I received my PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Reading in 2018. After two and a half years as a postdoctoral researcher at the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm, Sweden), I joined the University of Stirling in July 2020.
I'm interested in bodily self-perception and in movement during individual and social contexts. To study these topics I typically use sensory illusions, motion-tracking, and non-invasive brain stimulation.
My research on movement in social situations has focussed on imitation. Imitation is an important skill for learning new actions, and my work aims to distinguish the brain and behavioural mechanisms underlying the imitation of actions that we know and actions that we don’t know.
My work on body perception has mostly focused on examining the links between high-level perception of the body (i.e., the subjective experience of where it is, what it is like, and whether it is attributed to the self) and motor control. I'm also interested in developing a better understanding of illusions as a tool to study body representation.
You can follow me on BlueSky here: https://bsky.app/profile/arranreader.bsky.social
Please get in touch if you are interested in working with me on an internship, PhD, or postdoc related to body perception, social interaction, or movement.
Associate/handling editor for Cognitive Processing
Associate/handling editor for Collabra: Psychology
Experimental Psychology Society
https://eps.ac.uk
Investigating the cortical control of multiple object handling
PI: Dr Arran Reader
Funded by: Royal Society
–
Understanding multiple object handling
PI: Dr Arran Reader
Funded by: Experimental Psychology Society
–
Article
Holmes NP, Di Chiaro NV, Crowe EM, Marson B, Göbel K, Gaigalas D, Jay T, Lockett AV, Powell ES, Zeni S & Reader AT (2024) Transcranial magnetic stimulation over supramarginal gyrus stimulates primary motor cortex directly and impairs manual dexterity: Implications for TMS focality. Journal of Neurophysiology, 131 (2), pp. 360-378. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00369.2023
Article
Smaller preferred interpersonal distance for joint versus parallel action
Schmitz L & Reader AT (2023) Smaller preferred interpersonal distance for joint versus parallel action. PLOS ONE, 18 (5), Art. No.: e0285202. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285202
Article
Investigating the relationship between self-reported interoceptive experience and risk propensity
Reader AT & Salvato G (2023) Investigating the relationship between self-reported interoceptive experience and risk propensity. Cognition and Emotion. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2023.2279160
Article
Subcortical contributions to the sense of body ownership
Crucianelli L, Reader AT & Ehrsson HH (2023) Subcortical contributions to the sense of body ownership. Brain. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awad359
Article
No reduction in motor‐evoked potential amplitude during the rubber hand illusion
Reader AT, Coppi S, Trifonova VS & Ehrsson HH (2023) No reduction in motor‐evoked potential amplitude during the rubber hand illusion. Brain and Behavior, Art. No.: e3211. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.3211
Article
Reader AT (2022) What Do Participants Expect to Experience in the Rubber Hand Illusion? A Conceptual Replication of Lush (2020). Collabra: Psychology, 8 (1), Art. No.: 35743. https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.35743
Article
Scrivener C & Reader AT (2022) Variability of EEG electrode positions and their underlying brain regions: visualizing gel artifacts from a simultaneous EEG-fMRI dataset. Brain and Behavior, 12 (2), Art. No.: e2476. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.2476
Article
The relationship between referral of touch and the feeling of ownership in the rubber hand illusion
Reader AT, Trifonova VS & Ehrsson HH (2021) The relationship between referral of touch and the feeling of ownership in the rubber hand illusion. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Art. No.: 629590. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.629590
Article
Little evidence for an effect of the rubber hand illusion on basic movement
Reader AT, Trifonova VS & Ehrsson HH (2021) Little evidence for an effect of the rubber hand illusion on basic movement. European Journal of Neuroscience, 54 (7), pp. 6463-6486. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.15444
Article
Reader AT & Ehrsson HH (2019) Weakening the subjective sensation of own hand ownership does not interfere with rapid finger movements. PLOS ONE, 14 (10), Art. No.: e0223580. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223580
Article
A Multisensory Perspective on the Role of the Amygdala in Body Ownership
Reader AT & Crucianelli L (2019) A Multisensory Perspective on the Role of the Amygdala in Body Ownership. Journal of Neuroscience, 39 (39), pp. 7645-7647. https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.0971-19.2019
Article
Reader AT & Holmes NP (2019) Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Over the Left Posterior Middle Temporal Gyrus Reduces Wrist Velocity During Emblematic Hand Gesture Imitation. Brain Topography, 32 (2), pp. 332-341. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-018-0684-1
Commentary
Reader AT & Candidi M (2019) Does apraxia support spatial and kinematic or mirror neuron approaches to social interaction? A commentary on Binder et al. (2017). Commentary on: Binder, E., Dovern, A., Hesse, M. D., Ebke, M., Karbe, H., Saliger, J., et al. (2017). Lesion evidence for a human mirror neuron system. Cortex, 90, 125e137. https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.cortex.2017.02.008. Cortex, 111, pp. 324-326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2017.10.018
Article
A kinematic examination of dual-route processing for action imitation
Reader AT, Rao VM, Christakou A & Holmes NP (2018) A kinematic examination of dual-route processing for action imitation. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 80 (8), pp. 2069-2083. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-018-1582-z
Article
Reader AT & Holmes NP (2018) The left ventral premotor cortex is involved in hand shaping for intransitive gestures: evidence from a two-person imitation experiment. Royal Society Open Science, 5 (10), Art. No.: 181356. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.181356
Article
Reader AT, Royce BP, Marsh JE, Chivers K & Holmes NP (2018) Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation reveals a role for the left inferior parietal lobule in matching observed kinematics during imitation. European Journal of Neuroscience, 47 (8), pp. 918-928. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.13886
Article
Optimal motor synergy extraction for novel actions and virtual environments
Reader AT (2017) Optimal motor synergy extraction for novel actions and virtual environments. Journal of Neurophysiology, 118 (2), pp. 652-654. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00165.2017
Article
Reader AT & Holmes NP (2016) Examining ecological validity in social interaction: problems of visual fidelity, gaze, and social potential. Culture and Brain, 4 (2), pp. 134-146. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40167-016-0041-8
Article
Semantic Organization of Body Part Representations in the Occipitotemporal Cortex
Reader AT (2016) Semantic Organization of Body Part Representations in the Occipitotemporal Cortex. Journal of Neuroscience, 36 (2), pp. 265-267. https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.3766-15.2016
Article
Video stimuli reduce object-directed imitation accuracy: a novel two-person motion-tracking approach
Reader AT & Holmes NP (2015) Video stimuli reduce object-directed imitation accuracy: a novel two-person motion-tracking approach. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, Art. No.: 644. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00644
Article
Naish KR, Reader AT, Houston-Price C, Bremner AJ & Holmes NP (2013) To eat or not to eat? Kinematics and muscle activity of reach-to-grasp movements are influenced by the action goal, but observers do not detect these differences. Experimental Brain Research, 225 (2), pp. 261-275. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3367-2
I am the coordinator and primary lecturer for the second year module PSYU9A3: The Social Mind. I also teach an undergraduate elective on body representation in Spring semester (PSYU9X8), and a session on motion-tracking for the MSc module Research Methods in Psychology (PRMP132).
