Dr Georgina Powell
Research Fellow (Health and Care Research Wales)
- PowellG7@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 29208 70716
- Tower Building, 70 Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3AT
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Overview
How can we use new technological advances to develop novel solutions for health and social care? My research explores this question across different populations (older people, people with a learning disability, autistic people, people with dizziness) and across a range of technologies (bespoke to mainstream).
Some of my current projects include: understanding digital exclusion, smart devices to improve wellbeing, agency and social connectivity for older people and people with a learning disability, virtual/Augmented reality and video games for people with chronic dizziness (in particular, persistent postural perceptual dizziness, PPPD, or 'visual vertigo'), and multi-sensory environments for Autistic people and people with a learning disability.
I use a mixed-methods approach that combines qualitative and quantitative measures, observational studies, neuroimaging, and psychophysics. I work closely with practitioners, social care organisations and people with lived experience to co-develop my research projects.
Publication
2023
- Unwin, K., Powell, G., Price, A. and Jones, C. R. G. 2023. Patterns of equipment use for autistic children in multi-sensory environments: Time spent with sensory equipment varies by sensory profile and intellectual ability. Autism (10.1177/13623613231180266)
- Smith, E., Sumner, P., Hedge, C. and Powell, G. 2023. Smart-speaker technology and intellectual disabilities: agency and wellbeing. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology 18(4), pp. 432-442. (10.1080/17483107.2020.1864670)
- Gamble, R., Sumner, P., Wilson-Smith, K., Derry-Summer, H., Rajenderkumar, D. and Powell, G. 2023. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis to probe the lived experiences of persistent postural-perceptual dizziness. Journal of Vestibular Research 33(2), pp. 89-103. (10.3233/VES-220059)
- Aldhafiri, R., Powell, G., Smith, E. and Perera, C. 2023. Voice-enabled privacy assistant towards facilitating successful ageing in smart homes. Presented at: IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 13-17 March 2023.
2022
- Freeman, T. C. A. and Powell, G. 2022. Perceived speed at low luminance: Lights out for the Bayesian observer?. Vision Research 201, article number: 108124. (10.1016/j.visres.2022.108124)
- Hedge, C., Powell, G., Bompas, A. and Sumner, P. 2022. Strategy and processing speed eclipse individual differences in control ability in conflict tasks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 48(10), pp. 1448-1469. (10.1037/xlm0001028)
- Unwin, K. L., Powell, G. and Jones, C. R. 2022. The use of Multi-Sensory Environments with autistic children: Exploring the effect of having control of sensory changes. Autism 26(6), pp. 1379-1394. (10.1177/13623613211050176)
- Powell, G., Penacchio, O., Derry-Sumner, H., Rushton, S. K., Rajenderkumar, D. and Sumner, P. 2022. Visual stress responses to static images are associated with symptoms of Persistent Postural Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD). Journal of Vestibular Research 32(1), pp. 69-78. (10.3233/VES-190578)
2021
- Unwin, K. L., Powell, G. and Jones, C. R. G. 2021. A sequential mixed-methods approach to exploring the experiences of practitioners who have worked in multi-sensory environments with autistic children. Research in Developmental Disabilities 118, article number: 104061. (10.1016/j.ridd.2021.104061)
- Price, A., Sumner, P. and Powell, G. 2021. Subjective sensory sensitivity and its relationship with anxiety in people with probable migraine. Headache 61(9), pp. 1342-1350. (10.1111/head.14219)
- Smith, E., Sumner, P., Hedge, C. and Powell, G. 2021. Smart speaker devices can improve speech intelligibility in adults with intellectual disability. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders 56(3), pp. 583-593. (10.1111/1460-6984.12615)
2020
- Perry, G., Taylor, N. W., Bothwell, P. C. H., Milbourn, C. C., Powell, G. and Singh, K. D. 2020. The gamma response to colour hue in humans: evidence from MEG. PLoS ONE 15(12), article number: e0243237. (10.1371/journal.pone.0243237)
