COLA is a collaboration between research groups with a shared interest in brain lateralisation. You can find out more about our teams and team members below.

OXFORD GROUP

The Oxford Study of Children’s Communication Impairments (OSCCI) was funded for many years by the Wellcome trust, headed by Principal Investigator, Professor Dorothy Bishop to study the underlying nature of children’s communication problems, especially developmental language disorder, and children with an additional X or Y chromosome. Since 2016, we have been funded by a programme grant from the European Research Council (ERC), and our current primary focus is on how the two sides of the brain process language (language laterality) and how this relates to language functioning. We are also actively involved in work to encourage open and reproducible research.
You can find out more about OSCCI here:
https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/research/oxford-study-of-children-s-communication-impairments
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/694189

Professor Dorothy Bishop, FBA FMedSci FRS
PROFESSOR OF DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
For more information about Dorothy, read her profile here: https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/team/dorothy-bishop

Dr Adam Parker
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
For more information about Adam, read his profile here: https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/team/adam-parker

Dr Zoe Woodhead
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
For more information about Zoe, read her profile here: https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/team/zoe-woodhead

Dr Nuala Simpson
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATE (Geneticist)
For more information about Nuala, read her profile here: https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/team/nuala-simpson

Dr Paul Thompson
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATE (Statistician)
For more information about Paul, read his profile here: https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/team/paul-thompson
BANGOR GROUP

Visual neuropsychology, sensorimotor control, cerebral asymmetry, visually-guided reaching, perception and action. Dr David Carey is a member of the Perception, Action and Memory research group

Dr David Carey
READER in PSYCHOLOGY
For more information about David, read his profile here: https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/en/researchers/david-carey(30a47f98-e0ca-48c2-ba20-ec00abc7fcb8).html

Dr Emma Karlsson
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER
For more information about Emma, read her profile here: https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/en/researchers/emma-karlsson(17f6f06c-8aa9-4d16-93ba-4f98f285297e).html

Dr Ciara Egan
RESEARCH ASSISTANT
For more information about Ciara, read her profile here: https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/team/ciara-egan
LINCOLN GROUP

The Perception, Action, and Cognition Group (PAC) undertakes research in a broad range of issues including visual motion processes, emotion, memory, and the visual processing in dyslexic, autistic, and neurological populations.

Dr Jessica Hodgson
SENIOR LECTURER IN BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE. Lincoln Medical School – Universities of Nottingham and Lincoln
For more information about Jessica, read her profile here: https://staff.lincoln.ac.uk/jhodgson

Dr John Hudson
SENIOR LECTURER, School of Psychology
For more information about John, read his profile here: https://staff.lincoln.ac.uk/994c0fc3-28fa-4c77-b204-7d7f74560f6f

Mr Jack Grant
RESEARCH ASSISTANT / PHD STUDENT
For more information about Jack, read his profile here: https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/team/jack-grant
LANCASTER GROUP

Investigating individual differences in language and literacy development in typically and atypically developing children. A central question in their research has been how perception and motor skills contribute to the development of speech sound representations needed to successfully learn to read. In a second line of research, they contributed to the development of the technique of functional Transcranial Doppler Ultrasonography as a direct measure of lateralisation of cognitive functions.

Dr Margriet Groen
SENIOR LECTURER, School of Psychology
For more information about Margriet, read her profile here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/psychology/about-us/people/margriet-groen

Mr Brad Hudson
RESEARCH ASSISTANT
For more information about Brad, read his profile here: https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/team/brad-hudson
UCL GROUP (LONDON)

Humans communicate not only through auditory speech, but also through vision. Visual routes to communication include reading, visual speech (lipreading), gesture and, for those who are deaf, sign language. Our research uses both behavioural and neuroimaging approaches to further our understanding of these modes of visual communication.
In particular our work involves research with people who are born deaf. Exploring the brains of individuals with altered sensory and language experience offers unique insights into the limits of neural plasticity and the cognitive and neurobiological conditions under which language develops. Our research addresses a fundamental issue in cognitive science: how does experience shape language and the brain?
In addition to informing our basic understanding of brain development and the neurobiology of language, aspects of our research will also ultimately inform intervention strategies for children born profoundly deaf both in terms of education and cochlear implant programmes.
You can find out more about Visual Communication group here:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/icn/research/research-groups/visual-communication

Professor Mairéad MacSweeney
PROFESSOR OF COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience
For more information about Mairéad, read her profile here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/icn/people/mairead-macsweeney

Dr Heather Payne
INDEPENDENT RESEARCH FELLOW, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience
For more information about Heather, read her profile here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/pals/people/heather-payne

Miss Sophie Harte
RESEARCH ASSISTANT
For more information about Sophie, read her profile here: https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/team/sophie-harte
ESSEX GROUP

My research has focused on how atypical language development, due to early onset deafness, impacts language and reading skills, at both the behavioural and neuropsychological levels.
Research interests: cognitive psychology of language; reading; deafness; hearing impairment; atypical language development; sign language processing.

Dr Eva Gutierrez-Sigut
LECTURER, Department of Psychology
For more information about Eva, read her profile here: https://www.essex.ac.uk/people/gutie34818/eva-gutierrez
UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA GROUP

The Learning, Individual Development, and Life (LIDL) Lab at the University of Western Australia investigates the impact of cognitive processes and neurophysiology on learning and life outcomes. For example, how attentional control or perceptual learning influence reading ability, as well as relationships with academic achievement and mental health.

Dr Nic Badcock
SENIOR LECTURER, Faculty of Science, School of Psychological Science
For more information about Nic, read his profile here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/nic-badcock

Josie Quin-Conroy
PHD STUDENT
ATHENS GROUP

The main focus of our work is on handedness and brain lateralization in healthy adults and children as well as in students with special education needs (students with dyslexia, dysgraphia, hearing impaired students, and students with low or high IQ). We are employing behavioural as well as brain imaging techniques, specifically functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound (fTCD). One of our major lines of work at the moment is the cerebral laterality of written language. We further have a special interest in meta-analysis and have published several pieces of work on different aspects of handedness, for example on the incidence of handedness and on sex differences in handedness, but also on handedness differences between the general population and individuals who are hearing impaired, in the Autism Spectrum and of low or high intelligence, while a number of similar meta-analyses are underway.
The Athens group is affiliated to the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and the Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens

Professor Marietta Papadatou-Pastou
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN NEUROPSYCHOLOGY, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens & Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens
For more information about Marietta, read her profile here: http://www.primedu.uoa.gr/english/human-resources/academic-staff/pastou-papadatou-marieta.html

Nantia Papadopoulou
PHD STUDENT, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens & Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens

Christos Samsouris
PHD STUDENT, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens & Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens