Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
@drswijeakumar.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at University of Nottingham| Neurocognition in early years | Caregiver-child interactions | Contextual influences| Long-term outcomes.
#ADHD and #Brown in #STEM.
#ADHD and #Brown in #STEM.
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Absolutely delighted to learn today that @notts-psych.bsky.social has been awarded #AthenaSwan GOLD by @advancehe.bsky.social.
November 12, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Absolutely delighted to learn today that @notts-psych.bsky.social has been awarded #AthenaSwan GOLD by @advancehe.bsky.social.
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Stage 2 report now out! Newborn Auditory Brainstem Response and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome doi.org/10.1002/jnr.... #OpenAccess
November 7, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Stage 2 report now out! Newborn Auditory Brainstem Response and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome doi.org/10.1002/jnr.... #OpenAccess
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
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
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...
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
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
#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
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
#autism #microbiome #biomarkers #diagnostic
A short summary of our work @aimeetheyer.bsky.social in @notts-psych.bsky.social
- @aimeetheyer.bsky.social and @drswijeakumar.bsky.social (2025) found that temporo-parietal function in caregivers & infants during episodes of joint attention in play interactions was linked to visual short-term memory in infants #EarlyYears #JointAttention #infancypapers doi.org/10.1111/infa...
Brain‐Behavior Associations During Interactions Between Caregivers and Infants
Previous research has shown that infants' abilities to sustain attention are influenced by caregivers' attentional behaviors. Here, we inquired whether brain function in infants was linked to brain f...
doi.org
October 16, 2025 at 4:00 PM
A short summary of our work @aimeetheyer.bsky.social in @notts-psych.bsky.social
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
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...
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
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...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
This one looks intriguing. Arousal "embedding" whole-brain dynamics. 🤯
#neuroskyence #compneurosky
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
#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
This one looks intriguing. Arousal "embedding" whole-brain dynamics. 🤯
#neuroskyence #compneurosky
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
#neuroskyence #compneurosky
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
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
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...
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
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
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
September 6, 2025 at 8:13 AM
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
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
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
About 30–40% of children born preterm (<34 weeks) develop cognitive problems, a rate unchanged for decades. We show these difficulties are related with distinct brain differences by gestational age, interventions should be tailored, not ‘one-size-fits-all’.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Distinct neural mechanisms underlying cognitive difficulties in preterm children born at different stages of prematurity
To examine associations between low cognitive-performance and regional-and network-level brain changes at ages 9–10 in very-preterm, moderately-preter…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 4, 2025 at 6:28 PM
About 30–40% of children born preterm (<34 weeks) develop cognitive problems, a rate unchanged for decades. We show these difficulties are related with distinct brain differences by gestational age, interventions should be tailored, not ‘one-size-fits-all’.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
October is an exciting month - it includes Dyslexia Awareness week (#DAW25), ADHD Awareness Month, and DLD Awareness Day - and I thought it was a great time to raise awareness of #neurodiversity - and talk about a new project thats close to my heart..
October 2, 2025 at 9:53 PM
October is an exciting month - it includes Dyslexia Awareness week (#DAW25), ADHD Awareness Month, and DLD Awareness Day - and I thought it was a great time to raise awareness of #neurodiversity - and talk about a new project thats close to my heart..
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
new preprint - do you use #fnirs to study cognition? do you want to learn how to design better studies? our primer aims to get you started on using #fnirs for real-world #cognitive #neuroscience
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
June 23, 2025 at 1:05 PM
new preprint - do you use #fnirs to study cognition? do you want to learn how to design better studies? our primer aims to get you started on using #fnirs for real-world #cognitive #neuroscience
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Black Maternal Mental Health Week begins today, returning for its 5th year, led by MMHA Member The Motherhood Group.
This week is about more than awareness. We'll be highlighting new research, sharing insights from lived experiences, and discussing how we translate evidence into action.
#BMMHW2025
This week is about more than awareness. We'll be highlighting new research, sharing insights from lived experiences, and discussing how we translate evidence into action.
#BMMHW2025
September 22, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Black Maternal Mental Health Week begins today, returning for its 5th year, led by MMHA Member The Motherhood Group.
This week is about more than awareness. We'll be highlighting new research, sharing insights from lived experiences, and discussing how we translate evidence into action.
#BMMHW2025
This week is about more than awareness. We'll be highlighting new research, sharing insights from lived experiences, and discussing how we translate evidence into action.
#BMMHW2025
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
🧠Out now @natcomms.nature.com !