- Hedge, C., Powell, G., Bompas, A. and Sumner, P. 2020. Self-reported impulsivity does not predict response caution. Personality and Individual Differences 167, article number: 110257. (10.1016/j.paid.2020.110257)
- Powell, G., Derry-Sumner, H., Shelton, K., Rushton, S., Hedge, C., Rajenderkuma, D. and Sumner, P. 2020. Visually-induced dizziness is associated with sensitivity and avoidance across all senses. Journal of Neurology 267, pp. 2260-2271. (10.1007/s00415-020-09817-0)
- Powell, G., Derry-Sumner, H., Rajenderkumar, D., Rushton, S. K. and Sumner, P. 2020. Persistent postural perceptual dizziness is on a spectrum in the general population. Neurology 94(18), pp. e1929-e1938. (10.1212/WNL.0000000000009373)
2019
- Hedge, C., Vivian-Griffiths, S., Powell, G., Bompas, A. and Sumner, P. 2019. Slow and steady? Strategic adjustments in response caution are moderately reliable and correlate across tasks. Consciousness and Cognition 75, article number: 102797. (10.1016/j.concog.2019.102797)
- Powell, G., Jones, C. R., Hedge, C., Charman, T., Happe, F., Simonoff, E. and Sumner, P. 2019. Face processing in autism spectrum disorder re-evaluated through diffusion models. Neuropsychology 33(4), pp. 445-461. (10.1037/neu0000524)
- Adams, R. C. et al. 2019. Claims of causality in health news: a randomised trial. BMC Medicine 17, article number: 91. (10.1186/s12916-019-1324-7)
2018
- Hedge, C., Powell, G., Bompas, A., Vivian-Griffiths, S. and Sumner, P. 2018. Low and variable correlation between reaction time costs and accuracy costs explained by accumulation models: Meta-analysis and simulations. Psychological Bulletin 144(11), pp. 1200-1227. (10.1037/bul0000164)
- Hedge, C., Powell, G. and Sumner, P. 2018. The mapping between transformed reaction time costs and models of processing in aging and cognition. Psychology and Aging 33(7), pp. 1093-1104. (10.1037/pag0000298)
- Hedge, C., Powell, G. and Sumner, P. 2018. The reliability paradox: Why robust cognitive tasks do not produce reliable individual differences. Behavior Research Methods 50(3), pp. 1166-1186. (10.3758/s13428-017-0935-1)
2016
- Powell, G., Bezeczky, Z., McMillin, R. and Freeman, T. C. A. 2016. Bayesian models of individual differences: combining autistic traits and sensory thresholds to predict motion perception. Psychological Science 27(12), pp. 1562-1572. (10.1177/0956797616665351)
- Powell, G., Wass, S. V., Erichsen, J. T. and Leekam, S. R. 2016. First evidence of the feasibility of gaze-contingent attention training for school children with autism. Autism 20(8), pp. 927-937. (10.1177/1362361315617880)
- Powell, G., Sumner, P., Harrison, J. J. and Bompas, A. 2016. Interaction between contours and eye movements in the perception of afterimages: A test of the signal ambiguity theory. Journal of Vision 16(7), article number: 16. (10.1167/16.7.16)
2015
- Powell, G., Sumner, P. and Bompas, A. 2015. The effect of eye movements and blinks on afterimage appearance and duration. Journal of Vision 15(3), pp. 1-15., article number: 20. (10.1167/15.3.20)
2013
- Bompas, A., Powell, G. and Sumner, P. 2013. Systematic biases in adult color perception persist despite lifelong information sufficient to calibrate them. Journal of Vision 13(1), article number: 19. (10.1167/13.1.19)
- Powell, G. 2013. Conscious perception of illusory colour. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
2012
- Powell, G., Bompas, A. and Sumner, P. 2012. Making the incredible credible: Afterimages are modulated by contextual edges more than real stimuli. Journal of Vision 12(10), article number: 17. (10.1167/12.10.17)
- Powell, G., Bompas, A. and Sumner, P. 2012. In pursuit of afterimage perception: Interactions with eye movements and contours. Perception 41(S), pp. 177-177. (10.1068/v120280)
2011
- Powell, G., Bompas, A. and Sumner, P. 2011. Hues being framed and the nulling of the afterimage [Abstract]. Perception 40(S), pp. 199-199. (10.1068/v110629)
- Bompas, A., Powell, G. and Sumner, P. 2011. Colour perception across the visual field: No mastery of sensorimotor contingencies [Abstract]. Perception 40(S), pp. 10-10. (10.1068/v110403)
Articles
- Unwin, K., Powell, G., Price, A. and Jones, C. R. G. 2023. Patterns of equipment use for autistic children in multi-sensory environments: Time spent with sensory equipment varies by sensory profile and intellectual ability. Autism (10.1177/13623613231180266)
