DCAL PhD Projects

UCL Deafness, Cognition and Language Research (DCAL) Centre invites expressions of interest from highly motivated students seeking to undertake a PhD project under its associated degree-programmes. DCAL consists of a multidisciplinary team of linguists, psychologists and neuroscientists that study language, cognition and the brain from the unique perspective of deafness and deaf communication. Applications are invited from students interested in any of these areas.

1. Neural processing of signs, words, depiction and pointing in signers and non-signers

Previous research has looked at how sign language and gesture are processed in the brain (e.g. Campbell et al. 2007; Newman et al. 2015) but most studies have assumed that signers don't gesture. This project looks instead at how different semiotic structures are processed. How does the brain process conventional description (e.g. words, signs & mouthing), depiction (e.g. depicting/classifier signs, constructed action, improvised iconic gestures with speech) and indication (e.g. pointing), as outlined in Ferrara & Hodge 2018? How are each of these types of semiotic constructions treated by the brain – both in deaf signers and hearing non-signers?

This project requires knowledge of British Sign Language (BSL) to at least level 2 or equivalent.

Funding will be through a competitive process via the Department of Linguistics, UCL. Deadlines for early expression of interest (recommended) are 15th November 2023. Potential candidates should contact Prof Kearsy Cormier (k.cormier@ucl.ac.uk) with a copy of their CV and a one-page statement of their research interests and relevance for this project. More information can be found here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/pals/study/pals-phd-and-doctorate-programmes/mphilphd-linguistics

We particularly encourage applications from deaf and hard-of-hearing students and/or students from minority ethnic groups who are currently under-represented at UCL and DCAL.

References

Ferrara, L., & Hodge, G. (2018). Language as description, indication, and depiction. Frontiers in Psychology, 9:716. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00716
Campbell, R., MacSweeney, M., & Waters, D. (2007). Sign Language and the Brain: A Review. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 13(1), 3-20. https://doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enm035
Newman, A. J., Supalla, T., Fernandez, N., Newport, E. L., & Bavelier, D. (2015). Neural systems supporting linguistic structure, linguistic experience, and symbolic communication in sign language and gesture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(37), 11684-11689. https://doi.org/doi:10.1073/pnas.1510527112

2. Mouth patterns in British Sign Language

Sign languages used by deaf communities exhibit a range of type of mouth patterns – some that are based on the surrounding spoken language(s), and some that are not. What types of mouth patterns occur in spontaneous British Sign Language (BSL) data? This project would study mouth patterns within the BSL Corpus (Schembri et al. 2014). There are several possible specific project topics – e.g. which mouth gestures are used in BSL, which English mouthings go with which BSL signs, reductions in English mouthings (cf. Proctor & Cormier 2022), temporal alignment of mouth patterns with BSL signs, and/or co-occurrence of mouthing with fingerspelling (cf. Brown & Cormier 2017). This work is important for BSL teachers, learners, interpreters, and also for machine learning. There are some initial mouthing annotations available already.

This project requires knowledge of British Sign Language (BSL) to at least level 2 or equivalent.

We particularly encourage applications from deaf and hard-of-hearing students and/or students from minority ethnic groups who are currently under-represented at UCL and DCAL.

References

Brown, M., & Cormier, K. (2017). Sociolinguistic variation in the nativisation of BSL fingerspelling. Open Linguistics, 3(1), 115-144.
Proctor, H., & Cormier, K. (2022). Sociolinguistic Variation in Mouthings in British Sign Language (BSL): A Corpus-Based Study. Language and Speech, 1-30. https://doi.org/10.1177/00238309221107002
Schembri, A., Fenlon, J., Rentelis, R., & Cormier, K. (2014). British Sign Language Corpus Project: A corpus of digital video data and annotations of British Sign Language 2008-2014 (Second Edition). University College London. http://www.bslcorpusproject.org. http://www.bslcorpusproject.org

3. Documenting modern British Sign Language

The British Sign Language (BSL) Corpus was filmed 2008-2011 (see Schembri et al., 2014); the deaf community has changed since then. There are many possible projects involving documenting structure, use, variation and/or change in BSL, especially used by:

UK regions other than London, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle, Belfast
ethnic minority communities in any UK region
deaf children (various ages/family backgrounds) in any UK region

These would require new data to be collected from deaf adults and/or children, which could use corpus methods for sampling/representation (Fenlon et al. 2015).

This project requires a high level of fluency in British Sign Language (BSL) and in-depth experience in/with the British deaf community.

We particularly encourage applications from deaf and hard-of-hearing students and/or students from minority ethnic groups who are currently under-represented at UCL and DCAL.

