Sarah E. MacPherson

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor at University of Edinburgh

Harmonized neuropsychological assessment for neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) is an urgent priority in clinics. Neuropsychology assessments in NCDs seldom include tests exploring social cognitive skills. In 2022, we launched the SIGNATURE initiative to optimize socio‐cognitive assessment in NCDs. Here, we report findings from the first initiative ph...

The terminology used to describe components of social cognition lacks clarity and specificity. Recent studies have tried to reach consensus on definitions of social cognition based on expert opinion. These efforts resulted in semantically well-defined terms and distinct concepts, but it remains unclear whether these terms also align with empirical...

Objective: Immersive virtual reality (VR) enhances ecologically validity and facilitates intuitive and ergonomic hand interactions for performing neuropsychological assessments. However, its comparability to traditional computerized methods remains unclear. This study investigates the convergent validity, user experience, and usability of VR-based...

Objective: Immersive virtual reality (VR) enhances ecologically validity and facilitates intuitive and ergonomic hand interactions for performing neuropsychological assessments. However, its comparability to traditional computerized methods remains unclear. This study investigates the convergent validity, user experience, and usability of VR-based...

Creative ideas often stem from a deliberate process involving the exploration and exploitation of our existing knowledge. This study explores the cognitive mechanisms behind creative problem-solving, focusing on the phases of idea generation and evaluation in the Remote Associates Test (RAT). Generating novel ideas relies on an effective, goal-dire...

Effective communication involves a delicate balance between generating novel, engaging content and maintaining a coherent narrative. The neural mechanisms underlying this balance between coherence and creativity in discourse production remain unexplored. The aim of the current study was to investigate the relationship between coherence and creativi...

As we age, learning new knowledge and skills becomes more difficult due to age-related changes to cognition. Learning collaboratively could counteract these changes, and perhaps more so when working with someone familiar. This study examined whether collaborative learning is affected by age and partner familiarity. Forty-eight participants (younger...

Background: Harmonising assessment for neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) is an urgent priority for both clinical settings and research. In 2022, we launched the SIGNATURE initiative with the aim to harmonize and optimise the use of socio-cognitive assessments in NCDs. Hereby, we report findings from the first phase of the initiative including the eva...

Introduction The relationship between neural social cognition patterns and performance on social cognition tasks in daily life is a topic of debate, with key consideration given to the extent to which theory of mind (ToM) brain circuits share properties reflecting everyday social functioning. To test the efficacy of ecological stimuli in eliciting...

Creative thinking is a complex higher-order ability that draws on multiple cognitive systems. However, the contribution of specific semantic control processes to creativity remains unclear. The current study had two goals: First, we investigated how individual differences in semantic knowledge and control contribute to divergent and convergent styl...

This study investigated how adults over the lifespan flexibly adapt their use of prosocial speech acts when conveying bad news to communicative partners. Experiment 1a (N = 100 Scottish adults aged 18–72 years) assessed whether participants’ use of prosocial speech acts varied according to audience design considerations (i.e., whether or not the re...

The relationship between neural social cognition patterns and performance on social cognition tasks in daily life is a topic of debate, with key consideration given to the extent to which theory of mind (ToM) brain circuits share properties reflecting the naturalistic context. To test implicit and explicit mentalizing in naturalistic context, we us...

Objective: People with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) or dementia often exhibit a decline in their social abilities, but few tests of social cognition exist that are suitable for clinical use. Moreover, the relationship between changes in behavior and impairments in social cognition is poorly understood. We examined the utility of the Ed...

Background: ALS clinical care and research has changed dramatically since the COVID-19 pandemic, accelerating the need for cognitive assessments to be adapted for remote use. Objectives: To develop the remote administration method of the Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioural ALS Screen (ECAS), and determine its reliability and validity. Methods: T...

Ageing is accompanied by a multitude of changes in cognitive abilities, which in turn affect learning. Learning collaboratively may benefit older adults by negating some of these age-related changes. However, studies on collaborative learning in older age differ in their methodology and findings. This systematic review provides an overview of the c...

Background: Harmonisation of evidence-based neuropsychological protocols among different countries represents a priority for the benefit of researchers, clinicians and most importantly patients. Currently, no consensus on a uniform operationalization of socio-cognitive measures for neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) in memory clinics exists. The inter...

As we age, learning new knowledge and skills becomes more difficult due to age-related changes to cognition. Learning collaboratively could counteract these changes, and perhaps more so when working with someone familiar. This study examined whether collaborative learning is affected by age and partner familiarity. Forty-eight participants (younger...