- Smith, E., Sumner, P., Hedge, C. and Powell, G. 2023. Smart-speaker technology and intellectual disabilities: agency and wellbeing. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology 18(4), pp. 432-442. (10.1080/17483107.2020.1864670)
- Gamble, R., Sumner, P., Wilson-Smith, K., Derry-Summer, H., Rajenderkumar, D. and Powell, G. 2023. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis to probe the lived experiences of persistent postural-perceptual dizziness. Journal of Vestibular Research 33(2), pp. 89-103. (10.3233/VES-220059)
- Freeman, T. C. A. and Powell, G. 2022. Perceived speed at low luminance: Lights out for the Bayesian observer?. Vision Research 201, article number: 108124. (10.1016/j.visres.2022.108124)
- Hedge, C., Powell, G., Bompas, A. and Sumner, P. 2022. Strategy and processing speed eclipse individual differences in control ability in conflict tasks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 48(10), pp. 1448-1469. (10.1037/xlm0001028)
- Unwin, K. L., Powell, G. and Jones, C. R. 2022. The use of Multi-Sensory Environments with autistic children: Exploring the effect of having control of sensory changes. Autism 26(6), pp. 1379-1394. (10.1177/13623613211050176)
- Powell, G., Penacchio, O., Derry-Sumner, H., Rushton, S. K., Rajenderkumar, D. and Sumner, P. 2022. Visual stress responses to static images are associated with symptoms of Persistent Postural Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD). Journal of Vestibular Research 32(1), pp. 69-78. (10.3233/VES-190578)
- Unwin, K. L., Powell, G. and Jones, C. R. G. 2021. A sequential mixed-methods approach to exploring the experiences of practitioners who have worked in multi-sensory environments with autistic children. Research in Developmental Disabilities 118, article number: 104061. (10.1016/j.ridd.2021.104061)
- Price, A., Sumner, P. and Powell, G. 2021. Subjective sensory sensitivity and its relationship with anxiety in people with probable migraine. Headache 61(9), pp. 1342-1350. (10.1111/head.14219)
- Smith, E., Sumner, P., Hedge, C. and Powell, G. 2021. Smart speaker devices can improve speech intelligibility in adults with intellectual disability. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders 56(3), pp. 583-593. (10.1111/1460-6984.12615)
- Perry, G., Taylor, N. W., Bothwell, P. C. H., Milbourn, C. C., Powell, G. and Singh, K. D. 2020. The gamma response to colour hue in humans: evidence from MEG. PLoS ONE 15(12), article number: e0243237. (10.1371/journal.pone.0243237)
- Hedge, C., Powell, G., Bompas, A. and Sumner, P. 2020. Self-reported impulsivity does not predict response caution. Personality and Individual Differences 167, article number: 110257. (10.1016/j.paid.2020.110257)
- Powell, G., Derry-Sumner, H., Shelton, K., Rushton, S., Hedge, C., Rajenderkuma, D. and Sumner, P. 2020. Visually-induced dizziness is associated with sensitivity and avoidance across all senses. Journal of Neurology 267, pp. 2260-2271. (10.1007/s00415-020-09817-0)
- Powell, G., Derry-Sumner, H., Rajenderkumar, D., Rushton, S. K. and Sumner, P. 2020. Persistent postural perceptual dizziness is on a spectrum in the general population. Neurology 94(18), pp. e1929-e1938. (10.1212/WNL.0000000000009373)
- Hedge, C., Vivian-Griffiths, S., Powell, G., Bompas, A. and Sumner, P. 2019. Slow and steady? Strategic adjustments in response caution are moderately reliable and correlate across tasks. Consciousness and Cognition 75, article number: 102797. (10.1016/j.concog.2019.102797)
- Powell, G., Jones, C. R., Hedge, C., Charman, T., Happe, F., Simonoff, E. and Sumner, P. 2019. Face processing in autism spectrum disorder re-evaluated through diffusion models. Neuropsychology 33(4), pp. 445-461. (10.1037/neu0000524)
- Adams, R. C. et al. 2019. Claims of causality in health news: a randomised trial. BMC Medicine 17, article number: 91. (10.1186/s12916-019-1324-7)
- Hedge, C., Powell, G., Bompas, A., Vivian-Griffiths, S. and Sumner, P. 2018. Low and variable correlation between reaction time costs and accuracy costs explained by accumulation models: Meta-analysis and simulations. Psychological Bulletin 144(11), pp. 1200-1227. (10.1037/bul0000164)
