Elliot Millington

Academic research email: e.millington.1@research.gla.ac.uk

ORCID iDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2580-4035

Research title: Sensorily Stressed: An Exploration of the Relationship between Anxiety and Sensory Reactivity in Autistic People

Research Summary

The sensory world can be an unfriendly place if you are autistic. Sometimes all the information is uncomfortable and overwhelming, other times important feelings like hunger are missed. These difficulties can be confusing and distressing for people and their support network. Over the long term, we know that having more sensory difficulties increases general anxiety levels.

My PhD research is exploring several key questions. How can sensory experiences (like stimming) be used to reduce anxiety in the moment? How does anxiety influence the intensity of sensory experiences up to and including sensory overload? And finally, what is the long-term effect on peoples’ quality of life from more anxiety and sensory difficulties? I am tackling these questions using a combination of questionnaires and experiments in Virtual Reality.

Publications

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Conference

Annual University of Glasgow Learning and Teaching Conference Poster on User design for digital education: a combined UX and eye tracking study evaluating online course in Psychology’ 2021

Annual Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network Presentation on ‘Teaching in VR and Cognitive Load: A Teacher’s Perspective’ 2021

International Society for Autism Research Poster on ‘Latent Structure of Sensory Features Across Cultures’ 2021

International Society for Autism Research Poster on ‘Comparison Between Caregiver and Child Report of Sensory Sensitivities’ 2021

Teaching

As a graduate teaching assistant, I provide research design and analysis support to undergraduate and postgraduate students.