24/10/2022 Our newest paper is out & on the cover of Brain! We show that the function of different brain regions is not ‘fixed’, and that it is very much influenced by sensory experience. Specifically, we show that the auditory cortex of deaf individuals is involved in higher-order cognitive functions, such as switching between tasks. We also found that language skills, either in sign or spoken language, predict performance in cognitive tasks. This highlights the importance of early access to language for the development of cognitive skills, independently of the modality of the language. You can find our orignal paper here.
Art on the cover is ‘Co-ordination’ by Rubbena Aurangzeb-Tariq (https://www.rubbena.com/)
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13/09/2022 Congratulations to Valeria Vinogradova, who passed her PhD viva with flying colours!
23/05/2021 COVID-safe in-person testing has begun! You may be eligible to participate in an exciting 2-part fMRI study (feat. robot fingers! 
). If you want to volunteer, you’re right-handed and either hearing or severely/profoundly deaf from birth, contact us for more information!
13/03/2021 Congratulations to Barbara Manini! Her poster was chosen for a data blitz at the 2021 Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society! You can see her presentation here.
23/10/2020 We presented our work at the 2020 meeting of the Society for the Neurobiology of Language. Have a look at our posters:
- Manini et al.: Recruitment of auditory regions for visual executive processing in deaf individuals
- Vinogradova et al.: Language experience in deaf individuals is linked to behavioural performance and neural reorganisation in the auditory cortices during planning and switching tasks
05/11/2019 We were thrilled to talk about our research on the Deaf Brain with @BBCSeeHear! Find out more information here about how to volunteer in this research.
15/06/2019 Breaking News! Our lab is moving to the Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre (DCAL), UCL. We are really looking forward to the next step at DCAL, working with great deaf and hearing colleagues. We will also continue our work in Norfolk with all the wonderful deaf organisations, colleagues, and of course volunteers!
12/06/2019 Barbara Manini and Valeria Vinogradova presented our work on working memory and deafness at the Organization for Human Brain Mapping in Rome.
25/05/2019 Thank you to everybody who came to visit our stand at the Norfolk Summer Deaf Festival! Lots of interest in our research! Nice meeting everybody and we look forward to next year!
18/05/2019 We had a great time at Deaffest! Thank you to everybody who came to visit our stand!
08/05/2019 Really proud of our lab students Chloe Orme and Sarah Gardener who presented their 3rd year projects at the School of Psychology Poster Showcase! Sarah also won the prize for Best Poster. Congratulations to both!
Some exciting events coming up! Come to see us at:
- Deaf Day. City Lit, London. April, 2019.
- Deaffest. Wolverhampton. May, 2019.
- Norfolk Deaf Day. Norwich, Norfolk. May, 2019
20/02/2019 Talk at Deaf Connexions 6.30pm (with BSL interpreters): “Deafness and language in children and adults”. Everybody is welcome!
29/11/2018 Talk at the Department of Dept of Speech Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, UCL. Title: Neural reorganisation as a consequence of congenital deafness. 
26/10/2018 Talk at the Norwich Science Festival
The brain’s potential for change: insights from deafness. Friday 26 October, 12:00-12:30
12/10/2018 The lab will be travelling to the Blind Brain Workshop organised by Davide Bottari in Lucca, Italy. We are really looking forward! Keep tuned for specifics about our talks and posters.
13/07/2018 We had a great time at the Norfolk Summer Deaf Festival. Great to meet lots of interesting people and organisations!
04/07/2018 Summer lab picnic! Fun times in our lovely campus.
17/01/2018 First lab meeting of the year! Exciting stuff coming up!
10/01/2018 Welcome to Dr. Barbara Manini, who has joined the lab as postdoc working on the project “Does the deaf auditory cortex have a role in cognition?”
01/12/2017 Welcome to Ms. Madeleine Smith and Ms. Chloe Orme, who will be volunteering in the lab during this academic year. Also welcome Dr. Alexander Taylor, who will be working on a project on cognitive development in deaf children.
05/10/2017 Talk at the Norfolk Deaf Association: “What happens to your brain when you can’t hear?” Come along!
25/09/2017 Welcome to Ms. Valeria (Lera) Vinogradova! Lera joined the lab as an MRes/PhD student.
03/09/2017 New paper out! The Organization of Working Memory Networks is Shaped by Early Sensory Experience”
19/07/2017 Didn’t make it to Pint of Science? Come to “The wonders of the deaf brain” talk at the Norwich Deaf Centre!
15/05/2017 Talk about “The wonders of the deaf brain” at Pint of Science Festival, Norwich (with BSL interpreters). Don’t miss out!
16/03/2017 Great news! Velia has been awarded a New Investigator Grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) for the project “Does the deaf auditory cortex have a role in cognition?”. Collaborators include Prof. Bencie Woll and Prof. Martin Eimer. The project will start in October 2017; recruitment of Postdoctoral Research Associate will start soon!
20/06/2017 4th International Conference on Cognitive Hearing Science for Communication in Linköping, Sweden. Velia is one of the keynote speakers!
16/11/2016 In Moscow working on our project ‘Bilingualism in sign language and spoken language: a study of brain plasticity’.
Deafness and Neural Plasticity Lab 