Dr Sarah Grainger
ARC DECRA Research Fellow
School of Psychology
Social Sciences Building (24)
Level 2, Room S217
Level 2, Room S217
Researcher biography
Dr. Sarah Grainger completed her PhD at the University of Queensland in November 2017. She was employed as a postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Psychology at UQ for several years before securing an ARC DECRA Fellowship in 2021. Her research to date has focused primarily on how social cognitive function– which broadly refers to our ability to detect and respond appropriately to social and emotional cues– changes across the lifespan, with a particular focus on normal adult ageing. In addition to using traditional behavioural measures to assess social cognition, Sarah also has experience with sophisticated experimental techniques including eye-tracking, facial electromyography, psychopharmacological interventions, and hormonal assessments. Much of her research to date has focused on using more ecologically valid socio-emotional tasks and she is now developing paradigms for testing social cognitive abilities outside the research laboratory in real social interactions (i.e., using wearable technologies). In 2024, Sarah was recognised as a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science (APS) for her innovative work on social cognitive ageing.
Journal Articles
Henry, Julie D., Coundouris, Sarah P., Labuschagne, Izelle, Liu, Kirra, Haines, Simon J., Grainger, Sarah A., Domínguez, Juan F., Puckett, Alex, Rendell, Peter G. and Taubert, Jessica (2025). Age-related differences in neural integrity are unrelated to prospective memory age effects. Brain and Cognition, 187 106301, 1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2025.106301
McKay, Kate T., Henry, Julie D., Demichelis, Olivia P., Marinic, Reese K., Evans, Nathan J. and Grainger, Sarah A. (2025). Attention to direct gaze in young and older adulthood. Consciousness and Cognition, 131 103854, 1-12. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2025.103854
Wootton, Daphne J., Henry, Julie D., Coundouris, Sarah P., Demichelis, Olivia P. and Grainger, Sarah A. (2025). Age differences in social affective forecasting. Psychology and Aging. doi: 10.1037/pag0000888
Chander, Russell J., Numbers, Katya, Grainger, Sarah A., Cleary, Rhiagh, Mather, Karen A., Kochan, Nicole A., Brodaty, Henry, Henry, Julie D. and Sachdev, Perminder S. (2025). Differential social cognitive performance in older adults with mild cognitive impairment and dementia. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 33 (3), 248-259. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2024.08.008
Grainger, Sarah A., Bailey, Tom G., Vear, Natalie K., Mead, Jessica K., Bourdaniotis, Xanthia E., Coombes, Jeff S. and Taylor, Jenna L. (2025). Increased arterial stiffness is associated with poorer social cognition in older age. Scientific Reports, 15 (1) 2285, 1-7. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-86423-y
Coundouris, Sarah P., Grainger, Sarah A., Schweitzer, Daniel, Hubbard, Ruth E., Laakso, E.-Liisa and Henry, Julie D. (2025). How social frailty is operationalized matters: Relationships with health and wellbeing in late adulthood. International Psychogeriatrics 100032, 100032. doi: 10.1016/j.inpsyc.2024.100032
Grainger, Sarah A., Topsfield, Alana J., Henry, Julie D. and Coundouris, Sarah P. (2024). The empathic measure of true emotion (EMOTE): a novel set of stimuli for measuring emotional responding. Cognition and Emotion, 1-10. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2024.2427889
Grainger, Sarah A., Henry, Julie D., Alister, Manikya, Bourdaniotis, Xanthia E., Mead, Jessica, Bailey, Tom G., Coombes, Jeff S. and Vear, Natalie (2023). Cardiorespiratory fitness and muscular strength do not predict social cognitive capacity in older age. Journals of Gerontology. Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 78 (11), 1824-1833. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbad101
Demichelis, Olivia P., McKay, Kate T., Grainger, Sarah A. and Henry, Julie D. (2023). Measurement type moderates the relationship between sleep and aggression: a meta-analytic investigation. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 72 101859. doi: 10.1016/j.avb.2023.101859
