Professor Mike Le Pelley

I am a cognitive psychologist working in the School of Psychology at UNSW.

My research spans mind, brain and behaviour: it aims to characterise the mental processes underlying human cognition, and how these processes influence ongoing behaviour. While the core of my research focuses on fundamental processes in healthy cognition, I also study how dysfunction in these processes contributes to conditions such as addiction and schizophrenia.

My primary research focus is the relationship between attention and learning. Attention refers to our ability to prioritise some events for further analysis, while ignoring others: e.g., as you drive along the road you should prioritise the road ahead, and try to ignore squabbling children in the back seat. My research investigates how attention changes as a result of learning about relationships between events.