- Hedge, C., Powell, G. and Sumner, P. 2018. The mapping between transformed reaction time costs and models of processing in aging and cognition. Psychology and Aging 33(7), pp. 1093-1104. (10.1037/pag0000298)
- Hedge, C., Powell, G. and Sumner, P. 2018. The reliability paradox: Why robust cognitive tasks do not produce reliable individual differences. Behavior Research Methods 50(3), pp. 1166-1186. (10.3758/s13428-017-0935-1)
- Powell, G., Bezeczky, Z., McMillin, R. and Freeman, T. C. A. 2016. Bayesian models of individual differences: combining autistic traits and sensory thresholds to predict motion perception. Psychological Science 27(12), pp. 1562-1572. (10.1177/0956797616665351)
- Powell, G., Wass, S. V., Erichsen, J. T. and Leekam, S. R. 2016. First evidence of the feasibility of gaze-contingent attention training for school children with autism. Autism 20(8), pp. 927-937. (10.1177/1362361315617880)
- Powell, G., Sumner, P., Harrison, J. J. and Bompas, A. 2016. Interaction between contours and eye movements in the perception of afterimages: A test of the signal ambiguity theory. Journal of Vision 16(7), article number: 16. (10.1167/16.7.16)
- Powell, G., Sumner, P. and Bompas, A. 2015. The effect of eye movements and blinks on afterimage appearance and duration. Journal of Vision 15(3), pp. 1-15., article number: 20. (10.1167/15.3.20)
- Bompas, A., Powell, G. and Sumner, P. 2013. Systematic biases in adult color perception persist despite lifelong information sufficient to calibrate them. Journal of Vision 13(1), article number: 19. (10.1167/13.1.19)
- Powell, G., Bompas, A. and Sumner, P. 2012. Making the incredible credible: Afterimages are modulated by contextual edges more than real stimuli. Journal of Vision 12(10), article number: 17. (10.1167/12.10.17)
- Powell, G., Bompas, A. and Sumner, P. 2012. In pursuit of afterimage perception: Interactions with eye movements and contours. Perception 41(S), pp. 177-177. (10.1068/v120280)
- Powell, G., Bompas, A. and Sumner, P. 2011. Hues being framed and the nulling of the afterimage [Abstract]. Perception 40(S), pp. 199-199. (10.1068/v110629)
- Bompas, A., Powell, G. and Sumner, P. 2011. Colour perception across the visual field: No mastery of sensorimotor contingencies [Abstract]. Perception 40(S), pp. 10-10. (10.1068/v110403)
Conferences
- Aldhafiri, R., Powell, G., Smith, E. and Perera, C. 2023. Voice-enabled privacy assistant towards facilitating successful ageing in smart homes. Presented at: IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 13-17 March 2023.
Thesis
- Powell, G. 2013. Conscious perception of illusory colour. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
Research
'Smart Speaker' personal assistants in social care settings
Can new 'Smart Speaker' technologies, such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home, improve wellbeing, independence, communication and safety in social care? My Health and Care Research Wales Fellowship is investigating this question for older adults and people with learning disabilities.
Smart technology is becoming increasingly ubiquitous in modern day life, and social care could capitalise on these advances to find novel solutions to models of support. Mainstream smart technologies allow people to control their home environment via voice commands, are cost-effective, and continue to evolve and improve. The two main goals of my fellowship are to:
- Improve wellbeing, independence, communication, and safety for vulnerable individuals - ranging from those who wish to remain living independently for longer to those who currently need a high degree of support.
- Produce an evidence-base to allow future social care decisions to capitalise on emerging smart technology.
In collaboration with social care organisations across South Wales, I will investigate whether introducing smart technologies into social care settings can improve independence, communication, and wellbeing of individuals receiving support.
Persistent Postural Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD, or 'visual vertigo')
Persistent postural perceptual dizziness (PPPD) is a chronic, debilitating condition that describes dizziness and non-spinning vertigo induced by self-movement, challenging visual environments and upright posture. Common triggers include situations of vestibulo-visual conflict, such as cinemas, and intense visual environments, such as supermarkets.