Grainger, Sarah and Henry, Julie D. (2023). Absence of age differences in emotion perception and gaze patterns using a contextually rich film-based assessment. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 76 (9), 2017-2027. doi: 10.1177/17470218221141644
Henry, Julie D., Coundouris, Sarah P., Craik, Fergus I.M., von Hippel, Courtney and Grainger, Sarah A. (2023). The cognitive tenacity of self-directed ageism. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 27 (8), 713-725. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.03.010
McKay, Kate T., Grainger, Sarah A., Alister, Manikya and Henry, Julie D. (2023). Enhancing ecological validity of gaze-cueing stimuli is associated with increased gaze following for older but not younger adults. Psychology and Aging, 38 (6), 562-572. doi: 10.1037/pag0000764
Demichelis, Olivia P., Grainger, Sarah A., Burr, Lucy and Henry, Julie D. (2023). Emotion regulation mediates the effects of sleep on stress and aggression. Journal of Sleep Research, 32 (3) e13787, 1-9. doi: 10.1111/jsr.13787
Demichelis, Olivia P., Grainger, Sarah A., Hubbard, Ruth E. and Henry, Julie D. (2023). Emotion regulation mediates the relationship between social frailty and stress, anxiety, and depression. Scientific Reports, 13 (1) 6430, 6430. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-33749-0
Demichelis, Olivia P., Grainger, Sarah A., McKay, Kate T., Burr, Lucy, Kim, Joanne and Henry, Julie D. (2023). Subjective and objective sleep quality does not predict behavioural episodic foresight in younger or older adults. Scientific Reports, 13 (1) 1056, 1-10. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-28183-1
Henry, Julie D., Coundouris, Sarah P., Mead, Jessica, Thompson, Brielle, Hubbard, Ruth E. and Grainger, Sarah A. (2023). Social frailty in late adulthood: social cognitive and psychological wellbeing correlates. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 78 (1), 87-96. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbac157
Grainger, Sarah A., Crawford, John D., Riches, Julia C., Kochan, Nicole A., Chander, Russell J., Mather, Karen A., Sachdev, Perminder S. and Henry, Julie D. (2023). Aging is associated with multidirectional changes in social cognition: findings from an adult lifespan sample ranging from 18 to 101 years. The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 78 (1), 62-72. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbac110
Henry, Julie D., Grainger, Sarah A. and von Hippel, William (2023). Determinants of Social Cognitive Aging: Predicting Resilience and Risk. Annual Review of Psychology, 74 (1), 5.1-5.26. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-033020-121832
Grainger, Sarah A., McKay, Kate T., Riches, Julia C., Chander, Russell J., Cleary, Rhiagh, Mather, Karen A., Kochan, Nicole A., Sachdev, Perminder S. and Henry, Julie D. (2022). Measuring empathy across the adult lifespan: a comparison of three assessment types. Assessment, 30 (6), 107319112211279-1883. doi: 10.1177/10731911221127902
Demichelis, Olivia P., Grainger, Sarah A., McKay, Kate T., Bourdaniotis, Xanthia E., Churchill, Emily G. and Henry, Julie D. (2022). Sleep, stress and aggression: meta-analyses investigating associations and causality. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 139 104732, 1-19. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104732
McKay, Kate T., Talipski, Louisa A., Grainger, Sarah A., Alister, Manikya and Henry, Julie D. (2022). How does ageing affect social attention? A test of competing theories using multi-level meta-analysis. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 77 (8), 1454-1463. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbac052
McKay, Kate T., Grainger, Sarah A., Coundouris, Sarah P., Skorich, Daniel P., Phillips, Louise H. and Henry, Julie D. (2021). Visual attentional orienting by eye gaze: a meta-analytic review of the gaze-cueing effect. Psychological Bulletin, 147 (12), 1269-1289. doi: 10.1037/bul0000353
