Centre for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

January 2013

Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore has been awarded the Young Mind&Brain prize 2013 from the University of Turin: http://www.mentecervello.it/home/node/53

Early Childhood in Focus: Developing Brains

Early Childhood in Focus is a series of publications produced by the Child and Youth Studies Group at The Open University, United Kingdom, with the support of the Bernard van Leer Foundation. The series provides accessible and clear reviews of the best and most recent available research, information and analysis on key policy issues, offering clear messages on core policy topics and questions, spanning all aspects of early childhood care and education, as well as the full age range, from infancy through to the early years of school. Each publication is developed in consultation with world leaders in research,policy, advocacy and children’s rights. The latest publication ‘Developing Brains’ has been produced with the editorial, academic and clinical input of members of the Centre for Developmental Neuroscience from UCL and partner institution, Birkbeck.

View this publication

CDCN article written by David Gadian and Faraneh Vargha-Khadem on behalf of the CDCN Steering Committee

Coverage of Faraneh Vargha-Khadem’s work is featured in:

See publication: Breakthroughs in children’s medicine – Read at:

Faraneh Vargha-Khadem accepted the invitation to join UCL Partner's Psychological Interventions Research Centre (PIRC). PIRC aims to harness the collective power of psychological research within UCLP and its partner Trusts by sharing insights and developing avenues for collaboration. She was invited by Professor Alessandra Lemma, PIRC Clinical Lead at Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust and Professor Steven Pilling,  PIRC  Research Lead, Centre for Outcomes Research & Effectiveness and National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health.  To officially launch the centre and its work, a seminar was held in November 2011. The seminar featured talks by Dr Jonathan Roiser (UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience) and Prof Stephen Scott (Institute of Psychiatry). In addition, Profs Pilling and Lemma will gave an overview of psychological research within UCLP.  This was the first in two parallel seminar series that will run once a term throughout the academic year.

"Mouse study suggests that mutation to FOXP2 gene may have helped humans learn the muscle movements for speech."

Tate Liverpool exhibition inspires pioneering science gamesInspired by Tate Liverpool’s current exhibition, Alice in Wonderland, an art-science collaborative made up of scientists, led by UCL Institute of Child Health Dr Michelle de Haan, curators, game designers and film-makers, have just launched Wondermind, a series of pioneering interactive games, videos and an online blog to help children learn about the science of the developing human brain. Read more about the game

Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore gave a talk on changes in the teenage brain at the BBC Free Thinking Festival, broadcast on Radio 3 on 23rd November 2011:

click here to listen.