Psychology Seminar Series - The early development of visual working memory

We are delighted to welcome Professor John Spencer from the University of East Anglia for the first in our series of seminars this academic year.

In this talk Professor John Spencer will discuss the early development of visual working memory.

There is a growing need to understand the global impact of poverty on early brain and behavioural development, particularly with regard to key cognitive processes that emerge in early development. One such cognitive process is visual working memory (VWM). VWM is central to daily functioning, maintaining visual information actively in mind and detecting changes in the world when they occur.

Here, Prof Spencer will report findings from several recent studies examining the early development of VWM in the US, the UK, and India. These studies are using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to collect neuroimaging data while infants and toddlers complete a Preferential Looking (PL) working memory task, and relating these functional neuroimaging data to a host of other cognitive, social, and environmental factors thought to impact the early development of brain and behaviour.

All are welcome to join.

Speaker

John P. Spencer is a Professor of Psychology, and joined the University of East Anglia in 2015. Prior to arriving in the UK he was a Professor at the University of Iowa and served as the founding Director of the DeLTA Center. His research has been continuously funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health since 2001.

His research focuses on the development of executive function including working memory, attention, and inhibitory control. He is also a pioneer in the use of dynamical systems and dynamic neural field models for understanding cognition and action.