Gianna Cassidy

Lecturer

T: +44 141 331 3866

E:  gianna.cassidy@gcal.ac.uk

Gianna Cassidy joined the Psychology Department in 2003 to complete a PhD, having gained an MA Honours in Psychology and Music Composition at Glasgow University. Her PhD, supervised by Professor Raymond MacDonald and Dr Christina Knussen, focused on the impact of music on videogame performance and experience. Gianna moved to the School of Engineering and Computing in March 2007 to Lecture in the Psychology of Gameplay and Interactive Entertainment Design. Gianna’s active research interests include the role and function of music during gameplay, the impact of music on player performance and experience and music in games for health and education.

Teaching

Module Leader

  • Interactive Storytelling
  • Psychology of Design
  • Integrated Project 3

Tutor

  • Personality and Individual Differences
  • Introduction to Psychology
  • Game Design 1
  • Introduction to Game Design
  • Human Computer Interaction for Game Design

PhD Students

  • Tara Louise French - Music in the Clinical Context
  • Gume Osorio – The Role of Games-based Technology for Health Promotion.
  • Romana Khan – Music as a Tool to Understand the Player Experience

Invited Talks

  • Cassidy, G.G (2009). The Soundtrack to Your Life. Music on the Brain. Guerilla Science, Secret Garden Party, July 24th.
  • Cassidy, G.G (2009). The Soundtrack to Your Life. Music on the Brain. Guerilla Science, Latitude Festival, July 19th.
  • Cassidy, G.G (2008). Your Pucker-Up Playlist. An Experiment in Kissing. Dana Centre, The British Science Museum, London, February 12th.
  • Cassidy, G.G (2008). Composing for Games. Video Game Cabaret. Dana Centre, The British Science Museum, London, October 30th.
  • Cassidy, G.G (2008). Gameplay as a Walking for Health Strategy. HEPA08: Scottish Physical Activity Research Collaboration. Glasgow, September 8th-10th.
  • Cassidy, G.G (2008). Music and Games: Bridging the Gap with Industry. The Virtual Policy Network. Digital Interactive Symposium, Edinburgh Interactive Festival, August 12th.
  • Cassidy, G.G (2008). The Role of Music in Games. Powering Up. Dana Centre Book Launch, The British Science Museum, London, May 1st.
  • Cassidy, G.G (2007). eMotion Lab Christmas Lectures: The Importance of Music To Player Experience, Caledonian University, December 17th.
  • Cassidy, G.G R.A.R (2006). eMotion Lab Christmas Lectures: Celebrating Excellence in Academic Games Research, Caledonian University, December 12th.

Conference Presentations/Talks

  • Cassidy, G.G & MacDonald, R.A.R (2008). Popular Music and the Videogame Experience. Popular Music Studies: Problems, Disputes, Questions. IASPM UK and Ireland Branch Conference. Glasgow University, September 12th-14th
  • Cassidy, G.G & MacDonald, R.A.R (2008). Music and Videogame Play For Health: The Effects of Self-Selected and Experimenter-Selected Music on Performance and Experience. 10th. International Conference of Music Perception and Cognition, Soporro, Japan, August 24th -29th
  • Cassidy, G., and MacDonald, R.A.R (2008). The effects of Self-Selected and Experimenter-Selected music on Driving Game Performance and Experience. A poster presented at 10th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, August 25th-29th , Sapporo, Japan
  • Cassidy, G.G & MacDonald, R.A.R (2007). Scotland Young Thinker of the Year: Life without Music. Institute of Contemporary Scotland, North West Castle Hotel, Stranraer, November 19th
  • Cassidy, G.G & MacDonald, R.A.R (2007). Scotland Young Thinker of the Year: To Play or Not To Play: The role of Game-Based Applications in Education, Institute of Contemporary Scotland, North West Castle Hotel, Stranraer, November 19th
  • Cassidy, G.G & MacDonald, R.A.R (2007). To Play or Not to Play? Uses and Functions of Music During Game Play. The International Digital Games Research Association Conference, Tokyo University, Japan, September 26th-29th.
  • Cassidy, G.G & MacDonald, R.A.R (2007). Optimizing Player Experience with Music: Soundtrack vs. Personal Choice. Game Developers Conference, San Francisco, March 5th-9th
  • Cassidy, G.G & MacDonald, R.A.R (2006). The Effects of Preferred Music on Driving Behaviour on a Driving Game Task: Everyday Musical Behaviour. 9th International Conference of Music Perception and Cognition, Bologna, Italy, August 22nd-26th
  • Cassidy, G.G & MacDonald, R.A.R (2005). The Effects of Aggressive, Relaxing and Preferred Music on Driving Video Game Performance and Evaluation. The International Digital Games Research Association Conference, Simon Fraser      University, Vancouver, June 15th-20th
  • Cassidy, G.G & MacDonald, R.A.R (2004). Differential Distraction of Music and Noise on Cognitive Task Performance. The 8th International Conference of Music Perception and Cognition, Northwestern University School of Music, Chicago, August 3rd-7th.

 Publications

  • Cassidy, G.G. & MacDonald, R.A.R (2007). The Effects of Background Music and Background Noise on the Task Performance of Introverts and Extraverts. Psychology of Music, 35 (3).
  • Cassidy, G., and MacDonald, R.A.R (2008). The Role of Music in Videogames: The effects of Self-Selected and Experimenter-Selected music on Driving Game Performance and Experience. 10th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, August 25th-29th, Sapporo, Japan.
  • Knox, D., Cassidy, G., Beveridge, S., and MacDonald. R.A.R (2008). Music emotion classification by audio signal analysis: Analysis of self-selected music during game play. 10th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, August 25th-29th, Sapporo, Japan.
  • Cassidy, G.G. & MacDonald, R.A.R (2009). The Effects of Music Choice on Task Performance: A Study of the Impact of Self-Selected and Experimenter-Selected Music on Driving Game Performance and Experience (Submitted to Musicae Scientiae; ESCOM Young Researcher of the Year Award).

 Awards and Grants

  • Young UK and Ireland Thinker of the Year: The Dunblane Medal. The Institute of Contemporary Scotland, 2008
  • Young Scotland Programme: Highly Commended. The Institute of Contemporary Scotland, 2007
  • Paths to Health Small Grant – the impact of game-based activity on health, 2008
  • KTP Academic Associate with Bunnyfoot – development of usability techniques for emotional experience of games, 2007
  • Shortlist for the ESCOM Young Researcher of the Year Award, August 2006
  • PsyPag International Conference Bursary, September 2007
  • Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research (SEMPRE) Conference Travel Award, August 2006
  • The Chancellors Fund Scholarship, Glasgow University, June 2003