Simon Farrell: Curriculum Vitae - Eis.bris.ac.uk - University of Bristol

Simon Farrell
School of Experimental Psychology
University of Bristol
12a Priory Road
Clifton Bristol BS8 1TU
United Kingdom
Present appointment
Reader, University of Bristol, 2009–present
Previous appointments
Senior Lecturer, University of Bristol, 2007–present
Lecturer, University of Bristol, 2003–2007
Phone: (0117) 928 9943
Fax: (0117) 928 8588
Office: 3D9
Email: Simon.Farrell@bristol.ac.uk
Homepage: http://seis.bris.ac.uk/∼pssaf
Postdoctoral Fellow, Roger Ratcliff, Northwestern University, 2001–2003.
Academic qualifications
PhD, Psychology, University of Western Australia, 2002
Dissertation: Similarity-sensitive encoding, redintegration, and response suppression in serial recall.
Supervisor: Stephan Lewandowsky
B Sc (Hons), University of Western Australia, 1997.
Indicators of esteem; professional service and affiliations
Associate Editor, Journal of Memory and Language (2009-2011)
Associate Editor, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2011- )
Editorial Board, Journal of Memory and Language (2012- ); Frontiers in Cognitive Science (2012-); Journal
of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition (2008).
Awarded the 2009 Paul Berterlson award by the European Society for Cognitive Psychology.
“The [biannual] Paul Bertelson award is designed to honour scientists at a relatively early stage
of their scientific career, who have made an outstanding contribution to European Cognitive Psychology.”
Co-organiser of the Bristol Workshop on Time and Short-term Memory (3rd-4th November, 2005;
40 participants), including obtaining funding from the Experimental Psychology Society (EPS) for
approximately £2500
Co-organizer and lecturer of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology Summer School on Computational
Modelling (Mallnitz, Austria, 2010)
Local co-organizer of the Experimental Psychology Society Conference (Bristol, summer 2012)

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Reviewer of grant applications and end of award reports for ESRC, National Science Foundation, and
European Science Foundation; Member of the ESRC peer review college.
Ad-hoc reviewer for journals such as Psychological Review; Psychonomic Bulletin & Review; Journal of
Memory and Language; Memory & Cognition; Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory,
and Cognition; Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology; Memory
Full member of the Psychonomic Society (USA), Experimental Psychology Society (UK)
Grants
EPSRC grant promoting cross-disciplinary research: Decision-making in an unstable world (2011-
2015: fEC cost £1,858,354). Awarded to Gilchrist (PI), Baddeley, Bogacz, Farrell, Leslie, Ludwig, and
McNamara.
GlaxoSmithKline funding: Investigation of the speed and mode of action of caffeine on alertness and
psychomotor performance (2011-2012: £64016). Awarded to Rogers (PI) and Farrell.
ESRC grant: Modeling working memory (2008-2011; fEC cost £673,892). Awarded to Oberauer (PI),
Farrell and Jarrold.
Australian Research Council Linkage International Grant (2008-2011: approx £9500). Awarded to
Lewandowsky (PI), Brown, Oberauer and Farrell.
ESRC grant: Positional access and grouping in short-term memory (2007-2010; award = £249003).
Awarded to Farrell (PI).
Wellcome Trust grant: Modelling sequential effects in saccadic choice (2006-2009; approx £101 477
for directly incurred costs; fEC total cost = £377 143). Awarded to Farrell (PI), Ludwig, Gilchrist, and
Carpenter.
ESRC grant: Encoding and retrieval processes in short-term memory: The role of similarity (2006-2007;
approx £40,000). Awarded to Farrell (PI) and Oberauer.
Australian Research Council Linkage International Grant (2005-2008: approx £8,153). Awarded to
Lewandowsky (PI), Brown and Farrell.
EPS workshop grant: Bristol workshop on time and short-term memory (2005; approx £2500). Awarded
to Farrell, Jarrold and Oberauer.
Benjamin Meaker Fellowship (University of Bristol) to support the visit of Prof Stephan Lewandowsky
in November 2005 (£700).
British Academy: Grouping and similarity in serial recall (2004-2005; approx £4,400). Awarded to
Farrell (PI).
Australian Research Council Linkage International Grant (2002-2004: approx £6,352). Awarded to
Lewandowsky (PI), Brown and Farrell.