As we age, learning new knowledge and skills becomes more difficult due to age-related changes to cognition. Learning collaboratively could counteract these changes, and perhaps more so when working with someone familiar. This study examined whether collaborative learning is affected by age and partner familiarity. Forty-eight participants (younger...

Cognitive aging research has studied the influence of healthy aging on the ability to multitask. Yet, little is known about the factors that might improve or impair serial multitasking performance in older adults. Three experiments involving younger and older adults assessed the impact of interruptions and planning on a prop-based test of multitask...

Aims: At present, there is no consensus on a uniform operationalization of social cognition measures for the diagnosis of neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) in memory clinics. To overcome this limitation, the international consortium "clinical use of SocIal coGNnition measures for the AssessmenT of neURocognitivE disorders'' (SIGNATURE) has been estab...

p>Recent research has attempted to identify methods to mitigate cybersickness and examine its aftereffects. In this direction, this paper examines the effects of cybersickness on cognitive, motor, and reading performance in VR. Also, this paper evaluates the mitigating effects of music on cybersickness, as well as the role of gender, and the comput...

p>Recent research has attempted to identify methods to mitigate cybersickness and examine its aftereffects. In this direction, this paper examines the effects of cybersickness on cognitive, motor, and reading performance in VR. Also, this paper evaluates the mitigating effects of music on cybersickness, as well as the role of gender, and the comput...

Recent research has attempted to identify methods to mitigate cybersickness and examine its aftereffects. In this direction, this paper examines the effects of cybersickness on cognitive, motor, and reading performance in VR. Also, this paper evaluates the mitigating effects of music on cybersickness, as well as the role of gender, and the computin...

Recent research has attempted to identify methods to mitigate cybersickness and examine its aftereffects. In this direction, this paper examines the effects of cybersickness on cognitive, motor, and reading performance in VR. Also, this paper evaluates the mitigating effects of music on cybersickness, as well as the role of gender, and the computin...

Recent research has attempted to identify methods to mitigate cybersickness and examine its aftereffects. In this direction, this paper examines the effects of cybersickness on cognitive, motor, and reading performance in VR. Also, this paper evaluates the mitigating effects of music on cybersickness, as well as the role of gender, and the computin...

At present, there is no consensus on a uniform operationalization of social cognition measures for the diagnosis of neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) in memory clinics. To overcome this limitation, the international consortium "clinical use of SocIal coGNnition measures for the AssessmenT of neURocognitivE disorders'' (SIGNATURE) has been established...

p>Cybersickness is a drawback of virtual reality (VR), which also affects the cognitive and motor skills of the users. The Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ), and its variant, the Virtual Reality Sickness Questionnaire (VRSQ) are two tools that measure cybersickness. However, both tools suffer from important limitations, which raises concerns a...

p>Cybersickness is a drawback of virtual reality (VR), which also affects the cognitive and motor skills of the users. The Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ), and its variant, the Virtual Reality Sickness Questionnaire (VRSQ) are two tools that measure cybersickness. However, both tools suffer from important limitations, which raises concerns a...

The CyberSickness in VR Questionnaire (CSQ-VR) is designed in line with the questionnaires' design guidelines for obtaining reliable responses (i.e., using a 7-point scale and combining text with numbers). The CSQ-VR assesses the whole range of cybersickness symptoms, including nausea, disorientation, and oculomotor. There are two questions for eac...

Cybersickness is a drawback of virtual reality (VR), which also affects the cognitive and motor skills of users. The Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) and its variant, the Virtual Reality Sickness Questionnaire (VRSQ), are two tools that measure cybersickness. However, both tools suffer from important limitations which raise concerns about the...

Cybersickness is a drawback of virtual reality (VR), which also affects the cognitive and motor skills of the users. The Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ), and its variant, the Virtual Reality Sickness Questionnaire (VRSQ) are two tools that measure cybersickness. However, both tools suffer from important limitations, which raises concerns abo...

Cybersickness is a drawback of virtual reality (VR), which also affects the cognitive and motor skills of the users. The Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ), and its variant, the Virtual Reality Sickness Questionnaire (VRSQ) are two tools that measure cybersickness. However, both tools suffer from important limitations, which raises concerns abo...

The CyberSickness in VR Questionnaire (CSQ-VR) is designed in line with the questionnaires' design guidelines for obtaining reliable responses (i.e., using a 7-point scale and combining text with numbers). The CSQ-VR assesses the whole range of cybersickness symptoms, including nausea, disorientation, and oculomotor. There are two questions for eac...

