Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
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drswijeakumar.bsky.social
Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
@drswijeakumar.bsky.social
240 followers 360 following 25 posts
Associate Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at University of Nottingham| Neurocognition in early years | Caregiver-child interactions | Contextual influences| Long-term outcomes.
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
START – a new programme supporting toddlers at elevated likelihood of autism or ADHD – shows promising findings tinyurl.com/5n92yuzy
 
#DevPsyc #devsky #devsci #AutRes
Feasibility and acceptability of a parent‐toddler programme to support the development of executive functions in children at elevated likelihood of autism or ADHD: Pilot findings
This study reports feasibility, fidelity and acceptability of a pilot of START; a 12-week parent-toddler, group-based, neurodiversity-affirming programme aiming to support executive function developm...
tinyurl.com
May 31, 2024 at 10:32 AM
drswijeakumar.bsky.social
Two weeks till the deadline for this fully funded ESRC DTP studentship with me and @alexhendry.bsky.social looking at play interactions and executive functions in neurotypical and neurodiverse families. Please share!
February 3, 2026 at 7:06 AM
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
rebeccasaxe.bsky.social
Congratulations to @lillianbehm.bsky.social, Nick Turk-Browne, and a huge team for putting together this paper (out today) on lessons from a decade of attempts to study awake infants with fMRI:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Awake Infants: Insights From More Than 750 Scanning Sessions
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in awake infants has the potential to reveal how the early developing brain gives rise to cognition and behavior. However, awake infant fMRI poses signifi...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
January 31, 2026 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
notts-psych.bsky.social
Apply now for a PhD in our school with @drswijeakumar.bsky.social and
@alexhendry.bsky.social 👇
drswijeakumar.bsky.social Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar @drswijeakumar.bsky.social · 11d
Three weeks until the deadline for the fully funded ESRC DTP position with me @notts-psych.bsky.social and @alexhendry.bsky.social. Please share with colleagues and interested students.
drswijeakumar.bsky.social Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar @drswijeakumar.bsky.social · 19d
Funded ESRC DTP Strategic joint PhD studentship with me at @notts-psych.bsky.social and @alexhendry.bsky.social on play interactions to improve executive functions. Application details in the link. Deadline: 18th Feb. Please share widely with interested students!
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQE738/e...
January 28, 2026 at 9:42 AM
drswijeakumar.bsky.social
Three weeks until the deadline for the fully funded ESRC DTP position with me @notts-psych.bsky.social and @alexhendry.bsky.social. Please share with colleagues and interested students.
January 28, 2026 at 9:33 AM
drswijeakumar.bsky.social
Funded ESRC DTP Strategic joint PhD studentship with me at @notts-psych.bsky.social and @alexhendry.bsky.social on play interactions to improve executive functions. Application details in the link. Deadline: 18th Feb. Please share widely with interested students!
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQE738/e...
ESRC DTP Strategic Joint Studentship: Adopting a Research-Informed Approach to Develop Play Interactions to Improve Executive Functions in Neurotypical and Neurodiverse Families. at Midlands Graduate ...
Find a ESRC DTP Strategic Joint Studentship: Adopting a Research-Informed Approach to Develop Play Interactions to Improve Executive Functions in Neurotypical and Neurodiverse Families. on jobs.ac.uk,...
www.jobs.ac.uk
January 20, 2026 at 12:08 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
npp-journal.bsky.social
Thank you to Dr. Schwarzlose for contributing the fantastic review article "Infant sensory gating and a developmental cascade to autistic traits and anxiety" this year 🤩 #ACNP2026

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
January 14, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
natmetabolism.nature.com
#Throwback 🧪

REVIEW | Feeding gut microbes to nourish the brain: unravelling the diet–microbiota–gut–brain axis

