Mahsa Barzy

Dr Mahsa Barzy is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the School of Psychology, University of Kent. She completed her PhD in 2020 at Kent, focusing on perspective-taking and language processing in autistic adults, and held a 2-year postdoctoral position at University of Reading before returning to Kent to study cognitive bases of perspective-taking and prosocial behavior in adolescents.

• PhD: University of Kent (2020)
• Postdoc: University of Reading (2020-2022)
• Current Role: Postdoctoral Research Associate at University of Kent

Her research bridges Cognitive Neuroscience and Autism Research, using EEG, eye-tracking, and behavioral measures to explore:

• Social context effects on language processing
• Perspective-taking in neurodiverse populations
• Counterfactual reasoning and emotional integration
• Neurocognitive differences in pragmatic communication

She has also contributed to sociocultural studies on honor-based violence, with publications examining cross-cultural attitudes in Asia and England. Her work emphasizes interdisciplinary methodologies, including Bayesian analysis workshops and multimodal cognitive research.

Selected scientific awards:

• £1320 UROP Grant (University of Reading)
• £500 ECR Grant (Gorilla Experiment Builder)
• Best Talk Award at Kent PhD Psychology Conference
• £1000 Events Fund for Bayesian Analysis Workshop