Wright, Janet K. X., Grainger, Sarah A., Coundouris, Sarah P. and Henry, Julie D. (2021). Affective empathy in neurodegenerative disorders: the importance of measurement type. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 127, 808-819. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.05.020
Turner, Kate, Bartlett, Danielle, Grainger, Sarah A., Eddy, Clare, Reyes, Alvaro, Kordsachia, Catarina, Turner, Mitchell, Stout, Julie C., Georgiou-Karistianis, Nellie, Henry, Julie D., Ziman, Mel and Cruickshank, Travis (2021). Profiling Social Cognition in Premanifest Huntington's Disease. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 28 (3) PII S1355617721000357, 1-13. doi: 10.1017/s1355617721000357
Chander, Russell J., Mather, Karen A., Cleary, Rhiagh, Grainger, Sarah A., Thalamuthu, Anbupalam, Numbers, Katya, Kochan, Nicole A., Armstrong, Nicola J., Brodaty, Henry, Henry, Julie D. and Sachdev, Perminder S. (2021). The influence of rs53576 polymorphism in the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene on empathy in healthy adults by subtype and ethnicity: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Reviews in the Neurosciences, 33 (1), 43-57. doi: 10.1515/revneuro-2021-0038
Grainger, Sarah A., Mead, Jessica K., Vanman, Eric J. and Henry, Julie D. (2021). The relationship between testosterone and social cognition in younger and older adults. Biological Psychology, 161 108072, 1-5. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108072
Kgolo, Tumelo, Grainger, Sarah A. and Henry, Julie D. (2021). Empathy and schizotypy following acquired brain damage. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 60 (1) bjc.12274, 116-128. doi: 10.1111/bjc.12274
Henry, Julie D., Hering, Alexandra, Haines, Simon, Grainger, Sarah A., Koleits, Nick, McLennan, Skye, Pelly, Rachel, Doyle, Colleen, Rose, Nathan S, Kliegel, Matthias and Rendell, Peter G (2021). Acting with the future in mind: testing competing prospective memory interventions. Psychology and Aging, 36 (4), 491-503. doi: 10.1037/pag0000593
Manchery, Nithin, Nangle, Matthew R., Grainger, Sarah A., Haines, Simon, Pradhan, Archana, Rendell, Peter G. and Henry, Julie D. (2021). Event-based but not time-based prospective memory is related to oral health in late adulthood. Gerontology, 67 (1), 1-9. doi: 10.1159/000511607
Grainger, Sarah A., Vanman, Eric J. and Henry, Julie D. (2020). Tears of sadness reduce others' gazing toward the eyes. Emotion, 22 (6), 1382-1386. doi: 10.1037/emo0000926
Grainger, Sarah A. and Henry, Julie D. (2020). Gaze patterns to emotional faces throughout the adult lifespan. Psychology and Aging, 35 (7), 981-992. doi: 10.1037/pag0000571
Henry, Julie D., Terrett, Gill, Grainger, Sarah A., Rose, Nathan S., Kliegel, Matthias, Bugge, Melissa, Ryrie, Clare and Rendell, Peter G. (2020). Implementation intentions and prospective memory function in late adulthood. Psychology and Aging, 35 (8), 1105-1114. doi: 10.1037/pag0000563
Chander, Russell J., Grainger, Sarah A., Crawford, John D., Mather, Karen A., Numbers, Katya, Cleary, Rhiagh, Kochan, Nicole A., Brodaty, Henry, Henry, Julie D. and Sachdev, Perminder S. (2020). Development of a short-form version of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test for assessing theory of mind in older adults. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 35 (11) gps.5369, 1322-1330. doi: 10.1002/gps.5369
Demichelis, Olivia P., Coundouris, Sarah P., Grainger, Sarah A. and Henry, Julie D. (2020). Empathy and Theory of Mind in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Meta-analysis. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 26 (10), 1-15. doi: 10.1017/s1355617720000478
Grainger, Sarah A., Rakunathan, Vidhya, Adams, Alexandra G., Canty, Alana L. and Henry, Julie D. (2020). An assessment of age differences in theory of mind using the virtual assessment of mentalizing ability. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 28 (1), 1-11. doi: 10.1080/13825585.2020.1713290
Varcin, Kandice J., Grainger, Sarah A., Bailey, Phoebe E., Richmond, Jenny L. and Henry, Julie D. (2019). Empathy for others’ pain is disrupted at the neurophysiological level in schizophrenia. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58 (4) bjc.12220, 406-426. doi: 10.1111/bjc.12220
