Dr. Leah Johnstone
UCFB Manchester
Associate Dean
Knowledge Exchange and Research and Senior Lecturer
After completing a degree in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Nottingham, Leah went to Bangor University and obtained an MSc in Clinical Neuropsychology in 2012 and a PhD in Neuropsychology in 2015.
Since then Leah has worked in research and teaching roles at Bangor University and the University of East Anglia, before joining UCFB in 2017. She has worked on a range of research projects, which has allowed her to develop a broad skillset involving a variety of quantitative neuropsychological research methods (EEG, fMRI, tDCS, visual half-field tests, dichotic listening tests).
Area of expertise
- Biopsychology;
- Limb preference;
- Motor control.
Industry expertise
- Research on the relationship between foot preference or hand preference for skilled tasks and brain functions;
- Expertise in critical analysis of statistical evidence.
Leah’s research interests involve brain and body asymmetries, such as hand/foot preferences, and their relationship to the location of functions such as language and face perception in the brain. Her teaching is mostly focused on biological/cognitive psychology and how it affects sportspeople, as well as quantitative research methods. At UCFB Leah leads on biological psychology modules, as well as conducting seminars and guest lectures on research methods modules.
- BSc Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience;
- MSc Foundations of Clinical Neuropsychology;
- PhD Psychology;
- PGCert Higher Education
- British Psychological Society Chartered Membership.
- Member of the Experimental Psychology Society.
- Johnstone, L. T., Karlsson, E. M., & Carey, D. P. (2021). Left handers are less lateralised than right handers for both left and right hemispheric functions. Cerebral Cortex, in press.
- Johnstone, L. T., Karlsson, E. M., & Carey, D. P. (2020). The validity and reliability of quantifying hemispheric specialisation using fMRI: Evidence from left and right handers on three different cerebral asymmetries. Neuropsychologia, 107331.
- Karlsson, E. M., Johnstone, L. T., & Carey, D. P. (2019). The depth and breadth of multiple perceptual asymmetries in right handers and non-right handers. Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 24(6), 707-739.
- Johnstone, L. T., & Downing, P. E. (2017). Dissecting the visual perception of body shape with the Garner selective attention paradigm. Visual Cognition, 25(4-6), 507-523;
- Johnstone, L. T., & Carey, D. P. (2016). Do left hand reaction time advantages depend on localising unpredictable targets?. Experimental brain research, 234(12), 3625-3632;
- Carey, D. P., & Johnstone, L. T. (2014). Quantifying cerebral asymmetries for language in dextrals and adextrals with random-effects meta analysis. Frontiers in psychology, 5, 1128;