The Cardiff PPPD project is investigating the causes and correlates of PPPD and developing new technological rehabilitation tools for patients. We are collaborating with vestibular clinicians at University Hospital Wales and exploring the enigma of PPPD using a range of theoretical and methodological approaches. Our research so far has shown that symptoms of PPPD are remarkably common in the general population and that the condition is associated with avoidance and sensitivity across all senses (i.e. not just limited to vision and vestibular).
If you are a clinician and would like to access our videos showing environments that are potential triggers for PPPD, please visit the Cardiff PPPD project webpage.
Sensory perception in Autism Spectrum Disorders
Individuals with ASD often have different sensory experiences of the world than individuals without ASD. This is apparent both from questionnaire measures of sensory processing and from psychophysical measures of differences in detection and discrimination of sensory stimuli. I'm interested in why individuals with ASD have different sensory experiences of the world and the relationship between sensory processing profiles (measured by questionnaires and psychophysics) and real life sensory behaviours and exploration.
In collaboration with Catherine Jones, I'm investigating how multi-sensory environments (MSE; also called Snoezelen® or sensory rooms) are used by children with ASD. MSEs contain equipment that modify sensory input, usually in the auditory, visual and tactile domains, and are common features of special needs schools. However, relatively little research has explored their benefits and limitations. We are using a purpose-build MSE which is based at the Cardiff University Centre for Human Developmental Science at the School of Psychology.
In a past project, I investigated whether visual attention control can be improved in children with Autism by playing novel eye-tracking attention control games (see Powell, Wass, Erichsen and Leekam, 2016).
Funding
Health and Care Research Wales Social Care Fellowship (2020-2024, £331,479) PI
Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund research grant (2013-2015, £49,402, named post-doc) Sue Leekam PI
Teaching
I lecture and run practicals for the Psychology (MSc) conversion course on the Developmental and Abnormal Psychology module (PST721). I also supervise placements students on the MSc.
Biography
Education
2009: BA Applied Psychology (Hons) 1st class, Cardiff University.
2013: PhD Psychology, Cardiff University. Thesis: Conscious Perception of Illusory Colour. Supervised by P. Sumner and A. Bompas.
Honours and awards
Hadyn Ellis prize for best PhD dissertation (2014), School of Psychology, Cardiff University.
Bristol Cardiff Young Vision Researchers Colloquium (2013, £50), 2nd Prize Oral Presentation Award.
Applied Vision Association (2012, £750), Richard Eagle Memorial Award.
European Conference of Visual Perception (2011, €500), student poster prize.
Speaking of Science, Cardiff University (2011, £50), 2nd Prize Oral Presentation Award.
Professional memberships
Applied Vision Association (AVA).
Academic positions
February 2020 - present: Health and Care Research Wales Social Care Fellow and part-time lecturer
October 2013 – January 2020: Research Associate at Cardiff University
July – October 2012: Press Officer for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Science Media Centre
2009-2013: Undergraduate teaching at Cardiff University. Year 1 Practicals and Statistics Tutor, Year 2 Practical Assistant, and Year 3 Workshop Assistant
2007-2008: Placement with Clinical Psychology team at Cardiff Adult Learning Disabilities Service
Committees and reviewing
2009-present: Vice Chair, Innovate Trust.
2008-2009: Vice Chair, Student Volunteering Cardiff.
Supervisions
I'm interested in supervising PhD students in the areas of:
- Technological solutions in health and social care
- Dizziness
- Visual and vestibular perception
- Autism
Current Students
- Ryan Gamble (co-supervised with Petroc Sumner and Simon Rushton) - Ryan is exploring the causes and correlates of persistent perceptual postural dizziness (PPPD, 'visual vertigo').
- Alice Price (co-supervised with Petroc Sumner and Krish Singh) - Alice is investigating the concept of 'sensory overload', using a combination of subjective, neuroimaging, and psychophysics measures.
- Nathan Goodwin (co-supervised with Petroc Sumner and Fernando Loizides) - Nathan developing video game and augmented reality rehabilitation tools for people with dizziness.
- Charlotte Griffin - Charlotte is exploring how smart technologies can be used to promote wellbeing, social inclusion, and mental health.
- Reem Alharbi (co-supervised with Charith Perera) - Reem is investigating privacy and surveillance concerns surrounding smart technology, and developing accessible ways to increase education and awareness.