Professor Thomas Suddendorf
Professor

Thomas Suddendorf

Email: 
Phone: 
+61 7 336 58341

Background

Thomas grew up in Germany and joined UQ in 1999 following postgraduate studies in New Zealand. He investigates the mental capacities in young children and in animals to answer fundamental questions about the nature and evolution of the human mind. His research has attracted several awards (incl. from the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, the Australian Psychological Society and the American Psychological Association) and his critically acclaimed book The Gap (e.g. see reviews in Nature, Science or the Wall Street Journal) is currently being translated into several languages.

Availability

Professor Thomas Suddendorf is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Fields of research

Cognitive and computational psychology Psychology

Qualifications

  • Masters (Coursework), University of Waikato
  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Auckland

Research impacts

In the news

BBC Radio 4 - All in the Mind, Time travelling in the human mind

BBC Future about the intelligence gap

Reddit Ask Me Anything 2016

Zeitzeichen Article in German

Global Leadership Series Presentation

BBC Earth Many animals seem to kill themselves, but is it suicide?

Coverage of 2016 Current Biology paper on neonatal imitation covered by media such as Science Daily, NPR, ABC online, The Daily Mail, & The Conversation

Q & A with Thomas Suddendorf in Current Biology 2015

Radio and TV Featured frequently in media in the US, UK, Germany, and Australia, incl. radio (e.g., RN's Ockham's razor), TV (e.g., ABC what makes us human) and internet (e.g. TEDx talk)

Book reviews of THE GAP have appeared in e.g. Nature, The Wall Street Journal, Science, Scientific American Mind, The Times, Kirkus Reviews, Journal of the History of Biology, Australian Book Review, Times Higher Education & New Scientist.

Extracts: CNN, The Chronicles of Higher Education, HuffPo , Psychology Today, and Slate

Search Professor Thomas Suddendorf’s works on UQ eSpace

191 works between 1994 and 2025
All (191) Journal Article (144) Book Chapter (20) Conference Publication (11) Book (4) Other Outputs (12)

61 - 80 of 191 works

2018

Journal Article

Why telling people they could get sick in the future won’t persuade them to be healthy now

Bulley, Adam and Suddendorf, Thomas (2018, 02 21). Why telling people they could get sick in the future won’t persuade them to be healthy now

Why telling people they could get sick in the future won’t persuade them to be healthy now

2018

Journal Article

Misconceptions about adaptive function

Redshaw, Jonathan and Suddendorf, Thomas (2018). Misconceptions about adaptive function. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 41 e28. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X17001480

Misconceptions about adaptive function

2017

Journal Article

Consider the alternative

Suddendorf, Thomas (2017). Consider the alternative. Inference: International Review of Science, 3 (3). doi: 10.37282/991819.17.84

Consider the alternative

2017

Journal Article

The association of Social Anxiety Disorder, Alcohol Use Disorder and reproduction: Results from four nationally representative samples of adults in the USA

Miloyan, Beyon, Bulley, Adam, Brilot, Ben and Suddendorf, Thomas (2017). The association of Social Anxiety Disorder, Alcohol Use Disorder and reproduction: Results from four nationally representative samples of adults in the USA. PloS one, 12 (11) e0188436, 1-10. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188436

The association of Social Anxiety Disorder, Alcohol Use Disorder and reproduction: Results from four nationally representative samples of adults in the USA

2017

Journal Article

Flexible planning in ravens?

Redshaw, Jonathan, Taylor, Alex H. and Suddendorf, T. (2017). Flexible planning in ravens?. Trends In Cognitive Sciences, 21 (11), 821-822. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2017.09.001

Flexible planning in ravens?

2017

Journal Article

Affective forecasting bias in preschool children

Gautam, Shalini, Bulley, Adam, von Hippel, William and Suddendorf, Thomas (2017). Affective forecasting bias in preschool children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 159, 175-184. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2017.02.005

Affective forecasting bias in preschool children

2017

Journal Article

Preparatory responses to socially determined, mutually exclusive possibilities in chimpanzees and children

Suddendorf, Thomas, Crimston, Jessica and Redshaw, Jonathan (2017). Preparatory responses to socially determined, mutually exclusive possibilities in chimpanzees and children. Biology Letters, 13 (6) 20170170, 20170170. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2017.0170

Preparatory responses to socially determined, mutually exclusive possibilities in chimpanzees and children

2017

Journal Article

The emergence of episodic foresight and its consequences

Suddendorf, Thomas (2017). The emergence of episodic foresight and its consequences. Child Development Perspectives, 11 (3), 191-195. doi: 10.1111/cdep.12233

The emergence of episodic foresight and its consequences

2017

Journal Article

Thinking about threats: memory and prospection in human threat management

Bulley, Adam, Henry, Julie D. and Suddendorf, Thomas (2017). Thinking about threats: memory and prospection in human threat management. Consciousness and Cognition, 49, 53-69. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2017.01.005

Thinking about threats: memory and prospection in human threat management

2017

Journal Article

Using foresight to prioritise the present

Bulley, Adam, Pepper, Gillian and Suddendorf, Thomas (2017). Using foresight to prioritise the present. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40 e79, 15-16. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X16000996

Using foresight to prioritise the present

2017

Journal Article

There is no compelling evidence that human neonates imitate

Kennedy-Costantini, Siobhan, Oostenbroek, Janine, Suddendorf, Thomas, Nielsen, Mark, Redshaw, Jonathan, Davis, Jacqueline, Clark, Sally and Slaughter, Virginia (2017). There is no compelling evidence that human neonates imitate. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40 e392, e392. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X16001898

There is no compelling evidence that human neonates imitate

2017

Book Chapter

Anticipation of future events

Suddendorf, Thomas and Redshaw, Jonathan (2017). Anticipation of future events. Encyclopedia of animal cognition and behavior. (pp. 1-9) Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1082-1