Brain changes linked to childhood maltreatment are among the field's most published findings. Yet, we find extensive replication failure of gray matter correlates in three large cohorts (N=3225), consistent across subsamples, models and operationalizations🧵
Brain changes linked to childhood maltreatment are among the field's most published findings. Yet, we find extensive replication failure of gray matter correlates in three large cohorts (N=3225), consistent across subsamples, models and operationalizations🧵
September 16, 2025 at 4:21 PM
🧠Out now @natcomms.nature.com !
Brain changes linked to childhood maltreatment are among the field's most published findings. Yet, we find extensive replication failure of gray matter correlates in three large cohorts (N=3225), consistent across subsamples, models and operationalizations🧵
Brain changes linked to childhood maltreatment are among the field's most published findings. Yet, we find extensive replication failure of gray matter correlates in three large cohorts (N=3225), consistent across subsamples, models and operationalizations🧵
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Very excited to announce my student Andreas Arslan's first paper, "Causal coherence improves episodic memory of dynamic events" in Cognition!
Out now open access: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Andreas isn't on bsky, but he very kindly wrote a summary thread for me to share.
🧵 (1/24)
Out now open access: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Andreas isn't on bsky, but he very kindly wrote a summary thread for me to share.
🧵 (1/24)
Causal coherence improves episodic memory of dynamic events
“Episodes” in memory are formed by the experience of dynamic events that unfold over time. However, just because a series of events unfold sequentiall…
www.sciencedirect.com
September 16, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Very excited to announce my student Andreas Arslan's first paper, "Causal coherence improves episodic memory of dynamic events" in Cognition!
Out now open access: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Andreas isn't on bsky, but he very kindly wrote a summary thread for me to share.
🧵 (1/24)
Out now open access: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Andreas isn't on bsky, but he very kindly wrote a summary thread for me to share.
🧵 (1/24)
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
📣 PhD opportunity with my colleague Marieke van der Schaaf, here at @tilburguniversity.bsky.social (in collaboration with @dondersinst.bsky.social).
Analysis of #MRI, #cognitive, and #immunometabolic data in ppl w/ Myalgic encephalomyelitis or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
More: tinyurl.com/3dhkv5n6
Analysis of #MRI, #cognitive, and #immunometabolic data in ppl w/ Myalgic encephalomyelitis or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
More: tinyurl.com/3dhkv5n6
Job opening: PhD student: Investigating Metabolic and Neuropathological interactions (22947)
tinyurl.com
September 15, 2025 at 7:50 PM
📣 PhD opportunity with my colleague Marieke van der Schaaf, here at @tilburguniversity.bsky.social (in collaboration with @dondersinst.bsky.social).
Analysis of #MRI, #cognitive, and #immunometabolic data in ppl w/ Myalgic encephalomyelitis or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
More: tinyurl.com/3dhkv5n6
Analysis of #MRI, #cognitive, and #immunometabolic data in ppl w/ Myalgic encephalomyelitis or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
More: tinyurl.com/3dhkv5n6
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Lazarus et al. (2025): A simple act with a lasting impact: Holding babies skin-to-skin in the NICU helped support their development and reduced differences linked to family income. Early touch can be a powerful way to promote equity from the very start #infancypapers doi.org/10.1111/infa...
doi.org
July 31, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Lazarus et al. (2025): A simple act with a lasting impact: Holding babies skin-to-skin in the NICU helped support their development and reduced differences linked to family income. Early touch can be a powerful way to promote equity from the very start #infancypapers doi.org/10.1111/infa...
My second paper is out now! Interesting work with @drswijeakumar.bsky.social from our NeuroSync dataset looking at brain-behaviour associations during caregiver-infant play interactions. 🧠
We just published a new paper from our NeuroSync dataset in Infancy. Led by @aimeetheyer.bsky.social. We looked at brain function in caregivers and infants during joint and continued attention periods, and links to infant visual short-term/working memory.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
September 4, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
My second paper is out now! Interesting work with @drswijeakumar.bsky.social from our NeuroSync dataset looking at brain-behaviour associations during caregiver-infant play interactions. 🧠
We just published a new paper from our NeuroSync dataset in Infancy. Led by @aimeetheyer.bsky.social. We looked at brain function in caregivers and infants during joint and continued attention periods, and links to infant visual short-term/working memory.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Brain‐Behavior Associations During Interactions Between Caregivers and Infants
Previous research has shown that infants' abilities to sustain attention are influenced by caregivers' attentional behaviors. Here, we inquired whether brain function in infants was linked to brain f...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 4, 2025 at 8:16 AM
My second paper is out now! Interesting work with @drswijeakumar.bsky.social from our NeuroSync dataset looking at brain-behaviour associations during caregiver-infant play interactions. 🧠
We just published a new paper from our NeuroSync dataset in Infancy. Led by @aimeetheyer.bsky.social. We looked at brain function in caregivers and infants during joint and continued attention periods, and links to infant visual short-term/working memory.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Brain‐Behavior Associations During Interactions Between Caregivers and Infants
Previous research has shown that infants' abilities to sustain attention are influenced by caregivers' attentional behaviors. Here, we inquired whether brain function in infants was linked to brain f...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 4, 2025 at 6:38 AM
We just published a new paper from our NeuroSync dataset in Infancy. Led by @aimeetheyer.bsky.social. We looked at brain function in caregivers and infants during joint and continued attention periods, and links to infant visual short-term/working memory.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Learned Predictiveness in Children.
