Professor Joel B. Talcott

Career History

• 2011-present, Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
• 2007-2011, Reader, Psychology, Aston University
• 2003-2007: Senior Lecturer, Psychology, Aston University
• 2001-2003: Lecturer, Psychology, Neurosciences Research Institute, Aston University
• 1996-2001: Post-doctoral Fellow, University Laboratory of Physiology, Oxford University
• 1996 Ph.D.: Experimental Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz.
• 1989-1991: Masters Coursework in Psychology, Humboldt State University
• 1988 BS: Psychobiology, University of California, Riverside

Primary Research Interests

• Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
• Sensory, motor and cognitive processing investigated using psychophysics, neurophysiological and functional imaging techniques.
• Developmental disorders of cognition and language.
• Development of reading and component skills in children.  
• Genetic and environmental influences on brain structure and function

Current Funding

         Research in the Talcott lab is currently supported by the following:

• The Waterloo Foundation

• European Union, Framework 7

• The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

• The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

• The Wellcome Trust

• The Lord Dowding Fund

Postgraduate students (past & present)

Mable Nakubulwa (EPSRC)

Emma Birkett (ESRC)

Agnieszka Reid (MPhil)

Fabiola Garcia

Tulpesh Patel (Ph.D., 2011)

Nia Huws (Ph.D., 2007)

Wendy Gibbons (Ph.D. 2007, Co-supervised with P. Riddell, University of Reading)

Kim Rochelle (Ph.D. 2006)

Selected Publications

Vulchanova, M., Talcott, J.B., Vulchanov, V., Stankova, M. & Eshuis, H. (2012). Morphology in ASD: Local processing bias and language. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 7-8, 584-600. 

Talcott, J.B., Witton, C. & Stein, J.F. (2012). Probing the neurocognitive trajectories of children's reading skills. Neuropsychologica, 51, 472-481.   http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.11.016

Scerri, T.S., Darki, F., Newbury, D., Whitehouse, A.J.O.,  Peyrard-Janvid, M., Matsson, H., Ang, Q.W., Pennell, C.E., Ring, S., Stein, J., Morris, A.P., Monaco, A.P., Kere, J., Talcott, J.B., Klingberg, T. & Paracchini, S. (2012). The dyslexia candidate locus on 2p12 is associated with general cognitive ability and white matter structure. PLoS One, 7(11), e50321 http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0050321.

Witton, C., Patel, T., Furlong, P.L., Henning, G.B., Worthen, S.F. & Talcott, J.B.  (2012). Sensory thresholds obtained from MEG data: cortical psychometric functions. NeuroImage, 63(3), 1249-1256.

Birkett, E.E & Talcott, J.B. (2012). Interval timing in children: effects of auditory and visual pacing stimuli and relationships with reading and attention variables. PLoS One, 7 (8), e42820 .

Lorås H, Sigmundsson H, Talcott J.B, Öhberg F, Stensdotter A.K. (2012). Timing continuous or discontinuous movements across effectors specified by different pacing modalities and intervals. Experimental Brain Research, 220, 335-347. DOI: 10.1007/s00221-012-3142-4

Vulchanova, M., Talcott, J.B., Vulchanov, V. & Stankova, M. (2012). Language against the odds, or rather not: The weak central coherence hypothesis and language. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 25, 13-30.

Moores, E., Cassim, R. & Talcott, J.B. (2011). Adults with dyslexia exhibit large effects of crowding, increased dependence on cues, and detrimental effects of distractors in visual search tasks. Neuropsychologia, 49, 3881-3890.

Newbury, D.F., Paracchini, S., Scerri, T,S., Winchestger, L., Addis, L., Walter, J., Stein, J.F., Talcott, J.B. & Monaco, A.P.  (2011). Investigation of Dyslexia and SLI risk variants in reading- and language-impaired subjects. Behavior Genetics, 41, 90-104.

Scerri TS, Brandler WM, Paracchini S, Morris AP, Ring SM, Talcott JB, Stein J, Monaco AP. (2010). PCSK6 is associated with handedness in individuals with dyslexia. Human Molecular Genetics, 20, 608-614.

Scerri TS, Paracchini S, Morris A, MacPhie IL, Talcott J, Stein J, Smith SD, Pennington BF, Olson RK, DeFries JC, Monaco AP. (2010). Identification of candidate genes for dyslexia susceptibility on chromosome 18. PLoS One, 5(10), e13712.

