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Centre for Neuroscience in Education

 

Dr. Sinead Rocha has been working as a Research Associate for the Centre for Neuroscience in Education since January 2018. She is currently working on the BabyRhythm project.

 

Biography

Sinead completed her PhD at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London. Her thesis examined the development of rhythm perception and production skills in human infants, with a focus on the role of the vestibular system and how the experience of being carried by the caregiver impacts infants’ early rhythmic tendencies. Sinead uses motion capture, electromyography (EMG), electroencephalography (EEG) and acoustic analyses to answer these questions.

Sinead is currently a postdoctoral research associate at King’s College, University of Cambridge.

Publications

Key publications: 

Rocha, S., Southgate, V., & Mareschal, D. (in press). Rate of infant carrying impacts infant spontaneous motor tempo. Royal Society Open Science. 

Gibbon, S., Attaheri, A., Ní Choisdealbha, A., Rocha, S., Brusini, P., Mead, N., Olawole-Scott, H., Boutris, P., Ahmed, H., Flannagan, S. Mandke, K., Keshavarzi, M., & Goswami, U. (2021). Deep learning classifies neural responses to rhythmic speech vs. non-speech from 8-week-old infant EEG. Brain and Language, 220, 104968. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2021.104968

Rocha, S., Southgate, V., & Mareschal, D. (2021). Infant Spontaneous Motor Tempo. Developmental Science24(2), e13032. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13032

Addyman, C., Rocha, S., Fautrelle, L., French, R. M., Thomas, E., & Mareschal, D. (2017). Embodiment and the Origin of Interval Timing: Kinematic and Electromyographic Data. Experimental Brain Research, 235, 923-930. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-016-4842-y

Rocha, S., & Mareschal, D. (2016). Getting into the Groove: The Development of Tempo‐Flexibility Between 10 and 18 Months of Age. Infancy, 22(4), 540-551. https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12169

Addyman, C., Rocha, S., & Mareschal, D. (2014). Mapping the Origins of Time: Scalar Errors in Infant Time Estimation. Developmental Psychology50(8), 2030-2035. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037108 

Preprints of work undergoing peer review can be found here:

Rocha, S., Attaheri, A., Ní Choisdealbha, A., Brusini, P., Mead, N., Olawole-Scott, H., Boutris, P., Gibbon, S., Williams, I., Grey, C., Flannagan, S., Macrae, E. & Goswami, U. (2021, preprint). Infant sensorimotor synchronisation to speech and non-speech rhythms: A longitudinal study. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/jbrga

Attaheri, A., Ní Choisdealbha, A., Di Liberto, G., Rocha, S., Brusini, P., Mead, N., Olawole-Scott, H., Boutris, P., Gibbon, S., Williams, I., Grey, C., Flannagan, S. & Goswami, U. (2021, preprint). Cortical tracking and phase-amplitude coupling to sung speech by infants. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.12.329326

Ní Choisdealbha, A., Attaheri, A., Rocha, S., Brusini, P., Flannagan, S., Mead, N., Gibbon, S., Olawole-Scott, H., Williams, I., Grey, C., Boutris, P., Ahmed, H. & Goswami, U. (2021, preprint). Neural detection of changes in amplitude rise time in infancy. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/53hkz

Selected presentations:

Rocha, S., Attaheri, A., Ní Choisdealbha, Á., Brusini, P., Flanagan, S., Mead, N., Boutris, P., Gibbon, S., Olawole-Scott, H., Grey, C., Williams, I., Ahmed, H., Macrae, E. & Goswami, U. (2021, June 22-25). Infant sensorimotor synchronisation: A longitudinal analysis of the first year of life [Poster Presentation]. 18th Biennial Rhythm Perception and Production Workshop, Oslo, Norway.

Rocha, S., Attaheri, A., Ní Choisdealbha, Á., Brusini, P., Flanagan, S., Mead, N., Boutris, P., Gibbon, S., Olawole-Scott, H., Ahmed, H., & Goswami, U. (2021, Jan 4-8). BabyRhythm at Home: The influence of parental sensorimotor synchronization on infant rhythmic timing [Presentation]. 11th Annual CEU Conference on Cognitive Development, Budapest, Hungary.

Rocha, S., Attaheri, A., Ní Choisdealbha, Á., Brusini, P., Flanagan, S., Mead, N., Boutris, P., Gibbon, S., Olawole-Scott, H., Ahmed, H., & Goswami, U. (2020, July 5-9). BabyRhythm: Early infant audio-motor rhythmic synchronisations predicts later language outcomes [Poster presentation]. International Congress of Infant Studies.

Rocha, S., Attaheri, A., Ní Choisdealbha, Á., Brusini, P., Flanagan, S., Mead, N., Boutris, P., Gibbon, S., Olawole-Scott, H., Ahmed, H., & Goswami, U. (2020, January 8-10). Infant gross motor rhythmic synchronisation and relationships with language [Poster presentation]. 10th Annual CEU Conference on Cognitive Development, Budapest, Hungary.

Rocha, S. (2019, June 18). Motion Capture with Infants [Presentation]. Brain and Cognitive Development Day - Emerging Frontiers and Methods in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Cambridge, UK.

Rocha, S., Attaheri, A., Ní Choisdealbh, A., Brusini, P., Mead, N., Olawole-Scott, H., Boutris, P., Gibbon, S., Flannagan, S., & Goswami, U. (2018, September 21). The BabyRhythm Project: Looking longitudinally at early rhythmic skill and language development [Presentation]. BASIS Annual Scientific Meeting, London, UK.

Rocha, S., Southgate, V., & Mareschal, D. (2018, March 12). Locomotion and Infant Rhythm [Poster presentation]. 30th Cambridge Neuroscience Seminar, Cambridge, UK.

Rocha, S., Southgate, V., & Mareschal, D. (2017, September 13-15). Infant Spontaneous Motor Tempo [Presentation]. 10th International Conference of Students of Systematic Musicology, London, UK.

Rocha, S., Southgate, V., & Mareschal, D. (2017, July 3-5). Infant Spontaneous Motor Tempo: Correlations with age, body size, and parental body size [Presentation]. 16th Biennial Rhythm Perception and Production Workshop, Birmingham, UK.

Rocha, S., Southgate, V., & Mareschal, D. (2016, September 14-16). What drives musical skill? An investigation of the development of rhythm production in infancy [Presentation]. British Psychological Society Developmental Psychology Section, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Rocha, S., Southgate, V., & Mareschal, D. (2015, October). Charting the development of infant rhythm production using sEMG [Workshop presentation]. EMG Workshop - Using surface electromyography to study development: Methodological and theoretical considerations, London, UK. *

   * This workshop was organised and chaired by S. Rocha and C. de Klerk.

Teaching and Supervisions

Teaching: 

Sinead has provided guest lectures for undergraduates and masters students at King’s College, University of Cambridge, the University of East Anglia, and Birkbeck, University of London. She supervises on the University of Cambridge PBS tripos and is a Learning Support Mentor at King’s College.

Other Professional Activities

Sinead is a certified BabyBrains trainer, delivering scientific content from psychology and neuroscience to new parents and perinatal professionals. She is also a scientific advisor in arts collaborations, and has previously worked with the Polka Theatre, Wimbledon. If you are interested in receiving accessible talks / workshops from BabyBrains, or in discussing how theatre and music for the very early years can be informed by and inspire new scientific findings, please email sineadrocha@gmail.com for further information.

Sinead is an Early Career Member of the International Congress of Infant Studies and can be contacted for membership of the informal Early Career Infancy Researchers slack channel.

Postdoctoral Researcher

Contact Details

Available for consultancy