The VRNQ measures the quality of user experience, game mechanics, and in-game assistance, as well as the intensity of VRISE. The VRNQ involves 20 questions, where each question corresponds to one of the criteria for appropriate VR research/clinical software (e.g., the level of immersion). The 20 questions are grouped under four domains, where each...

The relevance of social cognition assessment has been formally described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5. However, social cognition tools evaluating different socio-cognitive components for Italian-speaking populations are lacking. The Edinburgh Social Cognition Test (ESCoT) is a new social cognition measure that uses...

Introduction. Aging is accompanied by a multitude of changes in cognitive abilities such as processing speed and memory, which in turn affect learning. Learning collaboratively may benefit older adults by negating some of these age-related changes. Collaborative learning, especially in older age, has not been extensively studied but is experiencing...

The Cognitive Reserve (CR) hypothesis accounts for individual differences in vulnerability to age- or pathological-related brain changes. It suggests lifetime influences (e.g., education) increase the effectiveness of cognitive processing in later life. While evidence suggests CR proxies predict cognitive performance in older age, it is less clear...

There is evidence that autistic children may have reduced executive function skills, contributing to day-to-day difficulties, but much remains unknown regarding the influence of bilingualism. We investigated its influence on sustained attention, interference control, flexible switching and working memory, in Arabic-English autistic (n = 27) and typ...

The Cognitive Estimation Test (CET) is commonly used in neuropsychological assessment. It is typically assumed to load on executive functions, although research has shown that CET performance also depends on access to semantic knowledge. It is unknown whether these contributions vary with age. It is important to examine this question as these abili...

Collaborative learning with a familiar partner can reduce age-related differences in learning and memory compared to learning alone. This study compares younger and older adults' learning with familiar and unfamiliar partners to determine whether familiarity is beneficial for collaborative learning. Twenty-four younger adults aged 18-28 years and 2...

Aging is accompanied by a multitude of changes in cognitive abilities such as processing speed and memory, which in turn affect learning. Learning collaboratively may benefit older adults by negating some of these age-related changes. Collaborative learning, especially in older age, has not been extensively studied but is experiencing a resurgence....

The proposed systematic review will focus on providing a complete and comprehensive overview of the research on collaborative learning of new information in older age, exploring if collaborative learning can be more beneficial compared to learning individually, and under what circumstances. This manuscript has been peer-reviewed and has received...

Studies on prospective memory (PM) predominantly assess either event- or time-based PM by implementing non-ecological laboratory-based tasks. The results deriving from these paradigms have provided findings that are discrepant with ecologically valid research paradigms that converge on the complexity and cognitive demands of everyday tasks. The Vir...

Clinical tools involving immersive virtual reality (VR) may bring several advantages to cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology. However, there are some technical and methodological pitfalls. The American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN) and the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN) raised 8 key issues pertaining to Computerized Ne...

Clinical tools involving immersive virtual reality (VR) may bring several advantages to cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology. However, there are some technical and methodological pitfalls. The American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN) and the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN) raised 8 key issues pertaining to Computerized Ne...

Objectives Social cognition is frequently impaired following an acquired brain injury (ABI) but often overlooked in clinical assessments. There are few validated and appropriate measures of social cognitive abilities for ABI patients. The current study examined the validity of the Edinburgh Social Cognition Test (ESCoT, Baksh et al., 2018) in measu...

Following recent work on pragmatics and ageing, this study investigates how adults of different ages relay bad news in face-threatening situations. Three factors were manipulated between subjects: the recipient (whether or not they were affected by the news), the severity of the news, and whether or not the news was health-related. Participants (N=...

The Cognitive Estimation Test (CET) is commonly used in neuropsychological assessment. It is typically assumed to load on executive functions, although research has shown that CET performance also depends on semantic knowledge. Yet, it is unknown whether these contributions vary with age. It is important to examine this question as these abilities...

Clinical tools involving immersive virtual reality (VR) may bring several advantages to cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology. However, there are some technical and methodological pitfalls. The American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN) and the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN) raised 8 key issues pertaining to Computerized Ne...

Clinical tools involving immersive virtual reality (VR) may bring several advantages to cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology. However, there are some technical and methodological pitfalls. The American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN) and the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN) raised 8 key issues pertaining to Computerized Ne...

Clinical tools involving immersive virtual reality (VR) may bring several advantages to cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology. However, there are some technical and methodological pitfalls. The American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN) and the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN) raised 8 key issues pertaining to Computerized Ne...

Recent research has focused on assessing either event- or time-based prospective memory (PM) using laboratory tasks. Yet, the findings pertaining to PM performance on laboratory tasks are often inconsistent with the findings on corresponding naturalistic experiments. Ecologically valid neuropsychological tasks resemble the complexity and cognitive...

