[Eeglablist] Doctoral student fellowship

[Makoto Miyakoshi]

Dear subscribes,

Let me forward this info for final-year undergraduates and
graduate students.

Makoto

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PhD opportunity: Brain Connectivity Correlates of Level of Construal and
Psychological Distance, across the Autism Spectrum and across Cultures,
Genders, and Individuals

Are you curious how a diversity of brain types gives rise to human
cognitive diversity?  Keen on maths and know the basics of computer
programming and graph theory?  Looking for fully funded doctoral study
in the United Kingdom?  Read on!

Supported by findings in genetics and systems neuroscience, categorical
classifications of neurodevelopmental disorders are being reframed as
sets of dimensional variations that overlap one another and that exist
throughout the general population.  Understanding how these dimensional
traits interact with each other and with the environment thus will lead
not only to explanations of neurodevelopmental disorders but also to an
understanding of human cognitive diversity more generally, and their
mutual influences.

Autistic traits (Paul, Arora, et al., Molecular Autism, 2021;
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-020-00377-8__;!!Mih3wA!D0qd5CH14NyMMdV7JgthtbIkfUAwbNhF_6lZDD9qHpMvvpQGB_D7dHaXfd0SKi5gcZI4vElH3x1KboeqVQBwX2UmEZI$ ) are characterised by low
degrees of two linked capacities (Belmonte, Behavioral and Brain
Sciences, 2020, p. 19; https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://TinyURL.com/see-page-19__;!!Mih3wA!D0qd5CH14NyMMdV7JgthtbIkfUAwbNhF_6lZDD9qHpMvvpQGB_D7dHaXfd0SKi5gcZI4vElH3x1KboeqVQBwGvsDTEA$ ): level of
construal, meaning the tendency to represent percepts as individual
details rather than as whole contexts; and psychological distance,
meaning the tendencies to perceive objects and events in distant rather
than peri-personal space, to recall or to anticipate past or future time
rather than the here-and-now, to approach social interactions in the
allocentric frame of other people rather than one's own egocentric
frame, and to represent hypothetical, counterfactual, or fictional
beliefs that are at odds with actual facts.  Situational manipulations
priming level of construal influence psychological distance, and vice
versa (Trope & Liberman, Psychological Review, 2010;
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018963__;!!Mih3wA!D0qd5CH14NyMMdV7JgthtbIkfUAwbNhF_6lZDD9qHpMvvpQGB_D7dHaXfd0SKi5gcZI4vElH3x1KboeqVQBw0gDXHLs$ ); aspects of these traits also can also
be influenced by culture (Nisbett & Miyamoto, TiCS, 2005;
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2005.08.004__;!!Mih3wA!D0qd5CH14NyMMdV7JgthtbIkfUAwbNhF_6lZDD9qHpMvvpQGB_D7dHaXfd0SKi5gcZI4vElH3x1KboeqVQBw2jtqlzE$ ) and by sex differences
(Frank & al., NeuroImage, 2015;
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.09.041__;!!Mih3wA!D0qd5CH14NyMMdV7JgthtbIkfUAwbNhF_6lZDD9qHpMvvpQGB_D7dHaXfd0SKi5gcZI4vElH3x1KboeqVQBwTAp6rWg$ ).  This project will
combine neuroimaging of typical individuals with graph-theoretic
analyses of information flow in addressing the hypothesis that all four
of these axes – autistic dimensional, social situational, cultural, and
sex differences in level of construal and psychological distance – bear
on one and the same neurophysiological tuning, namely, the dynamic
balance between bottom-up sensory input and top-down executive control.
Depending on the student’s background and interests, data may come from
high-density EEG and/or from functional MRI; the specific preprocessing
differs but the underlying mathematics are similar.  Opportunity may
exist for international and cross-cultural collaboration with imaging
and other research facilities in Bangalore, where the PI maintains a
longstanding relationship in clinical science.  The specifics of this
project thus can be very much tailored to the student’s interests.

Nottingham Trent University offers a wide-ranging, collegial environment
including experts in neurodevelopmental disorders and differences,
language acquisition, motor control, perception, attention and
cognition.  The department occupies two buildings on a city-centre
campus.  Facilities include EEG (128-channel BioSemi), MRI/fMRI (1.5T
Siemens Avanto), fNIRs, eye tracking (SR Research EyeLink 1000 and
others), and TMS, all supported by full-time technical staff:
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ntu.ac.uk/research/subject-areas/psychology-psychiatry-and-neuroscience__;!!Mih3wA!D0qd5CH14NyMMdV7JgthtbIkfUAwbNhF_6lZDD9qHpMvvpQGB_D7dHaXfd0SKi5gcZI4vElH3x1KboeqVQBwbULihBU$ 

Interested students are urged to contact the PI, Matthew Belmonte, well
in advance of the 12 January application deadline, as funding for these
doctoral studentships is competitive across the university and
developing an excellent proposal takes time.  Details of the application
process can be found at https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://TinyURL.com/BelmonteConnectivityPhD__;!!Mih3wA!D0qd5CH14NyMMdV7JgthtbIkfUAwbNhF_6lZDD9qHpMvvpQGB_D7dHaXfd0SKi5gcZI4vElH3x1KboeqVQBw_heInmo$  .

Matthew Belmonte
The Com DEALL Trust (Bangalore) and Nottingham Trent University (UK)
Email: belmonte at mit.edu
Lab web site: https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.mattababy.org/*belmonte/__;fg!!Mih3wA!D0qd5CH14NyMMdV7JgthtbIkfUAwbNhF_6lZDD9qHpMvvpQGB_D7dHaXfd0SKi5gcZI4vElH3x1KboeqVQBwGf7b28w$