Supervision
0.1 PhD students
Vicky Edkins (graduated 2009)
Tim Jones (currently writing up)

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0.2 Visiting graduate students
Mark Hurlstone (visiting from University of York; 2008): This six week visit was financially supported
by the Experimental Psychology Society (£540)
Veit Kubik (visiting from Stockholm University, 2011): One month visit
0.3 Second supervision and internal examiner
David Attewell (second supervisor; graduated); Emma Mosse (second supervisor; graduated); Danielle
Ferriday (second supervisor); Daniel Avery (second supervisor); Craig Hedge (second supervisor); Pip
Ryder (internal examiner); Gary Peckham (internal examiner); Hans Stadthagen (internal examiner);
Dee Way (internal examiner); Toby Elliman (internal examiner)
0.4 External examiner
Examiner of Masters thesis for University of Newcastle (Australia, 2006)
0.5 Masters students
Merecia Sirera (2004)
Kazimir Pasiecznik (2008)
0.6 Undergraduate projects
I have supervised 38 undergraduate projects since taking up supervision duties in 2004. Three of these
projects have been published in peer-reviewed journals.
Teaching
The Psychology of Science (PSYC31048; Level 3; 15 students; 2012). Teaching by seminars (combination
of lectures, presentation by students, and class discussion). Six 1.5-hour sessions. Unit assessment by
one essay and one presentation.
Memory (PSYC21002; Year 2; 80-100 students; 2004-2009). Six lectures and 4 tutorials. Assessment by
an essay and an exam.
Cognitive Modelling in Psychology (PSYC31039; Level 3; 15-25 students; 2004-2008; 2010). Unit coordinator
and lecturer. Unit introduced in 2004-05. Teaching by seminars (combination of lectures and
in-class discussions) and practicals (computer modelling). 9 sessions of 12 taught (9 contact hours of
12). Unit assessment by one essay and one exam.
MSc Psychological Statistics (MSc; 30 students; 2003-2012). Teach 2 lectures and 2 practical sessions (8
contact hours in total). Assessment by statistics exercises and an exam.
MSc Language, Memory, & Development (MSc; 10 students; 2004-2007). Unit co-ordinator and lecturer.
Teaching by 2-hour seminars involving lectures and student presentations of papers. Taught 3 of 10
seminars.
MSc Language, Brain & Evolution (MSc; 10 students; 2005-2007). Teaching by 2-hour seminars involving
lectures and student presentations of papers. Taught 1 seminar on evolution.

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MSc Psycholinguistics (MSc; 24 students; 2004-2006). Taught one 2-hour lecture on memory and
language. Teaching by lecture and guiding discussion based on student presentations.
MSc Theoretical Neuropsychology (MSc; 18 students; 2004-2007). Taught one 2-hour class on the neural
substrates of memory. Teaching by lecture and guiding discussion based on student presentations.
MSc Advanced Statistics (Msc; 25 students; 2005-2012). Teach 5 lectures and 5 practical sessions (20
contact hours in total), and was involved in redesigning the unit in 2005. Assessment by statistics
exercises and an exam.
Introduction to Psychological Experiments (PSYC11016; Level 1; 120 students; 2005). Co-organiser of
unit. Jointly responsible for overhauling of the unit in the direction of formative assessment to ensure
that students learned logic and structure of scientific reports. Also gave 2 content-based lectures (2 hrs
each) and programmed and organized data collection for a practical. Unit assessment by 2 lab reports.
Psychological Experiments (PSYC21011 & PSYC21012; 100 students; 2005). Joint co-ordinator of unit.
Responsible for day-to-day administration of unit (attend briefings, monitor lab tutors, handle absentees
and student problems/complaints, co-ordination of lecturers). Also gave 1 introductory lecture (2
hrs).
Publications
Farrell, S. (in press-a). Serial order memory, computational perspectives. In H. Pashler (Ed.), Encyclopedia
of the mind. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Farrell, S. (in press-b). Temporal clustering and sequencing in working memory and episodic memory.
Psychological Review. Retrieved from http://seis.bris.ac.uk/~pssaf/freeRecall.pdf
Farrell, S., & Lelièvre, A. (in press). The dynamics of access to groups in working memory. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition.