@elizschneider.bsky.social‬, ‪@jfcryan.bsky.social et al
Feeding gut microbes to nourish the brain: unravelling the diet–microbiota–gut–brain axis - Nature Metabolism
This Review provides an overview of the interplay between host diet and the gut microbiota, and how this affects brain function.
www.nature.com
December 31, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
tomalski.bsky.social
Full ref:
Duda-Goławska, J., Laudańska, Z., et al. Vocalisations are coupled with movement of all limbs throughout infancy. Sci Rep 15, 44899 (2025). doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Vocalisations are coupled with movement of all limbs throughout infancy - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Vocalisations are coupled with movement of all limbs throughout infancy
doi.org
December 30, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
tomalski.bsky.social
New paper alert from BabylabPAN

Spontaneous speech-like vocalisations of infants are coupled with increased arm and leg movements. Across most of the first year (4-12 mo) the onset of a vocalisation is coupled with a brief limb movements. A🧵below

OA text: rdcu.be/eWOko

Funding @ncn.gov.pl
Vocalisations are coupled with movement of all limbs throughout infancy
Scientific Reports - Vocalisations are coupled with movement of all limbs throughout infancy
rdcu.be
December 30, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
drkoraly.bsky.social
December:

Early and later susceptibility to effects of parenting: Exploring Frankenhuis and Panchanathan’s (2011) evolutionary commitment hypothesis.

doi.org/10.1037/dev0...
APA PsycNet
doi.org
December 29, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
earlkmiller.bsky.social
Alpha power indexes working memory load for durations
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
#neuroscience
Alpha power indexes working memory load for durations
Biological sciences; Neuroscience; Cognitive neuroscience
www.cell.com
December 26, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
meriahdejoseph.bsky.social
Just published! ✨ Across 15+ timepoints, we found that unpredictability in economic hardship – not only severity – shapes young children’s self-regulation. Understanding these dynamics can help us design supports that promote stability and adaptive development. 👉 bit.ly/4oIZO75
Hidden dynamics of economic hardship: Characterizing economic unpredictability and its role on self-regulation in early childhood | Development and Psychopathology | Cambridge Core
Hidden dynamics of economic hardship: Characterizing economic unpredictability and its role on self-regulation in early childhood
bit.ly
October 30, 2025 at 5:36 PM
drswijeakumar.bsky.social
‼️New paper‼️Alex Turner, Aly Magassouba and I applied a transformer-based ML network to capture caregiver-infant behaviors during play. Performance metrics differ based on data partition - with drop when tested on unseen dyads! @notts-psych.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Applying a Transformer-based machine-learning model to classify caregiver and infant behaviours during dyadic interactions
Multimodal caregiver-infant interactions have both concurrent and long-term impacts on child attention, cognitive and social skills. These behaviours …
www.sciencedirect.com
December 16, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
saradefelice.bsky.social
This is now out in Cerebral Cortex.

Open Access: academic.oup.com/cercor/artic...

