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  3. Nick Thompson

  • Nick received his BSc in Psychology from the University of Leicester in 2008. After working in the private sector as a market researcher/consumer psychologist for 5 years, Nick returned to the University of Leicester in 2013 to complete his MSc in Psychological Research Methods. In 2019, Nick was awarded his PhD from the University of Reading, where he still works as a senior Postdoctoral Research Associate, alongside his Lecturer position at the University of Northampton.

    Nick’s pronouns are he/his.

  • Nick teaches primarily on the MSc in Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH), where he is module coordinator for the Therapeutic Interventions module (PSYM065). Nick also delivers teaching for the undergraduate CAMH module (PSY3026).

  • Nick is primarily a quantitative researcher and has experience using various approaches, including behavioural and psychometric testing, eye-tracking, psychophysiology, and transcranial electrical stimulation. He is also conversant in qualitative approaches and is open to supervising both quant and qual projects. 

    Nick’s research covers three broad themes:

    1. social cognition – understanding how the ability to regulate one’s own emotions relates to the capacity to understand and respond to others’ emotions. 
    2. autism spectrum conditions – understanding how various socio-emotional processes can be different in autistic and non-autistic individuals. 
    3. child development – developing and validating a tablet-based mobile application to assess neurodevelopment in low/middle-income countries. 

    Details of Nick’s published research can be found on Google Scholar. Details of the MRC-funded ‘STREAM’ project on which Nick works in his role at the University of Reading can be found on their website.

  • Thompson, N. M., van Reekum, C. M., & Chakrabarti, B. (2023). Emotion dysregulation modulates visual perspective taking and spontaneous facial mimicry. Emotion, advance online publication. https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Femo0001254 

    Williams, E.H., Thompson, N.M., McCray, G. & Chakrabarti, B. (2023). Autistic traits modulate the influence of face masks on gaze perception. Scientific Reports, 13, 14921. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41900-0

    Thompson, N.M., van Reekum, C.M. & Chakrabarti, B. (2022). Cognitive and affective empathy relate differentially to emotion regulation. Affective Science, 3, 118-134. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-021-00062-w

    Thompson, N.M., Uusberg, A., Gross, J.J., & Chakrabarti, B. (2019). Empathy and emotion regulation: An integrative account. Progress in Brain Research, 247, 273-304. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2019.03.024 

    Di Bernardi Luft, C., Zioga, I., Thompson, N.M., Banissy, M. J., & Bhattacharya, J. (2018). Right temporal alpha oscillations as a neural mechanism for inhibiting obvious associations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(52), E12144-E12152. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1811465115 

    Thompson, N.M., Di Bernardi Luft, C., & Banissy, M. J. (2016). Empathy. Neuroimaging Personality, Social Cognition, and Character, 289-303. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-800935-2.00015-4