Oberauer, K., Farrell, S., Jarrold, C., Pasiecznik, K., & Greaves, M. (in press). Interference between maintenance
and processing in working memory: the effect of item-distractor similarity in complex span.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Leaning, Memory, and Cognition.
Lewandowsky, S., Ecker, U. K. H., Farrell, S., & Brown, G. D. A. (2012). Models of cognition and constrains
from neuroscience: a case study involving consolidation. Australian Journal of Psychology, 64, 37–45.
Ludwig, C. J. H., Farrell, S., Ellis, L. A., Hardwicke, T., & Gilchrist, I. D. (2012). Context-gated statistical
learning and its role in visual-saccadic decisions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141,
150–169.
Wagenmakers, E. J., van der Maas, H. L. J., & Farrell, S. (2012). Abstract concepts require concrete models:
why cognitive scientists have not yet embraced nonlinearly coupled, dynamical, self-organized
critical, synergistic, scale-free, exquisitely context-sensitive, interaction-dominant, multifractal, interdependent
brain-body-niche systems. Topics in Cognitive Science, 4, 87–93.
Farrell, S. (2011). Social influence benefits the wisdom of individuals in the crowd [Letter to the editor].
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108, E625.
Farrell, S., Wise, V., & Lelièvre, A. (2011). Relations between timing, position and grouping in short-term
memory. Memory & Cognition, 39, 573–587.
Farrell, S. (2010). Dissociating conditional recency in immediate and delayed free recall: A challenge for
unitary models of recency. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36,
324–347.
Farrell, S., & Lewandowsky, S. (2010). Computational models as aids to better reasoning in psychology.
Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19, 329–335. doi:10.1177/0963721410386677

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Farrell, S., Ludwig, C. J. H., Ellis, L. A., & Gilchrist, I. D. (2010). Influence of environmental statistics on
inhibition of saccadic return. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107, 929–934.
Lewandowsky, S., & Farrell, S. (2010). Computational modeling in cognition: principles and practice. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.
Farrell, S., & Lelièvre, A. (2009a). End anchoring in short-term order memory. Journal of Memory and
Language, 60, 209–227.
Farrell, S., & Lelièvre, A. (2009b). Is scanning in probed order recall articulatory? Quarterly Journal of
Experimental Psychology, 62, 1843–1858.
Ludwig, C. J. H., Farrell, S., Ellis, L. A., & Gilchrist, I. D. (2009). The mechanism underlying inhibition of
saccadic return. Cognitive Psychology, 59, 180–202.
Farrell, S. (2008). Multiple roles for time in short-term memory: evidence from serial recall of order and
timing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34, 128–145.
Farrell, S., & Lewandowsky, S. (2008). Empirical and theoretical limits on lag recency in free recall. Psychonomic
Bulletin & Review, 15, 1236–1250.
Farrell, S., & Ludwig, C. J. H. (2008). Bayesian and maximum likelihood estimation of hierarchical response
time models. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 15, 1209–1217.
Lewandowsky, S., & Farrell, S. (2008a). Phonological similarity in serial recall: constraints on theories of
memory. Journal of Memory and Language, 58, 429–448.
Lewandowsky, S., & Farrell, S. (2008b). Short-term memory: new data and a model. The Psychology of
Learning and Motivation, 49, 1–48.
Farrell, S., & McLaughlin, K. (2007). Short-term recognition memory for serial order and timing. Memory
& Cognition, 35, 1724–1734.
Unterhalter, G., Farrell, S., & Mohr, C. (2007). Selective memory biases for words reflecting gender-specific
body image concerns. Eating Behaviour, 8, 382–389.
Farrell, S. (2006). Mixed-list phonological similarity effects in delayed serial recall. Journal of Memory and
Language, 55, 587–600.
Farrell, S., Ratcliff, R., Cherian, A., & Segraves, M. (2006). Modeling unidimensional categorization in monkeys.
Learning & Behavior, 34, 86–101.
Farrell, S., Wagenmakers, E.-J., & Ratcliff, R. (2006). 1/f noise in human cognition: is it ubiquitous, and
what does it mean? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13, 737–741.
Wagenmakers, E.-J., Farrell, S., & Ratcliff, R. (2005). Human cognition and a pile of sand: a discussion on
serial correlations and self-organized criticality. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 134,
108–116.
