Professor Robert J Snowden

BSc York PhD Cantab

Professor

: snowden@cardiff.ac.uk
: +44 (0)29 2087 4937
: 5.14, Tower Building, 70 Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3AT

: Media commentator
: Available for postgraduate supervision

My interests are in serious offending. I look at methods of understanding why this occurs at the cognitive and behavioural level (what are the thoughts and motivations behind these action) as well as the biological underpinnings of these behaviours.

My research mainly covers violence (including murder) and sexual violence (rape, child molestation, paedophilia, etc). I therefore have interests in concepts such as psychopaths, personality disorders and mental illness as it relates to offending and violence.

I run courses for professionals on risk assessment of violence in offenders and mentally disordered offenders.

I have an interest in human sexuality and sexual interests which include both normal interests (heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, etc) as well as deviant sexual interests (eg, paedophilia and other paraphilias).

I also conduct research of vision and visual perception and am the author of the textbook "Basic Vision" (OUP).

Undergraduate education

York University – BSc Psychology (1985)

Postgraduate education

Cambridge University – PhD Experimental Psychology (1989)

Employment

Post-doctoral research Fellow Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Professional memberships

Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy.

Academic positions

Post-doctoral research fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Speaking engagements

Interviews with 20/20 (American TV) and several programmes in UK. Around 100 radio interviews.

2018

Blumenthal, S.et al. 2018. Implicit measurement of violence-related cognitions. Psychology of Violence
Burley, D., Gray, N. and Snowden, R. 2018. Emotion modulation of the pupil response in psychopathy. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment.

2009

Freeman, T. C. A.et al. 2009. Do we have direct access to retinal image motion during smooth pursuit eye movements?. Journal of Vision 9(1), article number: 33. (10.1167/9.1.33)
Snowden, R. J.et al. 2009. Assessing Risk of Future Violence Among Forensic Psychiatric Inpatients With the Classification of Violence Risk (COVR). Psychiatric Services 60(11), pp. 1522-1526. (10.1176/appi.ps.60.11.1522)
Brown, A., Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2009. Implicit Measurement of Sexual Associations in Child Sex Abusers: Role of Victim Type and Denial. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment 21(2), pp. 166-180. (10.1177/1079063209332234)
Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2009. The implicit association test as a measure of sexual interest. In: Thornton, D. and Laws, D. R. eds. Cognitive Approaches to the Assessment of Sexual Interest in Sexual Offenders. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 101-124.

2008

Andrew, E., Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2008. The relationship between trauma and beliefs about hearing voices: a study of psychiatric and non-psychiatric voice hearers. Psychological Medicine 38(10), pp. 1409-1417. (10.1017/S003329170700253X)
Snowden, R. J., Wichter, J. and Gray, N. S. 2008. Implicit and explicit measurements of sexual preference in gay and heterosexual men: a comparison of priming techniques and the Implicit Association Task. Archives of Sexual Behavior 37(4), pp. 558-565. (10.1007/s10508-006-9138-z)
Gray, N. S., Taylor, J. and Snowden, R. J. 2008. Predicting violent reconvictions using the HCR-20. British Journal of Psychiatry 192(5), pp. 384-387. (10.1192/bjp.bp.107.044065)

2007

Fitzgerald, S., Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2007. A Comparison of WAIS-R and WAIS-III in the Lower IQ Range: Implications for Learning Disability Diagnosis. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities 20(4), pp. 323-330. (10.1111/j.1468-3148.2006.00349.x)
Gray, N. S.et al. 2007. Predicting future reconviction in offenders with intellectual disabilities: The predictive efficacy of VRAG, PCL-SV, and the HCR-20. Psychological Assessment 19(4), pp. 474-479. (10.1037/1040-3590.19.4.474)
Snowden, R. J.et al. 2007. Actuarial prediction of violent recidivism in mentally disordered offenders. Psychological Medicine 37(11), pp. 1539-1549. (10.1017/S0033291707000876)
Walters, G. D.et al. 2007. A taxometric analysis of the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV): Further evidence of dimensionality. Psychological Assessment 19(3), pp. 330-339. (10.1037/1040-3590.19.3.330)
Evans, L. H., Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2007. A new continuous within-participants latent inhibition task: Examining associations with schizotypy dimensions, smoking status and gender. Biological Psychology 74(3), pp. 365-373. (10.1016/j.biopsycho.2006.09.007)
Evans, L. H., Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2007. Reduced P50 suppression is associated with the cognitive disorganisation dimension of schizotypy. Schizophrenia Research 97(1-3), pp. 152-162. (10.1016/j.schres.2007.07.019)

