Rate My Professor Bernadine Cocks

Dr Bernadine (Bernie) Cocks is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology within the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of New England (UNE). She serves as Course Coordinator for the Bachelor of Psychological Science and Unit Coordinator for Cognitive Psychology (PSYC206). A UNE alumna, Cocks completed her PhD, Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours), and Advanced Diploma of Arts as an external student, with her doctoral research focusing on the neural bases of language perception and comprehension. Before joining UNE in her current role, she held the position of Senior Research Fellow at the Cognitive Neuro-engineering Laboratory at the University of South Australia. There, she received the Best Paper Award at the 9th International Conference on Cognitive Science in Kuching for her work on global cognitive load measurement. Her career trajectory also includes early experience in media as an advertising copywriter, followed by roles in television and radio, before transitioning to academia. In recognition of her contributions to inclusive education, she was awarded the Tertiary Education Impact Award at the 2023 UNE Oorala Aboriginal Centre Awards, shared with Kate Carter.

Cocks's research interests lie primarily in language and cognition, with additional focus on addiction, childhood development, language and literacy development and dysfunction across the lifespan, cognitive augmentation and enhancement, heart rate variability and EEG analysis, and persuasion and propaganda. Her scholarly output includes numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers. Notable publications encompass 'Minimum connected component–A novel approach to detection of cognitive load induced changes in functional brain networks' (Neurocomputing, 2015, with Vijayalakshmi et al.), 'Directed Connectivity Analysis of Functional Brain Networks during Cognitive Activity using Transfer Entropy' (Neural Processing Letters, 2017, with Shovon et al.), 'Capturing Cognition via EEG Based Functional Brain Networks' (book chapter, 2016, with Shovon et al.), 'Personality, opinion strength, and social media use – not such a straightforward relationship' (2025, with Cox et al.), and 'Are Mindfulness and Mind-Wandering Opposite Constructs? It Depends on How Mindfulness is Conceptualised' (2023, with Somaraju et al.). Beyond research, she advocates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students by developing the Sorry Business Factsheet, adopted across the Faculty of Medicine and Health, contributing to decolonising the undergraduate psychology curriculum, and volunteering at the Westerman Jilya Institute for Indigenous Mental Health, where she mentors students to foster self-efficacy and support their progression in psychology.