Nicole Nelson

Dr Nicole Nelson

Senior Lecturer

School of Psychology

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Current studies available for child participants can be found here: https://linktr.ee/developwelllab 
 
My Research

Dr Nicole Nelson examines how children and adults learn about and understand emotional expressions and other non-verbal information. Her research examines how we integrate facial, postural, and vocal expression cues, how children attend to and learn about new emotions and non-verbal information, and what our emotional expressions look like during daily interactions. Dr Nelson received her PhD from Boston College, was an NSF-funded Postdoctoral Fellow at Brock University in Canada, and after several years at the University of Queensland, in 2021 she joined the School of Psychology at the University of Adelaide.

 

 

  • Journals
    Year Citation
    2025 Vidas, D., Nelson, N. L., & Dingle, G. A. (2025). Efficacy of the Tuned In music emotion regulation program in international university students. Psychology and Health, 40(1), 105-125.
    DOI Scopus4 Europe PMC3
    2025 Fong, F. T. K., Thong, C., & Nelson, N. L. (2025). Children use process of elimination to associate a novel expression with a novel cause. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 253, 106205.
    DOI
    2025 Jones, A. K., Nelson, N. L., Gautam, S., & Redshaw, J. (2025). Children infer counterfactual information from others’ facial expressions. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 259, 106306.
    DOI
    2025 Vidas, D., Nelson, N. L., & Dingle, G. A. (2025). From Mozart to Fleetwood Mac: music listening is not detrimental to reading comprehension in university students.. Cogn Emot, 1-10.
    DOI
    2024 Dixson, B. J. W., Nelson, N. L., Moses, E., Lee, A. J., & Pegna, A. J. (2024). Perceptions of facial trustworthiness and dominance modulate early neural responses to male facial sexual dimorphism. Evolution and Human Behavior, 45(6), 11 pages.
    DOI Scopus3
    2024 Moses, E., Nelson, N., Taubert, J., & Pegna, A. J. (2024). Oxytocin differentially modulates the early neural responses to faces and non-social stimuli.. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci, 19(1), 10 pages.
    DOI Scopus3 Europe PMC3
    2023 Pegna, A. J., Framorando, D., Yu, Z., Buhmann, Z., Nelson, N., & Dixson, B. J. W. (2023). Hierarchical status is rapidly assessed from behaviourally dominant faces.. Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience, 23(5), 1267-1280.
    DOI Scopus5 Europe PMC1
    2023 Van Der Zant, T., Vanman, E., & Nelson, N. (2023). Familiarity with individuals' genuine dynamic expressive behaviour increases accuracy of emotional arousal judgements. AFFECTIVE SCIENCE, 4(1), 1 page.
    2022 Dixson, B. J. W., Spiers, T., Miller, P. A., Sidari, M. J., Nelson, N. L., & Craig, B. M. (2022). Facial hair may slow detection of happy facial expressions in the face in the crowd paradigm. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 13 pages.
    DOI Scopus11 WoS1 Europe PMC5
    2022 Vidas, D., Nelson, N. L., & Dingle, G. A. (2022). Music listening as a coping resource in domestic and international university students. Psychology of Music, 50(6), 030573562110669.
    DOI Scopus8 WoS2
    2022 West, M. J., Angwin, A. J., Copland, D. A., Arnott, W. L., & Nelson, N. L. (2022). Effects of emotional cues on novel word learning in typically developing children in relation to broader autism traits. Journal of Child Language, 49(3), 503-521.
    DOI Scopus2 WoS1 Europe PMC1
    2021 Vidas, D., Larwood, J. L., Nelson, N. L., & Dingle, G. A. (2021). Music Listening as a Strategy for Managing COVID-19 Stress in First-Year University Students. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 9 pages.
    DOI Scopus59 WoS24 Europe PMC20
