Dr David Lewis
Dr David Lewis BSc (Hons), D.Phil., FISMA, FRSM, AFBPsS, Chartered Psychologist.
Professional Author · Award Winning Broadcaster · Psychologist · CEO Mindlab International
About Dr David Lewis
Dr David Lewis (1942–2025) was a neuroscientist, Chartered Psychologist, professional author and Sony Award winning broadcaster who was voted one of the ’50 Most Influential Psychologists in the World Today’. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, a Fellow of the International Stress Management Association, and an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society.
David was the founder, Chairman and Director of Research at Mindlab International, an independent research consultancy based at the Sussex Innovation Centre on the University of Sussex campus. Widely regarded as the ‘father of neuromarketing’, his pioneering early work using EEG to monitor brain activity whilst watching advertisements was featured on the BBC programme Tomorrow’s World in 1992 and was one of the first known instances of the discipline. He also pioneered a new type of therapy called ‘neurofeedback’, whereby patients monitor their own brain states in real time in response to various stimuli, eventually learning to improve control over their emotions. His research into the interaction between breathing and emotion resulted in a new form of breath-control therapy, Bo-tau, for controlling anxiety, phobic responses and panic attacks.
David lectured internationally on impulsivity and its effects on decision-making, problem solving and health, and was a keynote speaker at the 2011 Festival of Thinkers held in the UAE. A professional writer for over thirty years, he published his first novel at the age of 16 and went on to author or co-author more than 30 books on psychology, neuroscience and consumer behaviour. He also devised and presented psychological experiments for television programmes including Embarrassing Bodies, Secret Eaters, Red Mist and The Colour Eye.
Keelan Leyser first met David while studying Philosophy and Economics at UCL, and it was a meeting that would shape the course of his life and career. In 2001 the two formed Lewis and Leyser, lecturing and providing workshops at conferences all over the world for many Fortune 500 companies. They used the psychology of illusion and magic and applied the principles magicians use in their thinking to help businesses with imagination, innovation, memory techniques, communication and body language. Together they co-authored David’s final work, Unseen: Blind Spots and Why We Miss What Matters Most, published by Bloomsbury Sigma in April 2026. The book explores the hidden corners of the human mind where perception fails, combining David’s expertise as a neuropsychologist with Keelan’s unique perspective as a magician and illusionist.
David passed away peacefully at home in July 2025, aged 83. His extraordinary curiosity, generosity of spirit and passion for understanding the human mind touched everyone who had the privilege of knowing and working with him. His legacy lives on — in the research he pioneered, the books he wrote, the countless audiences he inspired, and in the work of Lewis and Leyser that he helped shape. He is deeply missed.
Early Life & Interests
Born in France in 1942, David began by studying medicine, but a boyhood passion for photography led him to abandon his medical studies and retrain as a photo-journalist at the Regent Street School of Photography in London. He spent the next ten years as a freelance journalist, photographer and writer, travelling the world covering wars, riots and conflicts of all kinds, recording the misery of civilians caught up in the fighting. During this period he also worked in broadcast journalism, mainly as a presenter for the BBC on radio and television.
In 1974, in the hope of making some sense of all the misery, pain and suffering he had witnessed, he went back to university to read psychology. He gained a First Class Honours degree in psychology and biology from the University of Westminster, before moving to the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Sussex to undertake doctoral research into ways of treating stress, anxiety and phobias. He remained in the Department for a number of years, lecturing in clinical psychology and psychopathology under Professor Stewart Sutherland, and established two registered charities: Action on Phobias and Stresswatch Scotland.
Away from his work, David enjoyed spending time on, in or under the ocean. He was a qualified SCUBA diver and certified Day Skipper who made films about boating.
Books
Dr David Lewis was a professional writer for over thirty years, publishing his first book at the age of 16. He focused on practical aspects of psychology and wrote extensively on anxiety, stress, child development, thinking skills and obesity. His published works include:
- Triumph of the Will? How two men hypnotised Hitler and changed the world
- The Way It Was – A Photographic Journey through ‘Sixties Britain
- Fat Planet – The Obesity Trap and How We Can Escape It (with Dr Margaret Leitch)
- The Brain Sell – When Science Meets Shopping
- Impulse – Why we do what we do without knowing why we do it
- The Secret Language of Your Child
- Mind Skills – Giving Your Child a Brighter Future
- Thinking Better – A Revolutionary New Program to Achieve Peak Mental Performance (with James Greene)
- Your Child’s Drawings – Their Hidden Meaning (with James Greene)
- Fight Your Phobia and Win!
- Breathe Easy: De-Stress, Build Confidence and Focus Your Mind in Seven Days
- One-Minute Stress Management
- Ten-Minute Time and Stress Management
Media & Television
A Sony Award winning broadcaster with his own studio, Dr Lewis devised and presented psychological experiments for many TV programmes including Embarrassing Bodies, Secret Eaters, Red Mist and The Colour Eye.
“It was such a pleasure to work with you…the experiments were exactly what we wanted to provide Secret Eater viewers with fresh insights into the psychological factors.” — Curtis Leighton-Jones, Endemol Series Producer for Channel 4’s Secret Eaters.