Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development
Department of Psychological Scienes
Birkbeck, University of London
Email: jhaens01@mail.bbk.ac.uk
Research Interests
My research uses both screen-based and head-mounted eye tracking techniques to investigate cultural differences in the development of face perception. This involves studying infants and adults from both Japan and the UK. I am also implementing novel semi-automatic methods that process, visualise, and statistically analyse data from head-mounted eye trackers.
Education
PhD Psychology, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck (2015 – present)
MSc Educational Neuroscience (Distinction), UCL Institute of Education & Birkbeck (2013 – 2015)
MSc Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience (Distinction), University of Sheffield (2011 – 2012)
BSc Mathematics & Psychology, University of Glasgow (2007 – 2011)
Research Posts
Visiting Doctoral Researcher, Department of Psychology, Kyoto University (Apr – Aug 2017)
Graduate Research Assistant, Neurovascular and Neuroimaging Research Group, University of Sheffield (2013)
Research Assistant, Neuroscience Research Group, University of Sheffield (2012 – 2013)
Research Assistant, Biological Psychology Lab, Humboldt University of Berlin (2011)
Publications, Seminars, and Conference Presentations
Peer-reviewed publications
Hetherington, L., Dommett, E. J., Taylor, A. C., Riley, T. B., Haensel, J. X., & Overton, P. G. (2017). Effects of methylphenidate on visual responses in the superior colliculus in the anaesthetised rat: role of cortical activation. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 31(10), 1347-1361.
Haensel, J. X., Spain, A., & Martin, C. (2015). A systematic review of physiological methods in rodent pharmacological MRI studies. Psychopharmacology, 232(3), 489-499.
Seminars
Haensel, J. X. (2018, June). Cultural differences in the development of face perception. External seminar at McGill University, Canada.
Haensel, J. X. (2018, June). Cultural differences in face perception. External seminar at the University of British Columbia, Canada.
Haensel, J. X. (2018, January). Cultural differences in face perception: Ecological validity, mechanisms, and development. Internal seminar at Birkbeck, University of London, UK.
Haensel, J. X. (2016, September). Investigating the development of cultural differences in face scanning using screen-based and naturalistic paradigms. External seminar at Kyoto University, Japan.
Conference proceedings (presenting author)
Haensel, J. X., Ishikawa, M., Itakura, S., Smith, T. J., & Senju, A. (2018, July). Cultural differences in the development of face scanning. Poster presented at the International Congress of Infant Studies, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Haensel, J. X., Danvers, M., Ishikawa, M., Itakura, S., Tucciarelli, R., Smith, T. J., & Senju, A. (2018, May). Examining cultural differences in naturalistic face scanning: A data-driven approach to analysing head-mounted eye-tracking data. Poster presented at the Vision Sciences Society Conference, St Pete Beach, Florida, USA.
Haensel, J. X., Danvers, M., Ishikawa, M., Itakura, S., Smith, T. J., & Senju, A. (2018, February). Examining cultural differences in naturalistic face scanning. Poster presented at the Interactive Eye Gaze Conference, London, UK.
Haensel, J. X., Smith, T. J., & Senju, A. (2017, August). Cultural differences in naturalistic face scanning. Poster presented at the European Conference on Visual Perception, Berlin, Germany.
Haensel, J. X., Smith, T. J., & Senju, A. (2017, August). Applying head-mounted eye-tracking to investigate cultural differences in real-world face scanning. Poster presented at the European Conference on Eye Movements, Wuppertal, Germany.
Haensel, J. X., Smith, T. J., & Senju, A. (2017, May). Cultural differences in face scanning during dyadic face-to-face interactions. Poster presented at the Vision Sciences Society Conference, St Pete Beach, Florida, USA.
Haensel, J. X., Saez de Urabain, I. R., Senju, A., & Smith, T. J. (2016, May). Developmental changes in infants’ attention to naturalistic faces and visual saliency. Poster presented at the Vision Sciences Society Conference, St Pete Beach, Florida, USA.
Haensel, J. X., Spain, A., & Martin, C. (2015, January). A systematic review of physiological methods in rodent pharmacological MRI studies. Poster presented at the Barts Neuroscience Symposium, London, UK.
Haensel, J. X., Harvey, M., Konia, S., & Morand, S. (2013, October). Influence of own-race bias on saccade programming. Poster presented at Dividnorm: Epistemic Variability, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
Hetherington, L., Haensel, J. X., Riley, T., & Overton, P. G. (2013, April). Elucidating the mechanism of action of methylphenidate at the superior colliculus in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Poster presented at the British Neuroscience Association Festival of Neuroscience, London, UK.
Project collaborations
Batten, J. P., Haensel, J. X., & Smith, T. J. (2017, May). Look at me when I’m talking to you! Sound influences gaze behaviour in a ‘split-screen’ film. Poster presented at the Vision Sciences Society Conference, Florida, USA.
Ganea, N., Haensel, J. X., & Senju, A. (2017, January). Looking and Reaching Preferences for Faces in 9-Month-Old Infants. Poster at Budapest CEU Conference on Cognitive Development, Budapest, Hungary.
Awards and funding
Wellcome Trust/Birkbeck ISSF: 2019 6-month postdoctoral funding (£17,525)
1+3 MRC PhD studentship: Fully funded scholarship to cover MSc/PhD tuition fees, living expenses (£16k per annum), and research expenses (£5k per annum)
SR Research Poster Award (2017), European Conference on Eye Movements: Award for best interactive poster presentation.
Psychology Merit Certificate (2010), University of Glasgow: Award for outstanding academic performance.
Teaching
Demonstrator/Associate Tutor, Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London (2016 – present):
- Introduction to Research Methods (BSc/MSc Psychology)
- Research Methods II (BSc Psychology)
- Advanced Research Methods (BSc Psychology)
- Research Methods for Psychology (BSc/Foundation Year/CertHE Psychology)