Contributions by role
Contributions by subject area
James A Lumsden
Summary
I am a PhD student currently working at the University of Bristol as part of the Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group (TARG). I am supervised by Prof Marcus Munafo, Prof Natalia Lawrence, Dr David Coyle and Cambridge Cognition, developers of the Cantab suite of cognitive tests. My background is in Computer Science, and so much of my work straddles the interface between comp science and experimental psychology.
My interests centre on gamification and serious games, particularly pertaining to the gamification of cognitive assessments and cognitive training. My current focus is on understanding the motivational and cognitive effects of different game mechanics as they are applied in a computerised test-setting. For example, which is more effective for reducing participant attrition for a longitudinal cognitive monitoring study: points or a storyline? I am also attempting to review and harmonise the growing literature on gamified cognitive assessment and interventions, investigating how existing studies have used game mechanics to engage their participants. We hope that by developing more engaging cognitive tasks, we might improve the quality of the data we collect and make the testing experience more palatable to our participants.