Sigmundsson, H., Anholt, S.K., Talcott, J.B. (2010). Are poor mathematics skills associated with visual deficits in temporal processing? Neuroscience Letters, 469, 248-250.

Huws, N., Reddy, P. & Talcott, J. (2009). The effects of faking on non-cognitive predictors of academic performance in University students. Learning and Individual Differences, 19, 476-480.

Rochelle, K.S.H., Witton, C. & Talcott, J.B. (2008). Symptoms of hyperactivity and inattention can mediate deficits of postural stability in developmental dyslexia. Experimental Brain Research, 192, 627-633.

Rochelle, K.S.H. & Talcott, J. (2006). Impaired balance in developmental dyslexia: a meta-analysis of the contending evidence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 77, 1159-1166

Huws, N., Reddy, P. & Talcott, J. (2006). Predicting University success in Psychology: the importance of subject-specific academic skills. Psychology Learning and Teaching, 5, 42-50.

Hulslander, J., Talcott, J., Witton, C., DeFries, J., Pennington, B., Wadsworth, S., Willcutt, E. & Olson, R. (2004). Sensory processing, reading, IQ and attention. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 88, 274-295

Talcott, J.B., Gram, A., van Ingelghem, M., Witton, C., Stein, J.F. & Toennessen, F.E. (2003) Impaired sensitivity to dynamic stimuli in poor readers of a regular orthography. Brain and Language, 87, 259-266.

Foxton, J.M., Talcott, J.B., Witton, C., Brace, H., McIntyre, F. & Griffiths, T.D. (2003). Reading skills are related to global, but not local, acoustic pattern perception. Nature Neuroscience, 6, 343-344

Marlow, A.J., Fisher, S.E., Francks, C., MacPhie, L., Richardson, A.J., Talcott, J.B., Stein, J.F., Monaco, A.P. & Cardon, L.R. (2003). Use of multivariate linkage analysis for dissection of a complex cognitive trait. American Journal of Human Genetics, 72, 561-570

Moe-Nilssen, R., Helbostad, J. L., Talcott, J. B. & Toennessen, F. E. (2003). Balance and gait in dyslexic children. Experimental Brain Research, 150, 237-244.

Rosner, B. S., Talcott, J. B., Witton, C., Hogg, J. D., Richardson, A. J., Hansen, P.C., & Stein, J. F. (2003). The perception of 'sinewave speech' by adults with developmental dyslexia. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 46 , 68-79.

Sigmundsson, H., Hansen, P.C. & Talcott, J.B. (2003). Do "clumsy" children have visual deficits? Behavioural Brain Research, 139, 123-129.

Talcott, J. B., Witton, C., Hebb, G. S., Stoodley, C. J., Westwood, E. A., France, S. J., Hansen, P.C., & Stein, J. F. (2002). On the relationship between dynamic visual and auditory processing and literacy skills; results from a large primary-school study. Dyslexia, 8, 204-225.

Witton, C., Stein, J.F., Stoodley, C.J., Rosner, B.S. & Talcott, J.B. (2002). Separate influences of acoustic AM and FM sensitivity on the phonological decoding skills of impaired and normal readers. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14, 866-874.

Fisher, S.E., Francks, C., Marlow, A.J., MacPhie, I.L., Williams, D.F., Cardon, L.R., Ishikawa-Bush, Y., Richardson, A.J., Talcott, J.B ., Gayan, J., Olson, R.K., Pennington, B.F., Smith, S.D., DeFries, J.C., Stein, J.F. & Monaco, A.P. (2002). Independent genome-wide scans identify a chromosome 18 quantitative-trait locus influencing dyslexia. Nature Genetics, 30, 86-91.

France, S., Rosner, B., Hansen, P., Calvin, C., Talcott, J.B., Richardson, A. & Stein, J. (2002). Auditory frequency discrimination in adult developmental dyslexics. Perception & Psychophysics, 64, 169-179.�

Rae, C., Harasty, J., Dzendrowskyj, T., Talcott, J ., Simpson, J., Blamire, A., Dixon, R., Lee, M., Thompson, C., Styles, P., Richardson, A. & Stein, J. (2002). Cerebellar morphology in developmental dyslexia. Neuropsychologia , 40, 1285-1292.

Hansen, P.C., Stein, J.F., Orde, S.R., Winter, J.L. & Talcott, J.B. (2001). Are dyslexics' visual deficits limited to measures of dorsal stream function? NeuroReport, 12, 1527-1530.

