Andrew Rutherford

Biography

I studied for my BSc (Hons) in Psychology and carried out my Psychology PhD research at the University of Glasgow.  Subsequently, I took a research post in the Department of Psychology, Nottingham University to work on cognitive aspects of "Stress".  I then moved to a similar position in the School of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Nottingham, investigating operators' mental models of robot movement.  At the end of this research project, I took a temporary lecturereship on cognitive ergonomics (cognitive psychology applied to work situations) in the same school and I also held a part-time lectureship in human-computer interaction at de Montford University.  Before coming to Keele, I held a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in the School of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering at Nottingham University on a research project I had co-authored  examining operators' mental models of advanced manufacturing processes.

Research Interest

I have three main areas of research. The first area concerns memory, particularly encoding and retrieval processes.  All of my PhD students so far have examined memory processes.  My second research area is general and generalized linear modelling.  These key data analytic techniques allow data collected in experiments, or by other methods, to be analysed appropriately and accurately.  The third research area is the neuropsychological consequences of football play, especially those related to football heading.  The possibility that football head injury may be a risk factor in the early onset of dementia is a recent focus for our research.