References

Fenlon, J., Schembri, A., Johnston, T., & Cormier, K. (2015). Documentary and corpus approaches to sign language research. In E. Orfanidou, B. Woll, & G. Morgan (Eds.), The Blackwell guide to research methods in sign language studies (pp. 156-172). Blackwell.
Schembri, A., Fenlon, J., Rentelis, R., Reynolds, S., & Cormier, K. (2013). Building the British Sign Language Corpus. Language Documentation and Conservation, 7, 136-154. https://doi.org/http://hdl.handle.net/10125/4592
Schembri, A., Fenlon, J., Rentelis, R., & Cormier, K. (2014). British Sign Language Corpus Project: A corpus of digital video data and annotations of British Sign Language 2008-2014 (Second Edition). University College London. http://www.bslcorpusproject.org. http://www.bslcorpusproject.org

4. The influence of sensory and language experience on the neural systems supporting language and cognition in deaf children: a functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) study

Supervisors: Velia Cardin, Kate Rowley, Fiona Kyle

Background: Our research with adults has shown that early sensory and language experience impact the organisation and function of the adult brain (Cardin et al., 2020; MacSweeney et al., 2008). Here we use neuroimaging (functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy, fNIRS) and behavioural measures to understand the developmental trajectory of these effects in deaf children, and their consequences for later behavioural outcomes. This project will address: 1. How is the organisation of language and cognitive networks influenced by sensory and language experience in the developing brain? 2. How do these networks interact over time?

Importance: This study will provide unique insights into the mechanisms that link language and cognitive processing. We predict a developmental shift towards activity in frontal brain regions for language and EF processing (Bunge and Wright, 2007) which is positively correlated with language proficiency. Support for this hypothesis would highlight the importance of robust early language acquisition for the development of EF skills.

Funding will be through a competitive process via the Department of Experimental Psychology, UCL. Deadlines for early expression of interest (recommended) are 15th November 2023. Potential candidates should contact Dr Velia Cardin (velia.cardin@ucl.ac.uk) with a copy of their CV and a one-page statement of their research interests and relevance for this project. More information can be found here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/graduate/research-degrees/experimental-psychology-mphil-phd

We particularly encourage applications from deaf and hard-of-hearing students and/or students from minority ethnic groups who are currently under-represented at UCL and DCAL.

5. Examining the representations of audio-visual speech in adults with age-related hearing loss

Supervisors: Velia Cardin and Mairéad MacSweeney

Applications are invited for a PhD student to work on neural representations of audio-visual speech in adults with age-related hearing loss. The deadline for the internal funding competition will be in early January 2024, starting the PhD studies in September 2024.

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) affects approximately 70% of people over the age of 70 (AoHL, 2020) and can often lead to communication difficulties, isolation and cognitive decline (Cardin, 2016). Although the brain networks involved in auditory speech perception in those with ARHL have been extensively investigated (see Slade et al., 2020), how these individuals process visual speech (lipreading), and how this contributes to successful communication, is relatively understudied. Using state-of-the-art neuroimaging techniques, the aims of this project are:

Investigate whether the mapping between neural representations of auditory and visual speech differ between those with ARHL and those without.
Investigate whether this mapping correlates with the degree of hearing loss and/or to audio-visual speech perception ability in individuals with ARHL.

Overall, increasing our understanding of how visual speech is represented in the brains of those with ARHL, and how it contributes to speech perception and communication, will help improve communication advice and support to this growing population.

We particularly encourage applications from deaf and hard-of-hearing students and/or students from minority ethnic groups who are currently under-represented at UCL and DCAL.

6. Crossmodal plasticity, multisensory processing and cognition

Supervisor: Velia Cardin

Applications are invited for a PhD student to work on multisensory processing and crossmodal plasticity in humans using neuroimaging methods. The deadline for the internal funding competition will be in early January 2024, starting the PhD studies in September 2024.

The remarkable capacity of the brain for functional and structural reorganisation is known as neural plasticity. Human congenital deafness results in anatomical and functional changes that affect sensory and cognitive processing, providing unique insights into our understanding of plasticity and the brain. The vast majority of the research on neural plasticity due to deafness and blindness focuses on the consequences on sensory processing and reorganisation, with much less focus on the unique information that they provide for our understanding of cognitive processes in the brain.

In this project you will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study how sensory experience shapes the organisation of multisensory cognitive processes in the human brain.

Funding will be through a competitive process via the Department of Experimental Psychology, UCL. Deadlines for early expression of interest (recommended) are 1st November 2023. Potential candidates should contact Dr Velia Cardin (velia.cardin@ucl.ac.uk) with a copy of their CV and a one-page statement of their research interests and relevance for this project. More information can be found here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/graduate/research-degrees/experimental-psychology-mphil-phd

We particularly encourage applications from deaf and hard-of-hearing students and/or students from minority ethnic groups who are currently under-represented at UCL and DCAL.

References

Manini, B., Vinogradova, V., Woll, B., Cameron, D., Eimer, M., & Cardin, V. (2022). Sensory experience modulates the reorganization of auditory regions for executive processing. Brain.
Cardin V, Rudner M, De Oliveira RF, Andin J, T Su M, Beese L, Woll B, Rönnberg J. (2018). The Organization of Working Memory Networks is Shaped by Early Sensory Experience. Cerebral Cortex. 28 (10):3540-3554. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhx222.
Cardin V, Orfanidou E, Rönnberg J, Capek CM, Rudner M, Woll, B. (2013). Dissociating cognitive and sensory neural plasticity in human superior temporal cortex. Nature Communications. 4: 1413.

We particularly encourage applications from deaf and hard of hearing students, disabled students, and/or students from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds who are currently under-represented at UCL and DCAL.

For a comprehensive overview of our MPhil/PhD degree offerings, guidelines on how to apply, supervision details, entry requirements, and other frequently asked questions, please visit our Postgraduate Research at DCAL page. Get all the information you need to make an informed decision about your research journey with us.