Esther Y Y Lau, Ph.D.
Registered Psychologist (British Columbia, Canada)
Registered Clinical Psychologist (HKPS)
Chief Examiner, MSocSc in Clinical Psychology Program

Education
B.Soc.Sc. (Psychology), The University of Hong Kong
M.Soc.Sc. (Clinical Psychology), The University of Hong Kong
Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology), Dalhousie University
Pre-doctoral Internship (Clinical Psychology – Neuropsychology Track), Vancouver Coastal Health

Research interests
-Neuropsychology of sleep and sleep disorders, normal aging, and neurological and psychiatric conditions
-Stress and coping
-Forgiveness, spirituality, and mental health

Contacts
Office: C663
Phone: (852)3917-7035
Email: eyylau@hku.hk
HKU Researcher Page: http://hub.hku.hk/rp/rp00634

Recent Publications
Lau, E. Y. Y. (2013). Executive and frontal lobe function. In C. A. Kushida (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Sleep, Vol.3 (pp.352-359). Waltham, MA: Academic Press.

Lau, E. Y. Y. (2013). Mood and behavior. In C. A. Kushida (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Sleep, Vol.3 (pp.413-418). Waltham, MA: Academic Press.

Wong, M. L., Lau, E. Y. Y. (corresponding author), Wan, J. H. Y., Cheung, S. F., Hui, C. H., & Mok, D. S. Y. (in press). The interplay between sleep and mood in predicting academic functioning, physical health and psychological health: A longitudinal study. Journal of Psychosomatic Research.

Cheng, G. L. F., Tang, J. C. Y., Li, F. W. S., Lau, E. Y. Y., & Lee, T. M. C. (2012). Schizophrenia and risk-taking: Impaired reward but preserved punishment processing. Schizophrenia Research, 136, 122-127.

Hui, C. H., Ng, E. C. W., Mok, D. S. Y., Lau, E. Y. Y., & Cheung, S. F. (2011). "Faith Maturity Scale" for Chinese: A revision and construct validation. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 21, 308-322.

Lau, E. Y. Y. (corresponding author), Eskes G. A., Morrison, D. L., Rajda, M., Spurr, K. F. (2010). Executive function in patients with obstructive sleep apnea treated with continuous positive airway pressure. Journal of International Neuropsychological Society, 16, 1077-1088.

Cowper-Smith, C. D., Lau, E. Y. Y., Helmick, C. A., Eskes, G. E., Westwood, D. A. (2010). Neural coding of movement direction in the healthy human brain. PLoS ONE 5(10): e13330. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013330

RESEARCH LABORATORY
Sleep Laboratory
We are interested in studying how sleep interacts with our waking time. That includes how sleep, sleep problems, sleep disorders, sleep quality, sleep loss, and sleep deprivation affect daytime functioning, and also how our daytime behaviors and environmental factors such as stress, caffeine intake, napping, and shift work affect our nighttime sleep. We hope that our research has implications for promotion of quality sleep and enhancement of daytime functioning, hence improving overall well-being.

Research Internship Opportunities
We would like to recruit three to four second-year psychology major students to join our lab from Sept, 2013 for the project: Napping effects on neuropsychological functioning in college students. Orientation and training will start in the summer.

The interns will be mainly involved in data collection and entry. Candidates must have obtained a B+ or above in PSYC1004 or similar courses in statistics/research methods, taken or currently taking PSYC0060, with a cumulative GPA of 3.1 or above.

Interested students are welcome to send a covering letter and a detailed curriculum vitae to Dr. Esther Lau (eyylau@hku.hk).