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Dr Diana Szameitat
Lecturer in Psychology

Summary

In 2002 I obtained a MSc at the University of Tübingen, Germany. In 2006 I finished my PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Max-Planck-Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany working on the Perception and Acoustics of human laughter. A part of my PhD was done at the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK where I received a Marie Curie Host Fellowship. During my time as a post-doc and an assistant professor I worked at the Department of Affective Neuropsychiatry, University Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Germany and at the Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK during which I did research on the neural correlates of laughter perception. During the pandemic I obtained a PGCE Postgraduate Certificate of Education at the University of Hertfordshire. Sind 2024 I am working as a lecturer at the CCN, Department of Life Sciences, Brunel University London.

My current research focuses on emotional communication and social cognition in laughter. I use a variety of methods, such as behavioural methods, acoustic analysis, and fMRI

Qualifications

2002  MSc, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany

2006  PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience, Max-Planck-Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Leipzig, Germany

Responsibility

Module lead  - PY5611 Preparation for Research

Module lead - PY 3613 Psychology of Reading and Its Impaiments

Newest selected publications

Szameitat, DP. and Szameitat, AJ. (2024) 'Recognition of emotions in German laughter across cultures'. Scientific Reports, 14 (1). pp. 1 - 9. ISSN: 2045-2322 Open Access Link

Journal article

Szameitat, DP., Szameitat, A. and Wildgruber, D. (2022) 'Vocal Expression of Affective States in Spontaneous Laughter reveals the Bright and the Dark Side of Laughter'. Scientific Reports, 12 (1). pp. 1 - 12. ISSN: 2045-2322 Open Access Link

Journal article

Wildgruber, D., Szameitat, DP., Ethofer, T., Brück, C., Alter, K., Grodd, W. and et al. (2013) 'Different Types of Laughter Modulate Connectivity within Distinct Parts of the Laughter Perception Network'. PLoS ONE, 8 (5). pp. e63441 - e63441. ISSN: 1932-6203

Journal article

Szameitat, D. (2013) 'Vocal expression of emotions in laughter', inThe Evolution of Emotional Communication From Sounds in Nonhuman Mammals to Speech and Music in Man. OUP Oxford. ISBN 10: 0191506249. ISBN 13: 9780191506246.

Book chapter

Szameitat, DP., Darwin, CJ., Wildgruber, D., Alter, K. and Szameitat, AJ. (2011) 'Acoustic correlates of emotional dimensions in laughter: Arousal, dominance, and valence'. Cognition and Emotion, 25 (4). pp. 599 - 611. ISSN: 0269-9931

Journal article
More publications(11)