone@lancaster.ac.uk
Biography
I completed my undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of Leicester (2001-2004) before completing a Master’s degree in Reading, Language, and Cognition (2005-2006) followed by a PhD on short-term memory (supervisors: Graham Hitch and Alan Baddeley, 2006-2010), both at the University of York. After post-doctoral stints at Cardiff University, working on auditory distraction (with Rob Hughes and Dylan Jones, 2011-2012), and The University of Western Australia (with Carmen Lawrence and Steve Lewandowsky, 2012-2014), working on climate change communication, I became a Lecturer at The University of Western Australia (2014-2020). In July 2020, I took up a Lectureship in the Department of Psychology at Lancaster University.
Research interests
Auditory distraction: testing a duplex mechanism account of auditory distraction and attentional selectivity in which some forms of distraction are resistible and others are ineluctable.
Behavioural economics: applying insights from laboratory experiments and psychology to economics, particularly the economics of climate change and other ecosystem issues.
Cognitive modelling: computational and mathematical modelling of cognitive processes; model evaluation and selection issues; models of choice behaviour and response time.
Human memory: short-term and long-term memory; serial recall memory; free recall memory; sequence learning; relationship between time and memory.
Psychology and climate change: using principles of cognitive and social psychology to facilitate the communication of climate science.