Dr Felice Van 't Wout

About me:

I am a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Exeter. My research falls into the areas of cognitive and developmental psychology. I am particularly interested in how adults and children are able to control their behaviour in response to their internal goals and the external environment. Much of my recent research focusses on how language helps people to acquire novel skills.

I also teach at BSc (2nd year Cognition Practical) and MSc (Introduction to Statistics) level, and I supervise research projects in the areas of cognitive and developmental psychology.

Interests:

I am interested in people’s ability to flexibly control their behaviour, and the cognitive mechanisms that support this ability. Specifically, my research investigates working memory, which can be defined as the ability to maintain and manipulate information over a short period of time; and task-set control, which enables people to flexibly switch between existing tasks, as well as learn novel tasks.

Most of my research has examined the relationship between working memory and task-set control in adults and children. More recently, I have begun to examine the process by which people acquire novel tasks and skills, and particularly the contribution of language to this process. These different research projects are described in more detail below.

Qualifications:

PhD in Psychology – University of Exeter (2008-2012)

MSc in Neuroscience – University of Oxford (2007-2008)

BSc in Psychology – University of Exeter (2004-2007).

Career:

I completed my undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of Exeter in 2007. I then went on to do an MSc in Neuroscience at Oxford, before returning to Exeter to complete my PhD in Psychology under the supervision of Stephen Monsell and Aureliu Lavric. I subsequently worked as a post doc in Bristol, before returning to Exeter as a Lecturer in 2020.