Farrell, S., & Lewandowsky, S. (2004). Modelling transposition latencies: constraints for theories of serial
order memory. Journal of Memory and Language, 51, 115–135.
Wagenmakers, E.-J., Farrell, S., & Ratcliff, R. (2004a). Naive nonparametric bootstrap model weights are
biased. Biometrics, 60, 281–3; author reply 283.
Wagenmakers, E.-J., & Farrell, S. (2004). AIC model selection using Akaike weights. Psychonomic Bulletin
& Review, 11, 192–196.
Wagenmakers, E.-J., Farrell, S., & Ratcliff, R. (2004b). Estimation and interpretation of 1/f α noise in human
cognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 11, 579–615.
Farrell, S. (2003). Review of “Memory from A to Z”, by Yadin Dudai (OUP). Perception, 32, 1279–1280.
Farrell, S., & Lewandowsky, S. (2003). Dissimilar items benefit from phonological similarity in serial recall.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 29, 838–49.
Farrell, S., & Lewandowsky, S. (2002). An endogenous distributed model of ordering in serial recall. Psychonomic
Bulletin & Review, 9, 59–79.
Lewandowsky, S., & Farrell, S. (2002). Computational models of working memory. In L. Nadel, D. Chalmers,
R. Culicover & B. French (Eds.), Encyclopedia of cognitive science (pp. 578–583). London: Macmillan.

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Farrell, S., & Lewandowsky, S. (2000a). A connectionist model of complacency and adaptive recovery under
automation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26, 395–410.
Farrell, S., & Lewandowsky, S. (2000b). The case against distributed representations: lack of evidence.
Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 23, 476–477.
Lewandowsky, S., & Farrell, S. (2000). A redintegration account of the effects of speech rate, lexicality, and
word frequency in immediate serial recall. Psychological Research, 63, 163–73.
Invited presentations
Invited talk at the Nestlé Research Centre, Switzerland, on the relationship between food and memory
(September 2008).
Invited talk for the LEAD Workshop on Computational Simulation of Human Cognition, Dijon, France
(November, 2008).
Talk on patient HM for Bristol Neuroscience Corpus Colloquia (2010)
Invited talks at Royal Holloway (2006, 2011), University of Essex (2012), University of Warwick (2006),
University of Zurich (2009), University of Leicester (2009), University of Nottingham (2010), University
of Reading (2009), University of Western Australia (2003,2007), University of York (2009).
Selected Conference presentations
Farrell, S., Oberauer, K., Greaves, M., Pasiecznik, K., Lewandowsky, S., & Jarrold, C. (2011, November).
Local and asymmetric effects of free time in complex span. Presentation at the Meeting of the
Psychonomic Society, Seattle, USA.
Oberauer, K., Farrell, S., Jarrold, C., Greaves, M. and Pasiecznik, K. (2010, November). Interference
between processing and storage in working memory: Testing a prediction of the SOB model
Farrell, S. & LeliŔvre, A. (2010, January). Accessing multiple types of positional information in shortterm
memory. Experimental Psychology Society conference, London.
Farrell, S. (2009, July). Relating forward, probed and backward recall in architectures of serial recall.
Paper presented at Experimental Psychology Society conference, York.
Oberauer, K., Farrell, S., & Lewandowsky, S. (2009, July). Cognitive load effects in the complex span
procedure: Global or local? Paper presented at Experimental Psychology Society conference, York.
Farrell, S., Ludwig, C. J. H., Ellis, L. A. & Gilchrist, I. D. (2009, April). Modeling the influence of
environmental statistics on inhibition of saccadic return. Paper presented at Experimental Psychology
Society conference, Leicester.
Farrell, S., Ludwig, C. J. H., Ellis, L. A. & Gilchrist, I. D. (2008, November). Effects of return probability
in models of inhibition of saccadic return. Paper presented at the 49th Annual Meeting of the
Psychonomics Society, Chicago.
Farrell, S., & Lewandowsky, S. (2008, July). C-SOB: Four principles of STM. Paper presented at the
International Congress on Psychology, Berlin.
Farrell, S. & LeliŔvre, A. (2008, January). Discrete and relative markers in serial recall. Paper presented
at Experimental Psychology Society conference, London.