After 3 years of testing children at @notts-psych.bsky.social annual public engagement event "Summer Scientist week", we have finally collated all the data from 161 children between the ages of 4 and 14 who completed a "magical potions task"
After 3 years of testing children at @notts-psych.bsky.social annual public engagement event "Summer Scientist week", we have finally collated all the data from 161 children between the ages of 4 and 14 who completed a "magical potions task"
August 29, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Learned Predictiveness in Children.
After 3 years of testing children at @notts-psych.bsky.social annual public engagement event "Summer Scientist week", we have finally collated all the data from 161 children between the ages of 4 and 14 who completed a "magical potions task"
After 3 years of testing children at @notts-psych.bsky.social annual public engagement event "Summer Scientist week", we have finally collated all the data from 161 children between the ages of 4 and 14 who completed a "magical potions task"
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
I've made this pretty poster of my books, so far, for an upcoming event. Maybe one looks relevant to you? :)
August 29, 2024 at 12:55 PM
I've made this pretty poster of my books, so far, for an upcoming event. Maybe one looks relevant to you? :)
❗️New brief report❗️Using data from our NeuroSync dataset, we showed that life stress moderates the link between caregiver metacognition and infant sustained attention. @ghadasaleem.bsky.social @linecaes.bsky.social @alexhendry.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Household stress moderates the association between caregiver metacognition and infant sustained attention
Previous work has shown that caregiver executive functions (EFs) are robustly linked to EFs in children. However, existing evidence has used mixed methods approaches combining questionnaires and expe...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
August 15, 2025 at 6:26 PM
❗️New brief report❗️Using data from our NeuroSync dataset, we showed that life stress moderates the link between caregiver metacognition and infant sustained attention. @ghadasaleem.bsky.social @linecaes.bsky.social @alexhendry.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Happy to share "The Dynamics of Caregiver Unpredictability Shape Moment-to-Moment Infant Looking During Dyadic Interaction," out now in Child Development thanks to a large team of people I worked on this with! srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirec...
<em>Child Development</em> | SRCD Journal | Wiley Online Library
Cognitive development is associated with how predictable caregivers are, but the mechanisms driving this are unclear. One possibility is caregiver predictability initially shapes how infants gather i...
srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
August 6, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Happy to share "The Dynamics of Caregiver Unpredictability Shape Moment-to-Moment Infant Looking During Dyadic Interaction," out now in Child Development thanks to a large team of people I worked on this with! srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirec...
Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
🔊 Final Call for Late Breaking Abstracts
▶️ Due to the extenuating circumstances of the current uncertainties surrounding travel and funding this year, FIT’NG is offering a final extension for abstract submissions.
🗓️ Submission deadline: July 24
fitng.org/late-breakin...
▶️ Due to the extenuating circumstances of the current uncertainties surrounding travel and funding this year, FIT’NG is offering a final extension for abstract submissions.
🗓️ Submission deadline: July 24
fitng.org/late-breakin...
Late breaking poster abstracts | fitng.org
fitng.org
July 17, 2025 at 4:00 PM
🔊 Final Call for Late Breaking Abstracts
▶️ Due to the extenuating circumstances of the current uncertainties surrounding travel and funding this year, FIT’NG is offering a final extension for abstract submissions.
🗓️ Submission deadline: July 24
fitng.org/late-breakin...
▶️ Due to the extenuating circumstances of the current uncertainties surrounding travel and funding this year, FIT’NG is offering a final extension for abstract submissions.
🗓️ Submission deadline: July 24
fitng.org/late-breakin...