Karina Linnell

Karina is a Reader in Psychology at Goldsmiths. She researches visual cognition, attention, perception, and awareness, and the shaping of these processes by experience, and aims to adopt a translational approach. She has been privileged to study the profound differences in cognitive and perceptual style that exist between a remote, semi-nomadic Namibian population and their urbanized cousins. She is fascinated by cross-cultural and individual differences - particularly those related to urbanization, education, and socioeconomic status - and committed to the view that only by taking these differences into account will we acquire an informed understanding of human cognition and perception.

Karina has received external grant funding to support her research from a variety of bodies including the ESRC, British Academy, Leverhulme Trust, and National Institute of Health Research (Research for Patient Benefit scheme).

Karina’s work on the impact of urbanization on our capacity to concentrate, and its implications for educational attainment, has attracted considerable media attention. She has been interviewed on international and national TV and radio (e.g., on BBC World News, BBC Radio 4) and her work has been cited in international and national newspapers (e.g. in the Guardian, by its Education Correspondent). Furthermore, she was selected by the ESRC national research council to prepare an impact case study on the implications of her work on processing style and urbanization.