Personal profile
Research interests
Ian Apperly is an experimental psychologist, and his main research interest is in “mindreading” – the ability to take other people’s perspectives for communication, co-operation, competition or deception. He is the author of over 80 journal articles, and the 2010 book, entitled “Mindreaders: The cognitive basis of theory of mind”.
Biography
Ian Apperly attended Ivybridge Community College in Devon, studied Natural Sciences at St John’s College, Cambridge, and came to Birmingham in 1995 to study for his Ph.D. with Liz Robinson.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being -
SDG 4 Quality Education -
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Mindreading as asynchronous coordination: The MAC account of theory of mind performance, and individual differences
Apperly, I. A., Devine, R. T. & Butterfill, S. A., Sept 2026, In: Cognition. 274, 106569.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Downloads (Pure) -
Reality monitoring across disorders of reality: Systematic and narrative reviews of dissociation and psychosis
Suter, G., Apperly, I., Zhang, L. & Černis, E., Apr 2026, In: Journal of Psychiatric Research. 195, p. 21-30 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
Open AccessFile21 Downloads (Pure) -
Three International Studies on Pure Coordination Games: Adaptable Solutions When Intuitions are Presumed to Vary
Perez-Zapata, D., Isoni, A., Zawidzki, T. & Apperly, I., Mar 2026, In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 155, 3, p. 760–775 16 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile105 Downloads (Pure) -
Automatic Scoring of an Open-Response Measure of Advanced Mind-Reading Using Large Language Models
Wang, Y., Dsouza, R., Lee, R., Apperly, I., Devine, R. T., van der Kleij, S. & Lee, M., May 2025, Proceedings of the 10th Workshop on Computational Linguistics and Clinical Psychology (CLPsych 2025)). Association for Computational Linguistics, ACL, p. 79–89 10 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution
Open AccessFile63 Downloads (Pure) -
Executive functions, not bilingualism or cultural differences, predict visuospatial perspective-taking in young adults
Wang, Y., Apperly, I. A. & Krott, A., 27 Nov 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. 16 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile8 Downloads (Pure)
Projects
- 20 Finished
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Developing a measure of social understanding for 15- 24-year-olds that is appropriate, fair, valid, and theoretically motivated.
Apperly, I. (Principal Investigator), Gilligan, R. (Co-Investigator), Lee, M. (Co-Investigator), Broome, M. (Researcher), Surtees, A. (Researcher) & Devine, R. (Researcher)
1/11/22 → 31/10/25
Project: Research Councils
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Intuitive alignment in human judgement: Causes and consequences
Apperly, I. (Principal Investigator)
1/06/21 → 28/03/25
Project: Research
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WT ISSF 3: Matthew Apps , Ian Apperly Critical Data Award
Apps, M. (Principal Investigator) & Apperly, I. (Co-Investigator)
1/04/21 → 31/03/22
Project: Research
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Understanding the benefits of fiction for skilled reading and social cognition
Apperly, I. (Co-Investigator) & van der Kleij, S. (Principal Investigator)
1/10/20 → 30/09/23
Project: Research
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Human Engagement through artificial / augmented intelligence (via Lancaster University)
Apperly, I. (Co-Investigator) & Baber, C. (Principal Investigator)
Economic & Social Research Council
1/06/19 → 30/09/20
Project: Research Councils