2006

Tales, A.et al. 2006. Alerting and orienting in Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychology 20(6), pp. 752-756. (10.1037/0894-4105.20.6.752)
Tales, A. and Snowden, R. J. 2006. Alerting and orienting in Alzheimer's disease: Are they interdependent? Reply to Festa et al. (2006). Neuropsychology 20(6), pp. 761-762. (10.1037/0894-4105.20.6.761)
Snowden, R. J. and Kavanagh, E. 2006. Motion perception in the ageing visual system: Minimum motion, motion coherence, and speed discrimination thresholds. Perception 35(1), pp. 9-24. (10.1068/p5399)
Zhaoping, L. and Snowden, R. J. 2006. A theory of a saliency map in primary visual cortex (V1) tested by psychophysics of colour-orientation interference in texture segmentation. Visual Cognition 14(4-8), pp. 911-933. (10.1080/13506280500196035)

2005

Gray, N. S.et al. 2005. An implicit test of associations between children and sex in pedophiles. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 114(2), pp. 304-308. (10.1037/0021-843X.114.2.304)
Tales, A.et al. 2005. Abnormal visual search in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Neurocase 11(1), pp. 80-84. (10.1080/13554790490896974)
Tales, A.et al. 2005. Abnormal spatial and non-spatial cueing effects in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Neurocase 11(1), pp. 85-92. (10.1080/13554790490896983)
Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2005. The relevance of irrelevance to schizophrenia. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 29(6), pp. 989-999. (10.1016/j.neubiorev.2005.01.006)
Evans, L. H., Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2005. Prepulse inhibition of startle and its moderation by schizotypy and smoking. Psychophysiology 42(2), pp. 223-231. (10.1111/j.1469-8986.2005.00280.x)

2004

Gray, N. S.et al. 2004. Relative efficacy of criminological, clinical and personality measures of future risk of offending in mentally disordered offenders: a comparative study of HCR-20, PCL:SV, and OGRS. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 72(3), pp. 523-530. (10.1037/0022-006X.72.3.523)
Evans, L. H., Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2004. Facilitation and reduction of prepulse inhibition: Relationships to the positive and negative dimensions of psychometric schizotypy [Abstract]. Schizophrenia Research 67(S1), pp. 127-128. (10.1016/j.schres.2003.10.001)
Snowden, R. J.et al. 2004. Implicit affective associations to violence in psychopathic murderers. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology 15(4), pp. 620-641. (10.1080/14789940412331313377)
Snowden, R. J. and Freeman, T. C. A. 2004. The visual perception of motion. Current Biology 14(19), pp. R828-R831. (10.1016/j.cub.2004.09.033)

2003

Freeman, T. C. A., Sumnall, J. H. and Snowden, R. J. 2003. The extra-retinal motion aftereffect. Journal of Vision 3(11), pp. 771-779. (10.1167/3.11.11)
Tales, A.et al. 2003. The effects of saliency and task difficulty on visual search performance in ageing and Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychologia 42(3), pp. 335-345. (10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2003.08.002)
Sumnall, J. H., Freeman, T. C. A. and Snowden, R. J. 2003. Optokinetic potential and the perception of head-centred speed. Vision Research 43(16), pp. 1709-1718. (10.1016/S0042-6989(03)00254-2)
Gray, N. S.et al. 2003. Prediction of violence and self-harm in mentally disordered offenders: a prospective study of the efficacy of HCR-20, PCL-R, and psychiatric symptomology. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 71(3), pp. 443-451. (10.1037/0022-006X.71.3.443)
Gray, N. S.et al. 2003. Forensic psychology: Violence viewed by psychopathic murderers. Nature 423(6939), pp. 497-498. (10.1038/423497a)
Gray, N. S.et al. 2003. Post-traumatic stress disorder caused in mentally disordered offenders by the committing of a serious violent or sexual offence. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology 14(1), pp. 27-43. (10.1080/1478994031000074289)
Gray, N. S.et al. 2003. A demonstration of within-subjects latent inhibition in the human: limitations and advantages. Behavioural Brain Research 138(1), pp. 1-8. (10.1016/S0166-4328(02)00181-X)

