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Welcome

What is it to lose yourself in a book or film? How do our environments and technology shape our body and mind? What are the characteristics of immersive activity? Can our understanding of these processes be harnessed to create positive change?

 

These are the questions we explore in the Media and Entertainment Psychology Lab. Our team aims to answer questions of human engagement with media, technology, arts and entertainment. The lab maintains a particular focus on the ways in which our understanding of engagement with immersive media and entertainment can be harnessed to bring about positive change in people’s lives. We’re concerned with the science of improving user experience, enjoyment, learning, and mental health; with informing design and industry; with supplementing health services and interventions, and supporting vulnerable populations with special needs.

 

We maintain ongoing collaboration with a number of interdisciplinary and international research teams, including creative and entertainment industry experts (animators, filmmakers, developers and designers), philosophers, computer scientists, architects, engineers, film and humanities scholars. This multidisciplinary approach and our sophisticated research facilities allow us to contribute to science, industry and mental health in a way that is skilled, precise and relevant.

We operate with two main aims:

    

    

to engage in scientific exploration of the way human cognition and emotion interact in the context of immersive technology and entertainment media.

to embed learning and positive change within immersive or entertainment activities.

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Our latest blog posts

Ongoing research projects

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SOCIAL COGNITION AND MOVIES

Listed on 14/07/2021

Flaviano Santos is currently looking for people aged 18+ with fluent written and spoken English to participate in an exciting study exploring the way in which people think and feel while watching film scenes. The anonymous online survey takes around one hour to complete and might be a good opportunity to have some fun watching films and video clips and reading stories.

Duration:

60 minutes

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EMOTION AND VR STORIES

Listed on 28/04/2022

Assim Kalouaz is currently looking for people aged 18+ to participate in his research study looking at how people experience different virtual reality stories. The 45 minutes-long experiment takes place at UCD (Newman Building) and will be a great occasion to try out the latest VR headset while contributing to psychology research.

Duration:

45 minutes

Our latest work with the media

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Irish Examiner - JUL 31 2015
 

Image by Krists Luhaers

Popular Science - OCT 31 2013
 

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