Anticipation of future events

2016

Other Outputs

Die letzte menschenart

Suddendorf, Thomas (2016, 12 01). Die letzte menschenart Zeitzeichen

Die letzte menschenart

2016

Journal Article

Disentangling the effect of event-based cues on children's time-based prospective memory performance

Redshaw, Jonathan, Henry, Julie D. and Suddendorf, Thomas (2016). Disentangling the effect of event-based cues on children's time-based prospective memory performance. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 150, 130-140. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2016.05.008

Disentangling the effect of event-based cues on children's time-based prospective memory performance

2016

Journal Article

Children’s and apes’ preparatory responses to two mutually exclusive possibilities

Redshaw, Jonathan and Suddendorf, Thomas (2016). Children’s and apes’ preparatory responses to two mutually exclusive possibilities. Current Biology, 26 (13), 1758-1762. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.04.062

Children’s and apes’ preparatory responses to two mutually exclusive possibilities

2016

Journal Article

Comprehensive Longitudinal Study Challenges the Existence of Neonatal Imitation in Humans

Oostenbroek, Janine, Suddendorf, Thomas, Nielsen, Mark, Redshaw, Jonathan, Kennedy-Costantini, Siobhan, Davis, Jacqueline, Clark, Sally and Slaughter, Virginia (2016). Comprehensive Longitudinal Study Challenges the Existence of Neonatal Imitation in Humans. Current Biology, 26 (10), 1334-1338. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.03.047

Comprehensive Longitudinal Study Challenges the Existence of Neonatal Imitation in Humans

2016

Journal Article

An evolutionary perspective on the co-occurrence of social anxiety disorder and alcohol use disorder

Bulley, Adam, Miloyan, Beyon, Brilot, Ben, Gullo, Matthew J. and Suddendorf, Thomas (2016). An evolutionary perspective on the co-occurrence of social anxiety disorder and alcohol use disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 196, 62-70. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2016.02.028

An evolutionary perspective on the co-occurrence of social anxiety disorder and alcohol use disorder

2016

Journal Article

Prospection and the present moment: the role of episodic foresight in intertemporal choices between immediate and delayed rewards

Bulley, Adam, Henry, Julie and Suddendorf, Thomas (2016). Prospection and the present moment: the role of episodic foresight in intertemporal choices between immediate and delayed rewards. Review of General Psychology, 20 (1), 29-47. doi: 10.1037/gpr0000061

Prospection and the present moment: the role of episodic foresight in intertemporal choices between immediate and delayed rewards

2016

Journal Article

Introduction to the special issue: prospection difficulties in clinical populations

Henry, Julie D., Addis, Donna Rose, Suddendorf, Thomas and Rendell, Peter G. (2016). Introduction to the special issue: prospection difficulties in clinical populations. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 55 (1), 1-3. doi: 10.1111/bjc.12108

Introduction to the special issue: prospection difficulties in clinical populations

2016

Journal Article

Future-oriented thought patterns associated with anxiety and depression in later life: the intriguing prospects of prospection

Miloyan, Beyon, Pachana, Nancy A. and Suddendorf, Thomas (2016). Future-oriented thought patterns associated with anxiety and depression in later life: the intriguing prospects of prospection. The Gerontologist: a journal of the Gerontological Society of America, 57 (4), 619-625. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnv695

Future-oriented thought patterns associated with anxiety and depression in later life: the intriguing prospects of prospection

Current funding

  • 2025 - 2027
    Mapping children's foresight capacities
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant

Past funding

  • 2021 - 2024
    Gaining control of the future: The cognitive development of foresight
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2014 - 2016
    Episodic foresight and ageing
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2012
    Enhancing Realism in Psychological Research.
    UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
    Open grant
  • 2009 - 2013
    Charting the prevalence, time course and social-cognitive correlates of neonatal imitation.
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2007 - 2009
    Thinking about the future: The nature and development of mental time travel
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2005 - 2007
    Evolution of Mind: The representational capacities of gibbons (H. syndactylus) and the common ancestor of humans and apes.
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2005
    NHMRC_Equipment Grant = Refurbishment and equipment for Early Cognitive Development Unit and Video equipment for cognitive testing of children, adolescents and adults
    NHMRC Equipment Grant
    Open grant
  • 2002 - 2004
    The nature of self-recognition: novel approaches to vexing questions
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 1999
    The development of concepts of self and time - investigations with digitized feedback
    UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund
    Open grant

Availability

Professor Thomas Suddendorf is:
Available for supervision

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Supervision history

Current supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Recognising the future utility of a solution: A foresight perspective on the development of innovation in children

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Jonathan Redshaw

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Innovation: When do children recognise future utility?

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Jonathan Redshaw

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Gaining control of the future: The Cognitive Development of Foresight

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Jonathan Redshaw

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Gaining control of the future: The Cognitive Development of Foresight

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Jonathan Redshaw

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Investigating the understanding of possibility and probability in young children and primates

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Jonathan Redshaw

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Investigating the understanding of probability and plausible deniability in young children and primates

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Jonathan Redshaw

  • Doctor Philosophy

    The Impact of Intergroup Violence on the Evolution of Human Psychology

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Brendan Zietsch

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Mechanisms and functions of reasoning about possibilities

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Julie Henry, Dr Jonathan Redshaw

Completed supervision

Enquiries

Contact Professor Thomas Suddendorf directly for media enquiries about:

  • Brain and cognition
  • Brain development
  • Brain evolution
  • Children and cognition
  • Cognition
  • Cognition - developmental perspectives
  • Development and cognition
  • Evolution and brain cognition
  • Human development and cognition
  • Psychology - cognition

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