Using brain imaging to study the transition from effortful to efficient word reading in school-age children

Fully-Funded Full-Time School Funded PhD Studentship

Main Supervisor: Dr Jo Taylor; Associate Supervisors: Dr Laura Shapiro & Professor Joel Talcott

Applications are invited from ambitious, self-motivated candidates to undertake a PhD investigating brain mechanisms for learning to read. The candidate will join the active research groups of Dr Jo Taylor, Dr Laura Shapiro, and Professor Joel Talcott. This opportunity is open to UK and EU students who have at least an Upper Second Class Honours degree (2.1) or equivalent in Psychology or a related subject.

Reading is a remarkable achievement. In a relatively short space of time, most children go from painstakingly sounding out (decoding) the individual letters that make up words, to the rapid and seemingly direct access to meaning that skilled readers experience. We know that awareness of the constituent sounds in words and how these link to letters helps children learn to decode. However, we know far less about how children transition to skilled reading. This is problematic since around 20% of 15-year-old children in the UK fail to make the transition to efficient reading, and thus find it difficult to use reading to learn (OECD, 2015). Our previous brain imaging research provides a means to identify effortful versus efficient word reading. Specifically, decoding is underpinned by the left hemisphere dorsal stream, whereas skilled readers primarily rely on left ventral stream brain regions (Taylor et al., 2013). This PhD studentship therefore aims to chart this dorsal-to-ventral pathway transition in a cross-sectional fMRI study of school aged children.

The successful candidate will recruit children aged 8 to 15 years of age to take part in an fMRI study that involves reading aloud words and nonsense words presented at varying degrees of clarity. As reading skill increases, words relative to nonsense words should increasingly activate ventral pathway brain regions. Furthermore, this difference should be present at relatively lower clarity levels, indicating increased sensitivity to word forms (Ben-Shachar et al., 2011). Children will also take part in several experiments outside of the MRI scanner to examine letter, word-level, and meaning based skills.

The student will also have the opportunity to examine brain structure and relate this both to behaviour and to functional imaging measures. The student will gain extensive experience in designing, collecting, and analysing data from fMRI experiments, analysing MRI structural data, as well as in profiling children’s reading and language skills.

Aston University was ranked 5th out of 94 UK Higher Education Institutions for research in Allied Health Professions (REF 2014) and was ranked 1st for research environment. Additional information about research in the School can be found at http://www.aston.ac.uk/lhs/research/

Informal enquiries can be made to Dr Jo Taylor at: [Email Address Removed] Tel: 0121 204 4073.

Financial Support
The studentship is open to Home/EU students only and comprises of a tax-free stipend at the 2017/18 RCUK rate of £14,553 p.a. and payment of Home/EU tuition fees only. The studentship is available for three years, subject to satisfactory progress review at the end of the first year, with an anticipated registration of 1st October 2017.

Application Requirements
● Eligible Applicants should hold at least a Bachelor (Hons.) Degree of either 1st Class/ 2.1 or MSc/MRes in a relevant subject.
● EU Applicants will need to demonstrate adequate proficiency in English Language skills, with a minimum overall score of 93 (Internet Based) (with a minimum score in each section of: R: 18, W: 23, L: 19 and S: 19) in TOEFL or IELTS with minimum marks of 6.0 in each section and an overall band of 6.5.

● To apply, please complete the on-line application form at:
http://www1.aston.ac.uk/lhs/research/postgraduate-research/apply/ , choosing ‘Research Full-time Neurosciences September 2017’, quoting the Reference: ‘PhD_Oct 2017_Taylor’ on your application.

● The Closing Date for All Applications is: Thursday, 31st August 2017.