My current research

I am working with Professor Kathy Rastle (RHUL) and Matt Davis (MRC CBU) on a project looking at the aquisition of new words and morphemes, and the generalisation of this information to untrained stimuli. We are also interested in defining the role of offline memory consolidation in this type of learning, making use of both behavioural and neuroscientific methods. We expect these data to inform us also about the way existing morphological information is represented and processed.

I am also working on a British Academy funded project in collaboration with Vicky Williamson (Goldsmiths) in which we seek to find out how music affects word learning, integration of novel words in the mental lexicon, and memory consolidation.

My research interests

For the past few years I have explored the role of offline memory consolidation in word learning. I am particularly interested in finding out how and when new words become integrated in the mental lexicon (with Gareth Gaskell at York). I have also attempted to isolate the role sleep plays in this process of memory consolidation, by identifying the neural events during sleep that are associated with word learning (with Penny Lewis and Matt Lambon Ralph at Manchester, Jessica Payne and Robert Stickgold at Harvard, and Gaskell). I have also been involved in work looking at the interaction of word recognition and attention (with Sandie Cleland at Aberdeen, and Philip Quinlan and Gaskell at York).

My research in the media

My research into sleep spindles and word learning was featured in 2010 in BBC Radio 4's Today programme, in the Harvard Crimson, and a number of science news blogs and web sites.