2002

Tales, A.et al. 2002. Phasic visual alertness in Alzheimer's disease and ageing. NeuroReport 13(18), pp. 2557-2560.
Ansari, E. A., Morgan, J. E. and Snowden, R. J. 2002. Psychophysical characterisation of early functional loss in glaucoma and ocular hypertension. British Journal of Ophthalmology 86(10), pp. 1131-1135. (10.1136/bjo.86.10.1131)
Ansari, E. A., Morgan, J. E. and Snowden, R. J. 2002. Glaucoma: squaring the psychophysics and neurobiology. British Journal of Ophthalmology 86(7), pp. 823-826. (10.1136/bjo.86.7.823)
Gray, N. S.et al. 2002. The partial reinforcement extinction effect in humans: effects of schizophrenia, schizotypy and low doses of amphetamine. Behavioural Brain Research 133(2), pp. 333-342. (10.1016/S0166-4328(02)00019-0)
Snowden, R. J. 2002. Visual attention to color: parvocellular guidance of attentional resources?. Psychological Science 13(2), pp. 180-184. (10.1111/1467-9280.00433)
Tales, A.et al. 2002. Spatial shifts in visual attention in normal ageing and dementia of the Alzheimer type. Neuropsychologia 40(12), pp. 2000-2012. (10.1016/S0028-3932(02)00057-X)
Gray, N. S.et al. 2002. Which schizotypal dimensions abolish latent inhibition?. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 41(3), pp. 271-284. (10.1348/014466502760379136)

2001

Snowden, R. J. 2001. Contrast gain mechanism or transient channel? Why the effects of a background pattern alter over time. Vision Research 41(15), pp. 1879-1883. (10.1016/S0042-6989(01)00110-9)
Ansari, E. A., Morgan, J. E. and Snowden, R. J. 2001. Diffuse loss of contrast sensitivity in early glaucoma [Abstract]. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science 42(4), pp. S559.
Gray, N. S.et al. 2001. Context dependent latent inhibition in adult humans. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology 54(3), pp. 233-245. (10.1080/713932760)
Doyle, M. C. and Snowden, R. J. 2001. Identification of visual stimuli is improved by accompanying auditory stimuli: The role of eye movements and sound location. Perception 30(7), pp. 795-810. (10.1068/p3126)
Snowden, R. J., Willey, J. and Muir, J. L. 2001. Visuospatial attention: the role of target contrast and task difficulty when assessing the effects of cues. Perception 30(8), pp. 983-991. (10.1068/p3068)
White, J. L.et al. 2001. Eyes in the sky: Human factors and uninhabited air vehicles. Journal of Defence Science 6, pp. 88-94.

2000

Blakemore, M. R. and Snowden, R. J. 2000. Textured backgrounds alter perceived speed. Vision Research 40(6), pp. 629-638. (10.1016/S0042-6989(99)00214-X)
Snowden, R. J. and Verstraten, F. A. J. 2000. Reply to Grunewald [Two directions at the same location?][Letter]. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 4(3), pp. 77-78. (10.1016/S1364-6613(99)01439-4)
Brawn, P. T. and Snowden, R. J. 2000. Attention to overlapping objects: detection and discrimination of luminance changes. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 26(1), pp. 342-358. (10.1037/0096-1523.26.1.342)