@antoniahamilton.bsky.social @gabriellavigliocco.bsky.social Uzair Hakim @paola182.bsky.social Danny Thompkings @fdi55.bsky.social
December 2, 2025 at 12:19 PM
drswijeakumar.bsky.social
New paper from our work on Project NeuroSync published in Infant and Behavior Development. The interaction between caregiver scaffolding and infant object engagement is associated with better visual working memory in 6-to-10-month-old infants.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Caregiver-infant behaviours during multi-component object play are associated with infant visual working memory
Through play interactions, caregivers play a significant role in shaping children’s early cognitive development. The over-arching objective of this cr…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
markhaselgrove.bsky.social
Absolutely delighted to learn today that @notts-psych.bsky.social has been awarded #AthenaSwan GOLD by @advancehe.bsky.social.
Certificate of Athena Swan Gold from AdvanceHE
November 12, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
simpson.bsky.social
Stage 2 report now out! Newborn Auditory Brainstem Response and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome doi.org/10.1002/jnr.... #OpenAccess
Drawing of an infant getting an ABR screening, and two different waveforms shown, one for typical and one for infants later dying of SIDS, pointing towards early detection risk identification and potential intervention, showing a baby sleeping.
November 7, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
lisascottbcd.bsky.social
Im very excited about this work out from our recent infant ssVEP study! Led by postdoc Maeve Boylan! After infants learn about objects while reading a book with a parent, their brains prioritize the processing of familiarity. www.jneurosci.org/content/45/4...
Competitive Cortical Prioritization Emerges for Trained Objects across the First Year of Life
Learning to detect and recognize a broad range of visual objects is a crucial developmental task during the first year of life. However, many of the neurophysiological changes underlying the emergence...
www.jneurosci.org
October 24, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
deevybee.bsky.social
New blogpost on my concerns about Wellcome LEAP new $50m program on autism/microbiome links. deevybee.blogspot.com/2025/10/a-le...
#autism #microbiome #biomarkers #diagnostic
A LEAP into the future, or off a cliff: Wellcome LEAP's new $50M program
A few days ago, I saw this post on LinkedIn: How does the gut microbiome shape early brain development? That’s what FORM, a new $50 million...
deevybee.blogspot.com
October 20, 2025 at 1:53 PM
drswijeakumar.bsky.social
A short summary of our work @aimeetheyer.bsky.social in @notts-psych.bsky.social
October 16, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
abrieant.bsky.social
New lab paper in DCN! 🧠 We conducted interviews with adolescents to better understand their perceptions of neuroscience research and barriers to participation, w/qualitative data that is shaping how we design lab studies & efforts to increase representation.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Understanding barriers to adolescent participation in developmental neuroscience research
Increasing representation of youth in developmental neuroscience research is essential to elucidating neurobiological mechanisms of cognition, behavio…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 10, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
reid-lab.org
This one looks intriguing. Arousal "embedding" whole-brain dynamics. 🤯

#neuroskyence #compneurosky

doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Arousal as a universal embedding for spatiotemporal brain dynamics - Nature
Reframing of arousal as a latent dynamical system can reconstruct multidimensional measurements of large-scale spatiotemporal brain dynamics on the timescale of seconds in mice.
doi.org
September 25, 2025 at 6:03 AM
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
zsuzsakaldy.bsky.social
Have you ever wondered whether going to school IN AND OF ITSELF improves children’s thinking skills? We found that it does! But not by much (about 1/4 standard deviations). Meta-analysis with Jamie Donenfeld and @erikblaser.bsky.social #DevPsySky #PsySciSky www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
School changes minds: A meta-analysis shows that schooling modestly improves children’s executive functions
Formal schooling places new demands on young children, requiring the inhibition of prepotent responses, sustained attention to instructions, and compl…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 8, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
olivia.science
Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n
Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece, we expound on why universities must take their role seriously toa) counter the technology industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to relevant work to further inform our colleagues. Figure 1. A cartoon set theoretic view on various terms (see Table 1) used when discussing the superset AI (black outline, hatched background): LLMs are in orange; ANNs are in magenta; generative models are in blue; and finally, chatbots are in green. Where these intersect, the colours reflect that, e.g. generative adversarial network (GAN) and Boltzmann machine (BM) models are in the purple subset because they are both generative and ANNs. In the case of proprietary closed source models, e.g. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Apple’s Siri, we cannot verify their implementation and so academics can only make educated guesses (cf. Dingemanse 2025). Undefined terms used above: BERT (Devlin et al. 2019); AlexNet (Krizhevsky et al. 2017); A.L.I.C.E. (Wallace 2009); ELIZA (Weizenbaum 1966); Jabberwacky (Twist 2003); linear discriminant analysis (LDA); quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA). Table 1. Below some of the typical terminological disarray is untangled. Importantly, none of these terms are orthogonal nor do they exclusively pick out the types of products we may wish to critique or proscribe. Protecting the Ecosystem of Human Knowledge: Five Principles
September 6, 2025 at 8:13 AM