    2021 Nguyen, T. T., & Nelson, N. L. (2021). Winners and losers: Recognition of spontaneous emotional expressions increases across childhood. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 209, 1-11.
    DOI Scopus4 WoS2 Europe PMC2
    2021 Van Der Zant, T., Reid, J., Mondloch, C. J., & Nelson, N. L. (2021). The influence of postural emotion cues on implicit trait judgements. Motivation and Emotion, 45(5), 641-648.
    DOI Scopus2 WoS1
    2021 Van Der Zant, T., & Nelson, N. L. (2021). Motion Increases Recognition of Naturalistic Postures but not Facial Expressions. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 45(4), 587-600.
    DOI Scopus8 WoS3
    2021 Butler, J. R., & Nelson, N. L. (2021). Children overclaim more knowledge than adults do, but for different reasons. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 201, 104969.
    DOI Scopus7 WoS5 Europe PMC1
    2020 Kapitány, R., Nelson, N., Burdett, E. R. R., & Goldstein, T. R. (2020). The child’s pantheon: Children’s hierarchical belief structure in real and non-real figures. PLoS ONE, 15(6), e0234142.
    DOI Scopus10 WoS5 Europe PMC2
    2020 Fong, F. T. K., Mondloch, C. J., & Nelson, N. L. (2020). Interactive situations reveal more about children's emotional knowledge. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 198, 104879.
    DOI Scopus9 WoS4 Europe PMC3
    2020 Barker, M. S., Nelson, N. L., & Robinson, G. A. (2020). Idea formulation for spoken language production: the interface of cognition and language. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 26(2), 226-240.
    DOI Scopus27 WoS16 Europe PMC17
    2020 Vidas, D., Calligeros, R., Nelson, N. L., & Dingle, G. A. (2020). Development of emotion recognition in popular music and vocal bursts. Cognition and Emotion, 34(5), 906-919.
    DOI Scopus5 WoS3 Europe PMC4
    2020 West, M. J., Angwin, A. J., Copland, D. A., Arnott, W. L., & Nelson, N. L. (2020). Cross-modal emotion recognition and autism-like traits in typically developing children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 191, 104737-1-104737-13.
    DOI Scopus6 WoS3
    2020 Barker, M. S., Bidstrup, E. M., Robinson, G. A., & Nelson, N. L. (2020). “Grumpy” or “furious”? arousal of emotion labels influences judgments of facial expressions. PLOS ONE, 15(7), e0235390.
    DOI Scopus10 WoS6 Europe PMC4
    2019 Nelson, N. L., & Mondloch, C. J. (2019). Children's perception of emotions in the context of live interactions: Eye movements and emotion judgements. Behavioural Processes, 164, 193-200.
    DOI Scopus13 WoS8 Europe PMC4
    2019 Dixson, B. J. W., Kennedy-Costantini, S., Lee, A. J., & Nelson, N. L. (2019). Mothers are sensitive to men's beards as a potential cue of paternal investment. Hormones and Behavior, 113, 55-66.
    DOI Scopus30 WoS26 Europe PMC12
    2019 Craig, B. M., Nelson, N. L., & Dixson, B. J. W. (2019). Sexual Selection, Agonistic Signaling, and the Effect of Beards on Recognition of Men’s Anger Displays. Psychological Science, 30(5), 728-738.
    DOI Scopus44 WoS33 Europe PMC14
    2019 Mondloch, C. J., Gerada, A., Proietti, V., & Nelson, N. L. (2019). The influence of subtle facial expressions on children's first impressions of trustworthiness and dominance is not adult-like. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 180, 19-38.
    DOI Scopus19 WoS16 Europe PMC9
    2019 Coy, A. L., Nelson, N. L., & Mondloch, C. J. (2019). No experimental evidence for emotion-specific gaze cueing in a threat context. Cognition and Emotion, 33(6), 1144-1154.
    DOI Scopus7 Europe PMC3
    2019 Nelson, N. L., Kennedy-Costantini, S., Lee, A. J., & Dixson, B. J. W. (2019). Children's judgements of facial hair are influenced by biological development and experience. Evolution and Human Behavior, 40(6), 551-556.
    DOI Scopus8 WoS13
