Trevor Harley

Trevor Harley is emeritus chair of Cognitive Psychology. His research is in the psychology of language and consciousness and the effect of the weather on human behaviour. From 2003 until 2016 he was Head and Dean of the School of Psychology at the University of Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom. He is author of several books, including "The Psychology of Language", currently in its fourth edition, published by Psychology Press, "Talking the talk", a book about the psychology of language (psycholinguistics) aimed at a more general audience, "The Science of Consciousness", a general text on consciousness, and "Head in the Clouds - How the weather affects our minds and mental health" a book of popular science. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society.

Biography

Early life and education Trevor Harley was born in 1958 in London and grew up near Southampton. He was educated at Price's Grammar School, Fareham. His undergraduate degree was in Natural Sciences at St John's College in the University of Cambridge. He stayed at Cambridge to study for his PhD under the supervision of Brian Butterworth. His PhD was on "Slips of the tongue and what they tell us about speech production". calling this role as a "psychometeorologist". He maintains a weather station at Newtyle near Dundee. His book "The Psychology of Weather" is published in the Routledge "Psychology of Everything" series. In "Head in the Clouds - how the weather affects our minds and mental health" (2026) he explores the effects of the weather on human behaviour and mental health.

He relaxes by playing chess in competitions and is a dedicated photographer. His photography includes astronomy, where his shots appear in encyclopaedias and the weather where his pictures feature in BBC weather broadcasts under the name 'Perdix'. When not writing he delights in the countryside around his home which he shares with his miniature poodle Beau.

Selected publications

Books

Highly cited academic papers Harley, Trevor A. (1984). "A critique of top-down independent levels models of speech production: Evidence from non-planned speech errors". Cognitive Science 8 (3): 191–219. Harley, Trevor A.; MacAndrew, Siobhan B. G. (2001). "Is constraints-based parsing wrong? Commentary on Pickering, Traxler, and Crocker (2000)". Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 30 (3): 275–285. Harley, Trevor A.; Jessiman, Lesley J.; MacAndrew, Siobhan B. G.; Astell, Arlene J. (2008). "I don't know what I know: Evidence of preserved semantic knowledge but impaired metalinguistic knowledge in adults with probable Alzheimer's disease". Aphasiology 22 (3): 321–335.

For an exhaustive record of Professor Harley's historical academic publications and peer-reviewed articles, see his curated curriculum vitae database on the Trevor Harley Official Website.