1999

Snowden, R. J. and Verstraten, F. A. J. 1999. Motion transparency: making models of motion perception transparent. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 3(10), pp. 369-377. (10.1016/S1364-6613(99)01381-9)
Brawn, P. and Snowden, R. J. 1999. Can one pay attention to a particular color?. Perception & Psychophysics 61(5), pp. 860-873. (10.3758/BF03206902)
Snowden, R. J. and Edmunds, R. 1999. Colour and polarity contributions to global motion perception. Vision Research 39(10), pp. 1813-1822. (10.1016/S0042-6989(98)00201-6)
Snowden, R. J. 1999. Visual perception: Here's mud in your mind's eye. Current Biology 9(9), pp. R336-R337. (10.1016/S0960-9822(99)80207-3)
Blakemore, M. R. and Snowden, R. J. 1999. The effect of contrast upon perceived speed: a general phenomenon?. Perception 28(1), pp. 33-48. (10.1068/p2722)
Snowden, R. J. and Rossiter, M. C. 1999. Stereoscopic depth cues can segment motion information. Perception 28(2), pp. 193-201. (10.1068/p2735)

1998

Snowden, R. J. 1998. Shifts in perceived position following adaptation to visual motion. Current Biology 8(24), pp. 1343-1345. (10.1016/S0960-9822(07)00567-2)
Snowden, R. J. 1998. Texture segregation and visual search: a comparison of the effects of random variations along irrelevant dimensions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 24(5), pp. 1354-1367. (10.1037/0096-1523.24.5.1354)
Snowden, R. J. and Hammett, S. T. 1998. The effects of surround contrast on contrast thresholds, perceived contrast and contrast discrimination. Vision Research 38(13), pp. 1935-1945. (10.1016/S0042-6989(97)00379-9)
Snowden, R. J., Stimpson, N. and Ruddle, R. A. 1998. Speed perception fogs up as visibility drops [Letter]. Nature 392(6675), pp. 450-450. (10.1038/33049)

1997

Snowden, R. J. and Milne, A. B. 1997. Phantom motion aftereffects - Evidence of detectors for the analysis of optic flow. Current Biology 7(10), pp. 717-722. (10.1016/S0960-9822(06)00329-0)

1996

Snowden, R. J. and Milne, A. B. 1996. The effects of adapting to complex motions: position invariance and tuning to spiral motions. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 8(5), pp. 435-452. (10.1162/jocn.1996.8.5.435)
Snowden, R. J. and Hammett, S. T. 1996. Spatial frequency adaptation: threshold elevation and perceived contrast. Vision Research 36(12), pp. 1797-1809. (10.1016/0042-6989(95)00263-4)

1995

Hammett, S. T. and Snowden, R. J. 1995. The effect of contrast adaptation on briefly presented stimuli. Vision Research 35(12), pp. 1721-1725. (10.1016/0042-6989(94)00283-R)
Snowden, R. J., Ullrich, D. and Bach, M. 1995. Isolation and characteristics of a steady-state visually-evoked potential in humans related to the motion of a stimulus. Vision Research 35(10), pp. 1365-1373. (10.1016/0042-6989(95)98716-M)
Snowden, R. J., Hess, R. F. and Waugh, S. J. 1995. The processing of temporal modulation at different levels of retinal illuminance. Vision Research 35(6), pp. 775-789. (10.1016/0042-6989(94)00158-I)

Level 1 - teach on Psychological Research.

Level 2 -Teach on Perception, Attention and Action. I give 6 lectures on visual perception.

Level 3 - module coordinato for Forensic Psychology: Violence and crime. I teach the whole module (8 lectures, 3 workshops).

Research topics and related papers

Forensic and Clinical Psychology

My laboratory investigates the origins and management of severe problem behaviours. These include violence to others, sexual offending, suicide and self-harming behaviours, and trauma..