Recent research has focused on assessing either event- or time-based prospective memory (PM) using laboratory tasks. Yet, the findings pertaining to PM performance on laboratory tasks are often inconsistent with the findings on corresponding naturalistic experiments. Ecologically valid neuropsychological tasks resemble the complexity and cognitive...

Studies on prospective memory (PM) predominantly assess either event- or time-based PM by implementing non-ecological laboratory-based tasks. The results deriving from these paradigms have provided findings that are discrepant with ecologically valid research paradigms that converge on the complexity and cognitive demands of everyday tasks. The Vir...

Recent research has focused on assessing either event- or time-based prospective memory (PM) using laboratory tasks. Yet, the findings pertaining to PM performance on laboratory tasks are often inconsistent with the findings on corresponding naturalistic experiments. Ecologically valid neuropsychological tasks resemble the complexity and cognitive...

Studies on prospective memory (PM) predominantly assess either event- or time-based PM by implementing non-ecological laboratory-based tasks. The results deriving from these paradigms have provided findings that are discrepant with ecologically valid research paradigms that converge on the complexity and cognitive demands of everyday tasks. The Vir...

Recent research has focused on assessing either event- or time-based prospective memory (PM) using laboratory tasks. Yet, the findings pertaining to PM performance on laboratory tasks are often inconsistent with the findings on corresponding naturalistic experiments. Ecologically valid neuropsychological tasks resemble the complexity and cognitive...

Studies on prospective memory (PM) predominantly assess either event- or time-based PM by implementing non-ecological laboratory-based tasks. The results deriving from these paradigms have provided findings that are discrepant with ecologically valid research paradigms that converge on the complexity and cognitive demands of everyday tasks. The Vir...

Virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMD) appear to be effective research tools, which may address the problem of ecological validity in neuropsychological testing. However, their widespread implementation is hindered by VR induced symptoms and effects (VRISE) and the lack of skills in VR software development. This study offers guidelines fo...

Research suggests that the duration of a VR session modulates the presence and intensity of VRISE, but there are no suggestions regarding the appropriate maximum duration of VR sessions. The implementation of high-end VR HMDs in conjunction with ergonomic VR software seems to mitigate the presence of VRISE substantially. However, a brief tool does...

Virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMD) appear to be effective research tools, which may address the problem of ecological validity in neuropsychological testing. However, their widespread implementation is hindered by VR induced symptoms and effects (VRISE) and the lack of skills in VR software development. This study offers guidelines fo...

Research suggests that the duration of a VR session modulates the presence and intensity of VRISE, but there are no suggestions regarding the appropriate maximum duration of VR sessions. The implementation of high-end VR HMDs in conjunction with ergonomic VR software seems to mitigate the presence of VRISE substantially. However, a brief tool does...

Immersive virtual reality (VR) emerges as a promising research and clinical tool. However, several studies suggest that VR induced adverse symptoms and effects (VRISE) may undermine the health and safety standards, and the reliability of the scientific results. In the current literature review, the technical reasons for the adverse symptomatology a...

Immersive virtual reality (VR) emerges as a promising research and clinical tool. However, several studies suggest that VR induced adverse symptoms and effects (VRISE) may undermine the health and safety standards, and the reliability of the scientific results. In the current literature review, the technical reasons for the adverse symptomatology a...

Objective The assessment of cognitive functions such as prospective memory, episodic memory, attention, and executive functions benefits from an ecologically valid approach to better understand how performance outcomes generalize to everyday life. Immersive virtual reality (VR) is considered capable of simulating real-life situations to enhance eco...

Immersive virtual reality (VR) emerges as a promising research and clinical tool. However, several studies suggest that VR induced adverse symptoms and effects (VRISE) may undermine the health and safety standards, and the reliability of the scientific results. In the current literature review, the technical reasons for the adverse symptomatology a...

Virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMD) appear to be effective research tools, which may address the problem of ecological validity in neuropsychological testing. However, their widespread implementation is hindered by VR induced symptoms and effects (VRISE) and the lack of skills in VR software development. This study offers guidelines fo...

Objective: The assessment of cognitive functions such as prospective memory, episodic memory, attention, and executive functions benefits from an ecologically valid approach to better understand how performance outcomes generalize to everyday life. Immersive virtual reality (VR) is considered capable of simulating real-life situations to enhance ec...

Research suggests that the duration of a VR session modulates the presence and intensity of VRISE, but there are no suggestions regarding the appropriate maximum duration of VR sessions. The implementation of high-end VR HMDs in conjunction with ergonomic VR software seems to mitigate the presence of VRISE substantially. However, a brief tool does...