    2018 Nelson, N. L., Nowicki, E., Diemer, M. C., Sangster, K., Cheng, C., & Russell, J. A. (2018). Children can create a new emotion category through a process of elimination. Cognitive Development, 47, 117-123.
    DOI Scopus13 WoS7
    2018 Vidas, D., Dingle, G. A., & Nelson, N. L. (2018). Children’s recognition of emotion in music and speech. Music and Science, 1, 205920431876265.
    DOI Scopus27
    2018 West, M. J., Copland, D. A., Arnott, W. L., Nelson, N. L., & Angwin, A. J. (2018). Effects of prosodic and semantic cues on facial emotion recognition in relation to autism-like traits. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48(8), 2611-2618.
    DOI Scopus15 WoS9 Europe PMC7
    2018 Barker, M. S., Nelson, N. L., O'Sullivan, J. D., Adam, R., & Robinson, G. A. (2018). Energization and spoken language production: evidence from progressive supranuclear palsy. Neuropsychologia, 119, 349-362.
    DOI Scopus24 WoS16 Europe PMC13
    2018 Nelson, N. L., & Mondloch, C. J. (2018). Children’s visual attention to emotional expressions varies with stimulus movement. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 172, 13-24.
    DOI Scopus11 WoS8 Europe PMC4
    2017 Nelson, N. L., & Mondloch, C. J. (2017). Adults’ and children’s perception of facial expressions is influenced by body postures even for dynamic stimuli. Visual Cognition, 25(4-6), 563-574.
    DOI Scopus34 WoS25
    2017 West, M. J., Copland, D. A., Arnott, W. L., Nelson, N. L., & Angwin, A. J. (2017). Effects of emotional prosody on novel word learning in relation to autism-like traits. Motivation and Emotion, 41(6), 749-759.
    DOI Scopus7 WoS2
    2016 Nelson, N. L., & Russell, J. A. (2016). Building emotion categories: Children use a process of elimination when they encounter novel expressions. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 151, 120-130.
    DOI Scopus29 WoS22 Europe PMC14
    2016 Nelson, N. L., & Russell, J. A. (2016). A facial expression of pax: Assessing children’s “recognition” of emotion from faces. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 141, 49-64.
    DOI Scopus37 WoS29 Europe PMC11
    2015 Nelson, N. L., & Russell, J. A. (2015). Children distinguish between positive pride and hubris.. Developmental Psychology, 51(11), 1609-1614.
    DOI Scopus7 WoS5 Europe PMC3
    2014 Nelson, N. L., & Russell, J. A. (2014). Dynamic facial expressions allow differentiation of displays intended to convey positive and hubristic pride.. Emotion, 14(5), 857-864.
    DOI Scopus25 WoS22 Europe PMC8
    2013 Mondloch, C. J., Nelson, N. L., & Horner, M. (2013). Asymmetries of Influence: Differential Effects of Body Postures on Perceptions of Emotional Facial Expressions. Plos One, 8(9), 16 pages.
    DOI Scopus34 WoS27 Europe PMC15
    2013 Nelson, N. L., Hudspeth, K., & Russell, J. A. (2013). A story superiority effect for disgust, fear, embarrassment, and pride. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 31(3), 334-348.
    DOI Scopus17 WoS8 Europe PMC5
    2013 Nelson, N. L., & Russell, J. A. (2013). Universality revisited. Emotion Review, 5(1), 8-15.
    DOI Scopus196 WoS154
    2012 Nelson, N. L., & Russell, J. A. (2012). Children's understanding of nonverbal expressions of pride. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 111(3), 379-385.
    DOI Scopus20 WoS16 Europe PMC3
    2011 Nelson, N. L., & Russell, J. A. (2011). Preschoolers' use of dynamic facial, bodily, and vocal cues to emotion. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 110(1), 52-61.
    DOI Scopus108 WoS86 Europe PMC45
    2011 Nelson, N. L., & Russell, J. A. (2011). Putting motion in emotion: Do dynamic presentations increase preschooler's recognition of emotion?. Cognitive Development, 26(3), 248-259.
    DOI Scopus27 WoS21
    2011 Nelson, N. L., & Russell, J. A. (2011). When Dynamic, the Head and Face Alone Can Express Pride. Emotion, 11(4), 990-993.
    DOI Scopus16 WoS15 Europe PMC5

