An interactive session introducing the methods psychologists commonly use to study empathy in the laboratory, led by Emma Lawrence, a postdoctoral psychologist at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.

An engaging, interactive event introducing the methods psychologists commonly use to study social cognition and empathy in the laboratory. We start with a live audience participation demonstration using a selection of fun stimuli from actual psychological studies, such as geometric shapes apparently arguing, chasing each other, and interacting in a human way, and morphed faces dynamically changing from happy to sad to disgusted.

The audience will anonymously record their responses to stimuli via an electronic keypad, then have them analysed and discussion at the end of the session.

A theoretical background to the stimuli will be presented, such as how individuals with clinical conditions like autistic spectrum disorders tend to differ in their responses. Accompanying exhibitions by Peter Myers (an artist with Asperger's Syndrome) and Julie Freeman (a digital artist who has created In Sound Mind, a sonic artwork exploring fMRI techniques) will also be discussed. The evening will conclude with the presentation of results and a Q&A.