Understanding Minds in Interaction
PhD Candidate in Experimental Psychology | Behavioural Scientist
Aston University, Birmingham
I study how the brain enables us to understand others’ minds, combining behavioural science and neuroimaging to uncover the mechanisms behind social cognition and decision-making.
About My Research
The Big Idea: I study how the brain makes sense of others' minds.
I am a PhD researcher in experimental psychology and social cognitive neuroscience at Aston University, working at the intersection of executive function and social cognition. My research explores how domain-general processes such as attention, memory, and cognitive control enable us to take others’ perspectives, reason about their beliefs, and navigate complex social environments.
Using a combination of behavioural experiments and neuroimaging, I investigate how these mechanisms shape social inference, coordination, and synchrony in interaction. A central goal of my work is to move beyond isolated processes and understand how cognitive and social systems work together to support real-world behaviour.
My research is driven by impact. I am particularly interested in how insights from social cognitive neuroscience can inform mental health, improve decision-making in organisations, and contribute to policy challenges such as misinformation, trust, and social polarisation. I am also interested in how these principles can guide the design of human-centred technologies, including AI systems that better align with how people think and interact.
Publications & Contributions
Publications
Angry losers? The (null) effects of feeling electoral loss on anti-democratic attitudes (Katharina Lawall, Katerina Michalaki & Manos Tsakiris, 2025)
Work in progress
Investigating the Neurocognitive Architecture of Mentalising: Determining the Contribution of Executive and Social Brain Systems (with Charlotte R. Pennington, Stephen Mayhew, Klaus Kessler, Daniel J. Shaw)
Seeing the world through others' minds: Determining the role of executive functions in social cognitive processes (with Charlotte R. Pennington, Stephen Mayhew, Klaus Kessler, Daniel J. Shaw)
There is hope: The effects of emotions on policy preferences in the context of the war in Ukraine (Katharina Lawall, Roberta Rocca & Manos Tsakiris)
How do interoceptive signals influence social perception? The case of race identification (Valerio Villani, Katerina Michalaki & Manos Tsakiris)
Feeling our way through misperceptions on climate change (Lala Muradova, Katerina Michalaki & Manos Tsakiris)
Contributions
Reviewer - Open Social Psychology Textbook (FORRT)
Reviewed Chapters 5 and 11 (including “Feeling the Future” and “Social Heuristics Hypothesis”) as part of the Framework for Open and Reproducible Research Training initiative, contributing to open and reproducible science education.
Industry Collaborations
Cognition Agency
Analysed behavioural data for a client-facing project, applying cognitive science methods to identify decision-making patterns and generate insights into user behaviour, informing organisational practices and process optimisation.
Methods
functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
I use fMRI to examine how distributed brain networks support social understanding, with a focus on the interaction between executive control systems and social brain regions during perspective-taking and belief reasoning.
Data Analysis & Modelling
I analyse behavioural and neuroimaging data using advanced statistical and computational approaches, including structural equation modelling (SEM), exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and fMRI analysis pipelines (FSL), to characterise the mechanisms underlying social inference and decision-making.
Meta-analysis
I use meta-analytic approaches to integrate findings across studies, aiming to identify robust patterns in the neural and cognitive architecture of social cognition.
Talks & Engagement
Past
May 2025 - Birmingham
Pint of Science
Presented research on how the brain makes sense of other minds, translating cognitive neuroscience into accessible insights for a broad public audience.
September 2025 - Lisbon
Society for Social Neuroscience
Presented a poster reporting behavioural findings on the role of executive functions in perspective-taking and belief reasoning.
September 2025 - Birmingham
Aston Postgraduate Research Conference
Delivered an oral presentation reporting behavioural findings linking executive functions to social cognition.
Upcoming
July 2025 - Essex
Experimental Psychology Society
Upcoming oral presentation that will summarise behavioural findings linking inhibitory control, memory updating and cognitive flexibility to our ability to represent others' beliefs.
Interested in collaborating, discussing ideas, or exploring applications of this work?
I would be glad to hear from you.