  • Book Chapters
    Year Citation
    2022 Nelson, N., & Widen, S. (2022). Differentiation and Language Acquisition in Children’s Understanding of Emotion. In D. Dukes, A. Samson, & E. Walle (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Emotional Development (pp. 174-187). Oxford University Press.
    DOI Scopus2

  • Conference Papers
    Year Citation
    2014 Mondloch, C. J., & Nelson, N. L. (2014). Looking for Emotion Cues: Allocation of Attention Varies With Age, Emotion, and Whether Stimuli Are Static or Dynamic. In CANADIAN JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-REVUE CANADIENNE DE PSYCHOLOGIE EXPERIMENTALE Vol. 68 (pp. 305). CANADIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC.

  • Conference Items
    Year Citation
    2024 Holdsworth, I., Palmer, K., Rayner, C., Tuza, A., Van Der Zant, T., & Nelson, N. (2024). Characteristics of Adults' Facial Expressions As Seen By Infants. Poster session presented at the meeting of Experimental Psychology Conference 2024. Adelaide, South Australia.

  • Preprint
    Year Citation
    2024 Nelson, N. L., Mondloch, C. J., & Dixson, B. (2024). Facial hair is increasingly associated with dominance, but not trustworthiness in childhood.
    DOI
Funding

Career funding total = $287,319 AUD

Year Grant   Amount
2019 Nelson, N.L., Pegna, A., & Dixson, B.J.W. Title: Neural and Visual Correlates of Emotion Recognition in Faces and Bodies. Strategic Funds Seeding Grant, University of Queensland.   $8000 AUD
2017 Robinson, G.A., Matthews, N., & Nelson, N.L. Title: Mapping Parallels in Language and Emotional Communication Deficits in Healthy and Pathological Ageing. Strategic Funds Seeding Grant, University of Queensland.   $9200 AUD
2016 Robinson, G.A., ...Nelson, N.L., & Vanman, E. Title: A brain physiology laboratory for neuropsychological research in the new Queensland Neuropsychology Research Centre. Major Equipment Initiative Grant, University of Queensland.   $109,606 AUD
2015

Nelson, N.L. …et al

Title: Integrating Measures of Emotion: Facial Expressions, EEG, and EMG using iMotions software Research Equipment Initiative, University of Queensland

   $28,400 AUD
2012 - 2014 Nelson, N.L. Title: Children's Understanding of Cues to Emotion: Attentional Mechanisms and Social Interactions. International Research Fellowship Program Award, National Science Foundation.   $88,984 USD
Teaching
  Course Title and Role      
 

Foundations of Health and Lifespan Psychology (PSYCHOL 1006)

Lecturer & Course Coordinator

 Sem. 2, 2022 -    
 

Health and Lifespan Developmental Psychology (PSYCHOL 3021)

Lecturer & Course Coordinator

 Sem. 2, 2021 -    
 

Skills and Applications (PSYCHOL 1006)

Lecturer & Course Coordinator

 Sem. 2, 2021    

 

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2025 Principal Supervisor Studies children's knowledge of emotional expressions in interactive contexts. Examines children's expression recognition and production, plus the effects of autistic, socially anxious, and alexithymic traits, and interaction partner familiarity. Master of Philosophy (Medical Science) Master Full Time Miss Imogen Helena Holdsworth
    2024 Co-Supervisor Individual Differences in Face Identification Strategies Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Alysha Jay Hua
    2024 Co-Supervisor The effectiveness of virtual reality on cognitive load and schema acquisition of STEM students Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Jaclyn Crystal Steffan
    2023 Principal Supervisor Naturalistic emotion reasoning in childhood: the role of parents on children’s ability to understand and use emotions to interact with others Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Kye Jayden Palmer
    2021 Co-Supervisor Trait and Situational Predictors of Interpersonal Objectification in Male and Female Perpetrators Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Danielle Grace Tetley

  • Committee Memberships
    Date Role Committee Institution Country
    2021 - ongoing Member HM&S Ethics Committee Low Risk Review University of Adelaide Australia
    2018 - 2020 Member Higher Degree Research Committee University of Queensland, School of Psychology Australia
    2017 - 2018 Member Ethics Committee (Low and Negligible Risk) University of Queensland, Faculty of Health and Behavioral Sciences Australia

  • Review, Assessment, Editorial and Advice
    Date Title Type Institution Country
    2021 - 2022 Action Editor Journal Review Australian Journal of Psychology Australia
  • Position: Senior Lecturer
  • Phone: 83133289
  • Email: nicole.nelson@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Hughes, floor Level Seven
  • Org Unit: Psychology
Connect With Me
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