Gaia Scerif
Research Areas
Medical Sciences Division Themes
- Neuroscience
Neuroscience Sub-Themes
- Genes and Developmental Neuroscience
- Systems, Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience
- Human Psychology, Mental Health and Psychiatry
Neuroscience Keywords
- ADHD
- Attention
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Behavioural Phenotype
- Cognition
- EEG
- ERP
- Executive Function
- Genetic Disorders
- Impulsivity
- Mental Retardation
Techniques and Equipment
Group Members
- Dr Justin Cowan, Postdoctoral Researcher
- Victoria Leggett, Graduate Researcher
- Dr Duncan Astle, Postdoctoral Researcher
- Ann Steele, DPhil Student
- Victoria Cole, Graduate Researcher
Collaborators
- Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith, Birkbeck College, University of London
- Dr Kim Cornish, McGill University
- Professor Dorothy Bishop, Oxford Study for Children Communication Impairments
- Professor Kate Nation, Language and Cognitive Development
- Professor Chris Hollis, Motivation, Inhibition and Development in ADHD
- Dr Nikki Pitchford, Nottingham Toddler Lab
- Dr BJ Casey, Sackler Institute, Cornell University
| Web | Personal Website |
|---|---|
| Department | Department of Experimental Psychology |
| College | St Catherine's College |
Gaia Scerif
The Attention, Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) lab focuses on the processes underlying the development of attentional control and of attentional difficulties, from their neural correlates to their outcomes on other emerging cognitive abilities (e.g., basic literacy or numeracy). This broad aim involves combining the study of typical attentional control with research on neurodevelopmental disorders of attention. Our interests include disorders with a well-defined genetic aetiology (e.g., fragile X syndrome, Williams syndrome, Down syndrome) that affect developmental changes in molecular pathways and neural circuits supporting attentional control, as well as complex behavioural syndromes of mixed aetiology (e.g., AD/HD) and typical neurocognitive development of attention.
Sources of Funding
- The Wellcome Trust 2005- 2010
- BDF Newlife 2007- 2009
- Economic and Social Research Council 2007- 2010
- The Williams Syndrome Foundation 2007- 2010
- The Down Syndrome Educational Trust 2007- 2010
- John fell OUP Fund 2007- 2009
Biography
Dr Scerif read Psychology at the University of St. Andrews (Scotland), spending a year as a visiting student at Queen’s University, in Canada. She then moved to London for a PhD at the Institute of Child Health, University College London, supervised by Professors Annette Karmiloff-Smith and Jon Driver, in close collaboration with Dr Kim Cornish. After a brief visiting fellowship (now developed into an ongoing collaboration) at the Sackler Institute of Developmental Psychobiology, Cornell University, in 2003 she became a lecturer in the School of Psychology, University of Nottingham. She has been based in Oxford since October 2006.
Selected Publications
- Scerif Gaia, Cornish Kim, Wilding John, Driver Jon, and Karmiloff-Smith Annette (2007) Delineation of early attentional control difficulties in fragile X syndrome: focus on neurocomputational changes. Neuropsychologia, 45(8):1889-98.
- Scerif G (2006) What is so special about modules? Defining mechanisms of developmental change. Infancia y Aprendizaje, 29:281-287.
- Scerif G, Kotsoni E, and Casey B J (2006) The functional neuroimaging of development. In: R. Cabeza and A. Kingstone (Eds.), Functional Neuroimaging of Cognition Cambridge: MIT Press:351-378.
- Scerif Gaia, Worden Michael S, Davidson Matthew, Seiger Liat, and Casey B J (2006) Context modulates early stimulus processing when resolving stimulus-response conflict. J Cogn Neurosci, 18(5):781-92.
- Scerif Gaia and Karmiloff-Smith Annette (2005) The dawn of cognitive genetics? Crucial developmental caveats. Trends Cogn Sci, 9(3):126-35.
- Scerif Gaia, Karmiloff-Smith Annette, Campos Ruth, Elsabbagh Mayada, Driver Jon, and Cornish Kim (2005) To look or not to look? Typical and atypical development of oculomotor control. J Cogn Neurosci, 17(4):591-604.
- Scerif Gaia, Cornish Kim, Wilding John, Driver Jon, and Karmiloff-Smith Annette (2004) Visual search in typically developing toddlers and toddlers with Fragile X or Williams syndrome. Dev Sci, 7(1):116-30.
- Karmiloff-Smith Annette, Scerif Gaia, and Ansari Daniel (2003) Double dissociations in developmental disorders? Theoretically misconceived, empirically dubious. Cortex, 39(1):161-3.
- Karmiloff-Smith Annette, Scerif Gaia, and Thomas Michael (2002) Different approaches to relating genotype to phenotype in developmental disorders. Dev Psychobiol, 40(3):311-22.
- Bull R and Scerif G (2001) Executive functioning as a predictor of children's mathematics ability: inhibition, switching, and working memory. Dev Neuropsychol, 19(3):273-93.
