I am a Lecturer in Psychology. My research is neurodevelopmental conditions, primarily developmental prosopagnosia (also known as face blindness) in children and adults. I am interested in how the patterns of face recognition difficulties may be similar or different across individuals and lifespan stages and also in which tests and measures best classify this interesting neurodevelopmental condition. If you, or someone you know has trouble recognising faces please get in touch.
Developmental prosopagnosia (face blindness) in children and adults taking a lifespan approach. Also interested in the co-occurence of developmental conditions My current areas of research are:
I use a theoretically-informed test battery to try to develop a better understanding of precisely where in the face processing system difficulties occurring at an individual level. I am also fascinated by the the richness of people's lived experience of prosopagnosia and believe that these insights can inform directions for future research and shed valuable light into whether there may be sub types of developmental prosopagnosia.
Which tests and measures are most useful for classifying developmental prosopagnosia? My research also investigates the role of different speed-accuracy trade offs and the extent to which our own subjective rating of our face recognition ability can predict performance on objective face processing tests.
What helps people with developmental prosopagnosia and other face recognition disorders? I am interested in the possibilities offered by rehabilitation training, strategies that can be developed and also environmental and systemic accommodations, including raising awareness of prosopagnosia.
I am always keen to hear from anyone who thinks they, or their child, may have difficulty with face recognition. Please feel free to contact me by email judith.lowes @ stir.ac.uk
Article
Lowes J, Mcgregor LM, Hancock PJB, Duchaine B & Bobak AK (2025) This condition impacts every aspect of my life: A survey to understand the experience of living with developmental prosopagnosia. PLoS ONE, 20 (4). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0322469
Article
Lowes J, Hancock PJB & Bobak AK (2024) Evidence for different visual processing strategy for non-face stimuli in developmental prosopagnosia. Visual Cognition. https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2024.2359743
Article
A new way of classifying developmental prosopagnosia: Balanced Integration Score
Lowes J, Hancock P & Bobak A (2024) A new way of classifying developmental prosopagnosia: Balanced Integration Score [Classifying DP using BIS]. Cortex, 172, pp. 159-184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2023.12.011
Research Report
Developing rehabilitation training for children and adults with developmental prosopagnosia
Lowes J (2022) Developing rehabilitation training for children and adults with developmental prosopagnosia. The British Psychological Society. The Cognitive Psychology Bulletin: BPS Postgraduate Rapid Grant Award Reports, Issue 7. https://shop.bps.org.uk/the-cognitive-psychology-bulletin-issue-7-spring-2022
Article
Ford A, Uny I, Lowes J, Naughton F, Cooper S, Coleman T, Hajek P, Przulj D, Myers Smith K, Bauld L, Sinclair L, Walton R, Clark M & Ussher M (2021) A Qualitative Study of Factors Influencing Adherence Among Pregnant Women Taking Part in a Trial of E-cigarettes for Smoking Cessation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18 (2), Art. No.: 430. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18020430
Programme Director MSc Autism and Neurodevelopmental Conditions Research. Module Coordinator MSc Autism and Neurodevelopmental Conditions Research PRMP141
I teach on various other modules including final year UG joint honours projects and supervise MSc dissertations