Functional Behavioural Science Laboratory

This lab’s research is primarily based around six core strands:

1. Experimental psychopathology: Using Relational Frame Theory and derived stimulus relation we explore how language and cognition function in the development of psychopathology and the underlying processes by which talk therapies and mindfulness-based therapies work.
2. Utilising relational frame theory to enhance educational attainment, including the SMART intervention programme. This work has been published in the Journal of Behavioural Education with further manuscripts under preparation.
3. Cognitive psychology research on attention, problem-solving, and decision making. Our cognitive work on attention, attentional bias, and decision making has been published in Consciousness and Cognition, the British Journal of Psychology, and Learning and Behaviour.
4. The development and application of a behavioural test of implicit cognition and attitudes, the Function Acquisition Speed Test. This work has been published in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behaviour and The Psychological Record.
5. Ostracism/Social exclusion and the application of the psychological flexibility model. This work has been published in the Journal of Contextual Behavioural Science.
6. Psychometric tests of the psychological flexibility model.

To find out more about this lab please contact Dr. Ian Tyndall at i.tyndall@chi.ac.uk.

• Analysis of processes underlying the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy model of psychological flexibility.
• Application of the SMART online intervention programme in primary and secondary schools to enhance educational outcomes.
• Attentional Bias and approach-avoidance conflicts in threat and anxiety.
• Further development and application of the Function Acquisition Speed Test (FAST) as a new measure of learning history and stimulus relations.
• Future projects will include applications of virtual reality software, transcranial direct stimulation (tDCS), and functional near infra-red spectroscopy