imagination allows us to think about things that we can’t see. like other people’s minds, the future, outcomes of choices, fictional worlds, dragons and more.
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it is a central part of the glue that holds together the social world. the central focus of the lab’s research is our imaginative ability to step outside our own perspective, disengage from the here and now, and take a different perspective, including the perspective of another person and of ourselves at a different point in time.
in the imagination lab we carry out research into social cognition in the areas of perspective taking, mentalising and neuroeconomics. the methods we use are dictated by the question we try to answer. the question comes first, then we pick the best method to tackle it.
main questions:
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1. How do we take someone else’s perspective?
2. How do we make decisions for ourselves?
3. How do we make decisions for others?
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the Imagination Lab is part of the Evolution and Development group in the School of Psychology at the University of Lincoln.
Imagination Lab Team
Dr Fenja V Ziegler
Imagination Lab Director
Heather Shaw
PhD Student
Sheamus Cogan
Student RA
Harry Coulson
Student RA
Lab alumni
Jade Hall, Student RA
Lisa Jacobs, Student RA
Xandria Levy, Student RA
Emily Roberts, Student RA
Gemma Stirland, Student RA
Charlotte Summers, Student RA
Louise Turner, Student RA
Greg Westerman-Hughes, Student RA
Lab collaborators
Dr Richard J. Tunney, University of Nottingham
Prof Dana Samson, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
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Dr Susan Chipchase, University of Lincoln
Dr Niko Kargas, University of Lincoln
Dr David Keatley, University of Lincoln
Dr Bino Majolo, University of Lincoln