Farrell, S. & Oberauer, K. (2007, January). Similarity at encoding and retrieval in short-term order

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memory. Paper presented at Experimental Psychology Society conference, London.
Farrell, S. & Oberauer, K. (2006, November). Similarity effects across input and output in serial order
memory. Paper presented at the Psychonomic Society Conference, Houston, Texas.
Farrell, S. (2006, July). Timing and ordering in short-term memory. Paper presented at 4th International
Conference on Memory, Sydney, Australia.
Farrell, S. (2005, August). Similarity and temporal organisation in short-term memory. Paper presented
at the XIVth meeting of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology, Leiden, Amsterdam.
Farrell, S., & Lewandowsky, S. (2004, July). Extensions to a dynamic distributed model of serial recall.
Paper presented at the 3rd Annual Summer Interdisciplinary Conference, Cavalese, Italy.
Farrell, S., Ratcliff, R., Cherian, A., & Segraves, M. (2002, November). Exemplar and decision bound
accounts of unidimensional perceptual categorization in monkeys. Poster presented at the 43rd Annual
Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Kansas City, Missouri.
Farrell., S., & Lewandowsky, S. (2002, July). Correct and error response latencies in serial recall. Paper
presented at the 35th Annual meeting of the Society for Mathematical Psychology, Oxford, Ohio. (a
similar paper was presented at the 2002 Australasian Cognitive Science Conference, Perth, Australia).
Farrell, S., & Lewandowsky, S. (2002, July). Dissimilar items benefit from phonological similarity
among other list items. Paper presented at the Conference on Short-term/Working Memory, Quebec
City, Canada. (A similar paper was presented at the International Congress on Memory, Valencia,
Spain, July 2001).
Farrell, S., Wagenmakers, E.-J., & Ratcliff, R. (2002, April). Estimation and interpretation of long-range
dependence in human cognition. Paper presented at the Australasian Cognitive Science Conference,
Perth, Australia.
Farrell, S., & Lewandowsky, S. (2000, July). An autonomous mechanism for ordering in serial recall.
Paper presented at the International Congress of Psychology, Stockholm, Sweden (this paper was also
presented at the 2000 Australasian Cognitive Science conference in Melbourne, Australia).
Farrell, S., & Lewandowsky, S. (2000, July). Automation-induced complacency is a learning phenomenon:
Extensions of a connectionist model. Paper presented at the 23rd International Congress of
Psychology, Stockholm, Sweden.
Administration
I am currently the Disabilities Officer for the School. This involves ensuring that all reasonable adjustments
are made by the School for students with disabilities, attending meetings of disabilities
representatives, and advising on disabilities issues.
I am also the Equal Opportunities Officer, requiring me to advise on EO issues to the School.
I was previously (2004–2009) the Progress Officer for the School. This required administering to students
in danger of not obtaining credit points, attending Faculty Progress meetings, producing alternative
assessment for students, and liasing with and supporting the Director of Undergraduate Studies
and Exams Officer.
Grant and group-related administration
Having been the primary investigator on three research grants of at least a years’ duration, and
co-PI on several other large grants involving multiple personnel, I have extensive experience in

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administration of research, including:
Applying for funding;
The day-to-day running of grants;
Managing of research staff, making sure that they are carrying out work appropriately, and that
they are participating in activities that will contribute to their career development;
Helping others bid for research grants (including reading grant applications, and, for example,
assisting in the hosting of the Nestle group at Bristol as part of the long-term goal of attracting
funding);
Taking responsibility for the evolution of grants (timetabling of activities; ensuring dissemination
of results; keeping momentum);
Organizing meetings of the department’s memory group, and setting up a web page for the group.
Professional courses
I have taken part in several career-related courses offered by the University of Bristol, including teaching
and learning; fire warden training; SITS; and mentorship.
Public engagement and outreach
With others in the memory group, I took part in Discover 2010 in the Bristol Galleries. We demonstrated
several memory experiments to the public, and fielded questions about our research, and more
generally about memory and cognition.
I hosted a visit from a class from the Bristol Brunel Academy, in which I ran the students through
several experiments and explained how memory is researched in the School, as well as co-ordinating
activities in several other labs (2008).
I have made several appearances on BBC Radio Bristol to talk about memory (e.g., expertise memory).
Last updated: March 22, 2012