Edwin Burns

If you think you or someone you know suffers from prosopagnosia/faceblindness (i.e., regular difficulties when recognising faces they should), then please get in touch with me if you would like to be tested for the condition at burnse@edgehill.ac.uk

I’m a psychologist who is interested in vision in those with intact face recognition skills, neuropsychological (i.e., brain damage) and neurodevelopmental (i.e., lifelong problems in certain aspects of cognition) groups. A significant proportion of this work has focused on individuals who suffer from developmental prosopagnosia, a lifelong condition characterised by severe difficulties recognising facial identity. Unfortunately, most of the people who believe they have prosopagnosia will not receive a diagnosis using current approaches to testing. I hope to remedy this through my latest research (Burns et al., 2022). I also do work with aphantasia (people who can't visualise imagery in their mind) and developmental co-ordination disorder (people who have trouble with movement).

I am also interested in how we perceive a face when it is viewed with other faces nearby. This can often lead to a phenomenon called a cheerleader or friend effect, where the presence of others can make us appear more attractive or trustworthy. My recent paper (Burns et al., 2021, Cognition) drew many of these effects together in a framework that will help authors understand the myriad of influences on such phenomena.

Please get in touch with me at burnse@edgehill.ac.uk if you have any questions about my work, or would like to study for a fully funded PhD (open to candidates worldwide). PhD applications are often open near closing dates in January or summer.