Recent research has focused on assessing either event- or time-based prospective memory (PM) using laboratory tasks. Yet, the findings pertaining to PM performance on laboratory tasks are often inconsistent with the findings on corresponding naturalistic experiments. Ecologically valid neuropsychological tasks resemble the complexity and cognitive...

The most frequently used measure of cybersickness is the simulator sickness questionnaire (SSQ). The SSQ is the most implemented questionnaire in virtual reality (VR) studies. However, the SSQ was designed to measure simulator sickness (Kennedy et al., 1993), while there is a dispute that simulator sickness symptomatology may not be the same as cyb...

There is evidence to suggest that certain executive functions are impaired in autistic children, contributing to many daily challenges. Regular use of two languages has the potential to positively influence executive functions, though evidence is mixed. Little is known about the impact of bilingualism on the executive functions of autistic children...

Recent research has focused on assessing either event- or time-based prospective memory (PM) using laboratory tasks. Yet, the findings pertaining to PM performance on laboratory tasks are often inconsistent with the findings on corresponding naturalistic experiments. Ecologically valid neuropsychological tasks resemble the complexity and cognitive...

Objective The assessment of cognitive functions such as prospective memory, episodic memory, attention, and executive functions benefits from an ecologically valid approach to better understand how performance outcomes generalize to everyday life. Immersive virtual reality (VR) is considered capable of simulating real-life situations to enhance eco...

Objective Cognitive reserve (CR) suggests that premorbid efficacy, aptitude, and flexibility of cognitive processing can aid the brain’s ability to cope with change or damage. Our previous work has shown that age and literacy attainment predict the cognitive performance of frontal patients on frontal-executive tests. However, it remains unknown whe...

Objective: Many existing tests of social cognition are not appropriate for clinical use, due to their length, complexity or uncertainty in what they are assessing. The Edinburgh Social Cognition Test (ESCoT) is a new test of social cognition that assesses affective and cognitive Theory of Mind as well as inter- and intrapersonal understanding of so...

Objective: The assessment of cognitive functions such as prospective memory, episodic memory, attention, and executive functions benefits from an ecologically valid approach to better understand how performance outcomes generalize to everyday life. Immersive virtual reality (VR) is considered capable of simulating real-life situations to enhance ec...

Objective Current measures of social cognition have shown inconsistent findings regarding the effects of executive function (EF) abilities on social cognitive performance in older adults. The psychometric properties of the different social cognition tests may underlie the disproportional overlap with EF abilities. Our aim was to examine the relatio...

Virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMD) appear to be effective research tools, which may address the problem of ecological validity in neuropsychological testing. However, their widespread implementation is hindered by VR induced symptoms and effects (VRISE) and the lack of skills in VR software development. This study offers guidelines fo...

Serial multitasking is the ability to coordinate the completion of several tasks to achieve an overall goal (e.g., preparing a meal for friends). In everyday situations requiring serial multitasking, only one task can be attempted at a time; individuals are seeking to perform several tasks within a specific period but cannot perform the tasks from...

Dual-tasking or concurrent multitasking is the ability to coordinate the performance of two or more tasks at the same time. Dual-tasking can be considered in terms of divided attention, which supposes that there is a single general pool of attentional resource that can be allocated across a range of tasks being performed simultaneously. Each task r...

The aging process has been shown to impair cognitive functions subsumed by the frontal lobes, but this region is heterogeneous and functions can be subdivided into different categories. Previous research focuses on aging within functions associated with dorsolateral and orbital prefrontal cortex regions. This study investigates functions associated...

Here you may find and download the administration form of the Virtual Reality Neuroscience Questionnaire (VRNQ). VRNQ measures the quality of immersive VR software in terms of User Experience, Game Mechanics, and In-Game Assistance. Also, it measures the intensity of adverse symptomatology (i.e., Nausea, Disorientation, Dizziness, Fatigue, and Inst...

There are major concerns about the suitability of immersive virtual reality (VR) systems (i.e., head-mounted display; HMD) to be implemented in research and clinical settings, because of the presence of nausea, dizziness, disorientation, fatigue, and instability (i.e., VR induced symptoms and effects; VRISE). Research suggests that the duration of...

Camouflaging is a frequently reported behaviour in autistic people, which entails the use of strategies to compensate for and mask autistic traits in social situations. Camouflaging is associated with poor mental health in autistic people. This study examined the manifestation of camouflaging in a non-autistic sample, examining the relationship bet...