On-going projects include:

WARRN - risk assessment for mental health services across Wales
Prediction of suicide using the RoSP (Risk of Suicide Protocol)
Self-esteem and aggression
Emotional processing in personality disorders
Implicit measurement of sex-related cognitions in normal populations (hetero and homosexual men and women)
Impulsivity, psychopathy and personality disorders
Perceptual sensitivity, strength of the nervous system and psychopathology
Use of implicit measures
Resilience training and mental health
Reducing mental health-related stigma in schoolchildren
Improving mental health in the workplac

Funding

ESRC

Research collaborators

All the work in the domain of Forensic and Clinical Psychology is done in collaboration with a Chartered Clinical and Forsensic psychologist (Professor Nicola Gray, Swansea University). We currently have projects with Action for Children, the DVLA, and with Gwent Police Force. We have a long-standing colloaboration with colleagues at the Portman CLinic (london) and at HMP Grendon (Oxfordshire).

Postgraduate research interests

My research aims to help understand, predict and manage patients with severe behavioural problems
due to mental health issues (psychopathy, personality disorders, mental illness).

The major strands of my work are:

Prediction and prevention of future violence and sexual violence to others
Prediction and prevention of suicide and self-harm
Understanding motivations and cognitions underpinning severe behavioural problems through
the use of explicit and implicit methodologies
Evaluation of training programmes designed to reduce risk, trauma, and stigmatism

The research is conducted in collaboration with a clinical and forensic psychologist (Professor Nicola Gray), and has strong links to secure units, local hospitals, prisons and, community services. We are also working with professional bodies such as the police force, the ambulance service, and the DVLA.

Motion perception: including the perception of speed, and how contrast effects (e.g. fog) and light interact to alter our perception of speed; The effects of old age on the visual system; Visual processes in various conditions (glaucoma, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease).

If you are interested in applying for a PhD, or for further information regarding my postgraduate research, please contact me directly (contact details available on the 'Overview' page), or submit a formal application here.

Current students

Paula Riella - The effects of resilience training on front-line police officers.

Jamie Knowles (at Swansea University) - The Risk of Suicide Protocol (RoSP): Its usage in accident and emergancy settings

NIcola SImkiss (at Swansea University) - The Guide Cymru: Testing the efficacy in a stigma reduction programme for schoolchildren. A randomised control trial across Wales.

Alys Docksey (at Swansea University) - Prevail: A programme to reduce days lost due to mental health problens. A randomised control trial of DVLA staff.

Past projects

Peter T. Brawn - Selectively attending to colour and objects. PhD Cardiff University (1998)
Mark R. Blakemore - Factors involved in the perception of motion. PhD Cardiff University (1998)
Melanie C. Doyle - Facilitatory effects of response-irrelevant sound upon the acquisition of visual targets. PhD Cardiff University (1999)
Jennifer Willey - Exploration of the role of attentional processing in the positive symptoms of schizophrenia and schizotypy. PhD Cardiff University (2001)
Emma Kavanagh - The perception of motion in old age. PhD Cardiff University (2003)
Jan Wichter - Supra- and subliminal priming of implicit attitudes – a tool for detecting deviant personalities. MPhil Cardiff University (2004)
Jennifer Smith - Differentiating criminal personalities by use of implicit attitude tests. MPhil Cardiff University (2005)
Lisa Evans - Cognitive inhibition in schizophrenia and schizotypy. PhD Cardiff University (2005)
Anthony Brown - Implicit measurements of child-sex associations in paedophiles. PhD Cardiff University (2006)
Suzanne Fitzgerald - Risk assessment in the learning disabled. PhD Cardiff University (2008)
Elizabeth Andrew - Command hallucinations: compliance and dangerousness. PhD Cardiff University (2010)
Sonja Copestake - Emotional processing and psychopathy.PhD Cardiff University (2011)
Rebecca Pepper - Attachment, self-esteem and cognitive distortions in child molesters.PhD Cardiff University (2013)
Katie O'Farrel - Emotional processing and psychopathic personality disorder in a sample of adult male offenders assessed using behavioural, self-report and psychophysiological measures PhD Cardiff University (2015)
Suzanne Binti Ahmed -Self-esteem and aggression: the relationships between explicit-implicit self-esteem, narcissism, and reactive-proactive aggression. PhD Cardiff University (2015)
Daniel Burley - In the eye of the beholder: psychopathy and pupil response to emotion PhD Cardiff University (2016)
Aimee McKinnon - Assessing physiological sensitivity in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PhD Cardiff University (2017)

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