Geoff Bird, born in London, UK, in 1979. Ph.D. from University College London. Senior Lecturer in Cognitive Neuroscience at the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London.
Fellow (1 September 2013 – 31 January 2014)
GENES X ENVIRONMENT PROJECT IN THE DEVELOPING BRAIN
Research Question
What role do life experiences and genetic factors play in the development of social cognition throughout adolescence?
Project Description
The development of social cognition across adolescence is of particular interest as it describes the processes by which one develops adult levels of socio-cognitive ability. The extent to which this maturational development is determined by genes or the environment is an important question – it may allow us to reduce the risks to health (both physical and mental) associated with the adolescent period.
Selected Publications
1) McCrory, E.J., de Brito, S.A., Kelly, P.A., Bird, G., Sebastien, C.L., Mechelli, A., Samuel, S., & Viding, E. (2013). Heightened amygdala activation in maltreated children during pre-attentive processing. British Journal of Psychiatry, 202, 269-276.
2) Goddings, A-L., Burnett Heyes, S., Bird, G., Viner, R.M., & Blakemore, S.J. (2012). The relationship between puberty and social emotion processing. Developmental Science, 15, 731-894.
3) McCrory E.J., De Brito, S.A., Sebastian, C.L., Mechelli, A., Bird, G., Kelly, P.A., & Viding, E. (2011) Heightened neural reactivity to threat in child victims of family violence. Current Biology, 21, R947-R948.