Grainger, Sarah A., Crawford, John D., Kochan, Nicole A., Mather, Karen A., Chander, Russell J., Draper, Brian, Brodaty, Henry, Sachdev, Perminder S. and Henry, Julie D. (2019). An investigation into early-life stress and cognitive function in older age. International Psychogeriatrics, 32 (11), 1-5. doi: 10.1017/s1041610219001583
Coundouris, Sarah P., Adams, Alexandra G., Grainger, Sarah A. and Henry, Julie D. (2019). Social perceptual function in Parkinson’s disease: a meta-analysis. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 104, 255-267. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.07.011
Grainger, Sarah A., Vanman, Eric J., Matters, Gabriella and Henry, Julie D. (2019). The influence of tears on older and younger adults' perceptions of sadness. Psychology and Aging, 34 (5), 665-673. doi: 10.1037/pag0000373
Varcin, Kandice J., Grainger, Sarah A., Richmond, Jenny L., Bailey, Phoebe E. and Henry, Julie D. (2019). A role for affectivity in rapid facial mimicry: an electromyographic study. Social Neuroscience, 14 (5), 1-10. doi: 10.1080/17470919.2018.1564694
Nangle, Matthew R., Riches, Julia, Grainger, Sarah A., Manchery, Nithin, Sachdev, Perminder S. and Henry, Julie D. (2019). Oral health and cognitive function in older adults: a systematic review. Gerontology, 65 (6), 1-14. doi: 10.1159/000496730
Grainger, Sarah A., Henry, Julie D., Steinvik, Henriette R. and Vanman, Eric J. (2018). Intranasal oxytocin does not alter initial perceptions of facial trustworthiness in younger or older adults. Journal of Psychopharmacology , 33 (2), 026988111880630-254. doi: 10.1177/0269881118806303
Grainger, Sarah, Steinvik, Henriette, Henry, Julie D. and Phillips, Louise (2018). The role of social attention in older adults' ability to interpret naturalistic social scenes. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 72 (6), 174702181879177-1343. doi: 10.1177/1747021818791774
Grainger, Sarah A., Henry, Julie D., Steinvik, Henriette R., Vanman, Eric J., Rendell, Peter G. and Labuschagne, Izelle (2018). Intranasal oxytocin does not reduce age-related difficulties in social cognition. Hormones and Behavior, 99, 25-34. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2018.01.009
Grainger, Sarah A., Henry, Julie D., Naughtin, Claire K., Comino, Marita S. and Dux, Paul E. (2018). Implicit false belief tracking is preserved in late adulthood. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71 (9), 174702181773469-1987. doi: 10.1177/1747021817734690
Grainger, Sarah A., Henry, Julie D., Phillips, Louise H., Vanman, Eric J. and Allen, Roy (2015). Age deficits in facial affect recognition: the influence of dynamic cues. Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 72 (4), 622-632. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbv100
Conference Papers
Chander, Russell J., Grainger, Sarah A., Mather, Karen A., Cleary, Rhiagh, Kochan, Nicole A., Henry, Julie D. and Sachdev, Perminder S. (2024). Influence of ageing, cognitive factors, and task modality on social cognitive performance in nondemented older adults. Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) 2024, Philadelphia, PA United States, 28 July –1 August 2024. Hoboken, NJ United States: John Wiley & Sons. doi: 10.1002/alz.092023
Demichelis, O., McKay, K., Grainger, S. and Henry, J. (2022). Measurement type moderates the relationship between sleep and aggression: a meta-analytic investigation. 33rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australasian Sleep Association and the Australia and New Zealand Sleep Science Association, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 8-11 November 2022. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/sleepadvances/zpac029.107
Grainger, S., Henry, J., Vanman, E., Scott, J. and Labuschagne, I. (2016). Intranasal Oxytocin and Social Perceptual Processing in Late Adulthood. -, -, -. Cary, NC United States: Oxford University Press.
Theses
Grainger, Sarah (2017). Social cognitive functioning in late adulthood. PhD Thesis, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2018.5
Grainger, Sarah (2012). Are there age differences in emotional responding?. Honours Thesis, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland.