News
Dr
Nikki-Anne Wilson
Current Appointments
Conjoint Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Lecturer, UNSW School of Psychology
Key Research Areas
Nikki-Anne Wilson is a Lecturer in the UNSW School of Psychology and Research Fellow in the Australian Ageing Futures Institute, with a conjoint appointment at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA). She joined UNSW after completing a PhD with the FRONTIER younger onset dementia clinic at the Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney.
Dr Wilson's work aims to improve understanding of the mechanisms through which social interaction helps to support brain health across life. Her investigative approach spans a range of disciplines including cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and neuroscience.
She leads an emerging research program investigating humour and laughter as key aspects of social cognition which drive social behaviour. This work has important implications for providing more targeted interventions to help maintain social connection as we age, identifying those potentially at risk for social isolation, and earlier diagnosis of brain diseases associated with changes in social behaviour.
Alongside her academic research, Nikki-Anne is a regular media commentator (e.g., Sydney Morning Herald, The Conversation, ABC Radio) and community speaker (e.g., Probus, Rotary).
Publications
2025, 01 Jan
Change in visual acuity over a 12-year period predicts cognitive decline in older adults: identifying social engagement as a potential mediator
View full journal-article on https://app.dimensions.ai/details/publication/pub.1182527198
2024 Jan
Disrupted social perception in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease – Associated cognitive processes and clinical implications
View full journal-article on http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jns.2024.122902
2023, 01 Dec
Testing times for dementia: a community survey identifying contemporary barriers to risk reduction and screening
View full journal-article on https://app.dimensions.ai/details/publication/pub.1157136768
2023 Dec
The effect of baseline and longitudinal cognitive reserve on memory ageing in middle and older age adults over a 12‐year period
View full journal-article on https://app.dimensions.ai/details/publication/pub.1167335525
2023, 24 Sep
Dementia Prevention and Individual and Socioeconomic Barriers: Avoiding “Lifestyle” Stigma
View full journal-article on https://app.dimensions.ai/details/publication/pub.1164305543
2023, 01 Aug
Authors’ response to: A new dementia prevention approach requires new language
View full journal-article on https://app.dimensions.ai/details/publication/pub.1160194460
2023, 01 Jul
What would a population-level approach to dementia risk reduction look like, and how would it work?
View full journal-article on https://app.dimensions.ai/details/publication/pub.1155386352
2021, 24 Dec
Putting the Pieces Together: Mental Construction of Semantically Congruent and Incongruent Scenes in Dementia
View full journal-article on https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12010020
2020, 03 Feb
Scene construction impairments in frontotemporal dementia: Evidence for a primary hippocampal contribution
View full journal-article on https://app.dimensions.ai/details/publication/pub.1123686008
2020
Constructing the social world: Impaired capacity for social simulation in dementia
View full journal-article on http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85084793310&partnerID=MN8TOARS
Nikki-Anne's research projects and related news
Margarete Ainsworth Building
Barker Street
Randwick NSW 2031
(02) 9399 1000
Acknowledgement of Country
Copyright NeuRA 2026 - All Rights Reserved
Website by Mango Chutney
Redevelopment of the NeuRA website has been made possible by the generous support of Conexus Financial.