Gaia Scerif

Experimental Psychologist

I am a Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience in Experimental Psychology at Oxford. I am Italian in origin but studied in Southern Africa, then St. Andrews, Canada, London, with a brief stint in New York and Nottingham before settling in Oxford a while ago now.

I am very interested in what guides our attention, in how attention develops and in the impact of attention difficulties. My team and I study brain markers of attention development, and are also very interested in how these work in to facilitate memory and learning. We think that these questions are important because attention influences how we learn and behave in everyday situations, and it is particularly relevant in the classroom. Many developmental disorders are characterised by attention difficulties, and we aim to understand how attention difficulties matter to learning. Ultimately, this work is of interest both to basic neuroscience and, most importantly, to the families and individuals who are affected by these disorders. We work in partnership with charities like the Fragile X Society, for example, to raise awareness and facilitate knowledge exchange: http://www.fragilex.org.uk/researchworkshop

My team and I are also very interested in public engagement, citizen science, and in developing tools to foster early career scientists in developmental cognitive neuroscience.