Dr Darren Burke

Biography

I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology, based at the Ourimbah campus. I am an Experimental Psychologist, interested in the evolution of Visual, Spatial and Social abilities. Understanding how these various behavioural mechanisms evolved involves integrating data derived from studies in humans and non-humans and from research examining the neural, cognitive and social determinants of the abilities.

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Sydney, 1993
• Bachelor of Science (Honours), University of Sydney, 1989

Research

Research keywords

• Animal Behaviour
• Cognition
• Communication
• Evolution
• Face processing
• Perception

Research expertise

My research has spanned a broad spectrum of experimental psychology, united by a focus on why particular mechanisms work the way they do, and how evolution may have produced them. This has involved comparing psychological mechanisms across species that have faced different evolutionary selection pressures, as well as taking a functional approach to human psychology - asking what particular psychological mechanisms are actually for. I initially applied this perspective to questions in visual perception, the area of my postgraduate training, but have since investigated spatial memory, learning without awareness, observational learning, face and object recognition and social cognition. For more information please see my lab webpage ( http://evolutionarycognition.org/ )

Collaboration

I have a number of collaborators across a range of Australian Universities (including an ARC grant with chief investigators at Macquarie University, Wollongong University and ANU) and in the UK, Hong Kong, Norway, etc.

Languages

• English

Fields of Research

Centres and Groups

Group

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Administrative

Administrative expertise

I have served on undergraduate Teaching and Learning committees at Macquarie University and the University of Wollongong, was the Departmental PR coordinator in Biology and Brain Behaviour and Evolution at Macquarie, the Deputy Chair of the Macquarie University Animal Ethics Committee, and Honours Coordinator for the new Honours program in Brain Behaviour and Evolution at Macquarie. I am currently on the School of Psychology Teaching and Learning Committee, School Executive Committee, School Research Committee, and am the Program Co-convener for the Ourimbah-based BPsych students.

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Teaching

Teaching keywords

• Animal Behaviour
• Cognition
• Neuroscience
• Perception

Teaching expertise

I have taught in a wide range of areas in Experimental Psychology, including Perception, Cognition, Learning, Motivation and Emotion, Biological Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology, Animal Behaviour, and Research Methods, and had a brief stint (in 2009) in a Biology Department, teaching into courses on Human Physiology, Vertebrate Evolution and the Biology of Sex.

Courses

• PSYC1020 - Psychology Introduction 2
• PSYC2400 - Biological Psychology
• PSYC3301 - Advanced Perception and Learning in Psychology
• PSYC3501 - Advanced Psychopathology and Neuropsychology
• PSYC4100 - Critical Issues and Controversies in Psychology