Primary fields of research

I am the head of Copenhagen Neuropsychology Lab, and our research is described in more detail here

https://psychology.ku.dk/research/research_groups/copnl/https://psychology.ku.dk/research/research_groups/copnl/I am currently involved in research on two main topics:

I. Faceblindness (congenital prosopagnosia)

It is estimated that about 2% of the population suffers from great difficulties in recognising faces, even the faces of people they know well. This has only recently become a topic of scientific investigation, and still little is known about the cause of this deficit. 

In our main current project on prosopagnosia, we take a qualitative approach, with the aim of characterising the epxerience of faces in people with developmental prosopagnosia. This project is a collaboration with associate professor Tone Roald.

In another project we collaborate with researchers at Department of Psychology at University of Southern Denmark, as well as other departments across the Nordic countries. Here, we investigate th pattern of performance of people with prosopagnosia across a range of cognitive and perceptual tests in order to shed light on the underlying mechanism of the condition. The main results from our first gruop of particpants are summarised in this paper.

The Danish website for this project can be found here: www.ansigtsblind.dk 

II. The Back of the Brain - project

In this project we investigate the neuropsychological deficits associated with damage to posterior areas in the brain, with particular emphasis on deficits in face, object, and word recognition. We will also investigate the relationship between these functions in normal subjects. The project is a collaboration with University College London and University of Cambridge.

This project was funded by a Sapere Aude - DFF Starting Grant from the Danish Council for Indpendent Research. The main behavioral results of the project are published open access here.

Also see our Labpage www.psychology.ku.dk/starrlab

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Book chapters:

Book: A. Leff & R. Starrfelt. Alexia: Diagnosis, Treatment and Theory. London: Springer Verlag.

This book is a comprehensive review of the main acquired disorders of reading: hemianopic, pure and central alexia. We review the diagnostic criteria for each of the different types of disorder, and the efficacy of the therapeutic studies that have attempted to remediate them. The different theoretical models of adult reading, which largely rest on how the reading system responds to injury, are also discussed and evaluated. Read more at the publisher's website.

Major grants:

2024 - 2027: Independent Research Fund Denmark (Clinical call). Improving psychological assessment of face processing across the lifespan. In collaboration with C. Funch Uhre, A. Vogel, K. Jørgensen (National Hospital) and Punit Shah (University of Bath).

2021- 2025: Independent Research Fund Denmark - Humanities. The phenomenology of face blindness. In collaboration with Associate professor Tone Roald.

2015-2022: Sapere Aude starting grant, Danish Research Council: The Back of the Brain (BoB): A new approch to cerebral specialisation of perceptual functions.

2014-2022: Danish Research Council | Humanities: On the relations between face, word and object recognition: A new and developmental perspective. In collaboration with Professor C. Gerlach, University of Southern Denmark.

Teaching

Teaching: Coordinator main teacher on the MA-programme in Neuropsychology [Lecture series, seminars, practical seminars]. Cognitive psychology (BA level).

Supervision: MA-theses and PhDs in neuropsychology, cognitive (neuro)science, (neuro)psychiatry.

Current PhD-students:

Erling Nørkær (the Phenomenology of Face blindness)

Katrine Sand (EnVision - Cerebral Palsy)

Previous PhD-students: Ro J. Robotham (BoB-project); Solja K. Klargaard (prosopagnosia, SDU); Christina D. Kühn (prosopagnosia, SDU).

CV

Degrees:

Doctor Psychologiae, 2018

PhD in psychology, 2008

Specialist in clinical neuropsychology, 2007

MSc psych. 2000

Positions:

2022: Professor in Neuropsychology

2017 - 2022: Professor (mso)

2013 - 2017: Associate Professor, Dept. of Psychology, University of Copenhagen

2011- 2013: Assistant professor, Dept. of Psychology, University of Copenhagen

2008 - 2011: Post.doc., Center for Visual Cognition, Dept. of Psychology, University of Copenhagen (Center of Exellence)

2005-2008: PhD student, Center for Visual Cognition, Dept. of Psychology, University of Copenhagen

2001-2004: Neuropsychologist, Hillerød Hospital, Denmark.

2000-2001: Psychologist/Research associate, Rogaland psychiatric hospital, Stavanger, Norway.

Organisation / Administration:

2023 - 2025: President-elect, Federation of European Neuropsychological Societies

2021 - present: Member of the Independent Research Fund Denmark | Humanities

2021 - present: Member of UCPH senate

2018- present: Member of the Academic Council, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Copenhagen

2014-2017: Union representative (Danish Psychological Association) at Dept. of Psychology,

2003-2012: International representantive, Danish Neuropsychological Society

2003-2006: President, Danish Neuropsychological Society

2002-2007: Board member, Danish Neuropsychological Society

Fields of interest

Cognitive neuropsychology, in particular visual deficits and language disorders following acquired brain damage.