Marlow, A., Fisher, S., Richardson, A., Francks, C., Talcott, J., Monaco, A., Stein, J. & Cardon, L. (2001). Investigation of quantitative measures related to reading disability in a large sample of twin pairs from the UK. Behavior Genetics, 31, 219-230.

Talcott, J., Hansen, P., Assoku, E. & Stein, J. (2000). Visual motion sensitivity in dyslexia: Evidence for temporal and energy integration deficits. Neuropsychologia, 38, 935-943.

Talcott, J. Witton, C., McLean, M., Hansen, P., Rees, A., Green, G. & Stein, J. (2000). Dynamic sensory sensitivity predicts children’s word decoding skills. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 97, 2952-2957.

Stoodley, C.J, Talcott, J.B., Carter, E., Witton, C. & Stein, J.F. (2000). Impaired vibration sensitivity in dyslexic readers. Neuroscience Letters, 295, 13-16.

Stein, J., Talcott, J. & Walsh, V. (2000). Controversy about the evidence for a visual magnocellular deficit in developmental dyslexics. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4, 209-211.�

Talcott, J. Witton, C., McLean, M., Hansen, P., Rees, A., Green, G. & Stein, J. (1999). Auditory FM sensitivity predicts children’s phonological and reading skills. NeuroReport, 10, 2045-2050.�

Stein, J. F. & Talcott, J.B. (1999). Impaired neuronal timing in developmental dyslexia- The magnocellular hypothesis. Dyslexia 5, 59-77.�

Talcott, J. B., Hansen, P. C., Willis-Owen, C., McKinnell, I. W., Richardson, A. J. & Stein, J. F. (1998). Visual magnocellular impairment in adult developmental dyslexics. Neuro-Ophthalmology, 20, 187-201.

Witton, C., Talcott, J. B., Hansen, P. C., Richardson, A. J., Griffiths, T. D., Rees, A., Stein, J. F., Green, G. G. R. (1998). Sensitivity to dynamic auditory and visual stimuli predicts nonword reading ability in both dyslexics and normal readers. Current Biology, 8, 791-797.�

Rae, C., Lee, M. A., Dixon, R. M., Blamire, A. M., Thompson, C. H., Styles, P., Talcott, J. B. & Stein, J. F. (1998). Metabolic abnormalities in developmental dyslexia detected by ¹H magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The Lancet, 351, 1849-1852.�

Mayer, M. J., Ward, B., Klein, R., Talcott, J. B. , & Dougherty, R. F. (1994). Flicker sensitivity and fundus appearance in pre-exudative age-related maculopathy . Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 35, 1138-1149.�

Mayer, M. J., Ward, B., Klein, R., Talcott, J. B., & Dougherty, R. F. (1993). Predicting age-related maculopathy. In Ophthalmic & Vision Optics/ Noninvasive Assessment of the Visual System Technical Digest. Vol. 3, pp. 286-289. Optical Society of America, Washington D.C.

 

 Book Chapters

Talcott, J.B. & Birkett, E. (2009). Dyslexia from a cognitive neuroscience perspective: making links and moving forward. IN N. Brunswick (Ed.), The Dyslexia Handbook 2009/10 (pp. 151-160). Bracknell, UK: British Dyslexia Association.

Talcott, J.B. (2009). A snapshot of Dyslexia from a research perspective. In I. Smythe (Ed.), Employment and Dyslexia Handbook. Bracknell, UK: British Dyslexia Association.

Talcott, J.B. & Witton, C. (2002). A sensory linguistic approach to the development of normal and dysfunctional reading skills. In E. Witruk, A. D. Friederici, & T. Lachmann (Eds.), Basic functions of language, reading, and reading disability (pp.213-240). Boston: Kluwer.

Stein, J., Talcott, J., & Witton, C. (2001). The sensorimotor basis of developmental dyslexia. A. Fawcett (Ed.), Dyslexia: Theory and Good Practice, pp. 65-88, London: Whurr British Dyslexia Association.

Reviews, Notes and Commentaries

Thai, N.J. & Talcott, J.B. (2009). Considerations for paediatric neuroimaging at the translational coalface. The American Journal of Bioethics, 9, 18-20.

Carroll, J.M. & Talcott, J.B. (2008). Editors' Note: Making Links: Introduction to the Special Issue. Dyslexia, 14, 153-154.

Talcott, J.B. (2004). Dyslexia in Context. Dyslexia, 10, 145.

Talcott, J.B. (2003). Sensory and cognitive constraints on information processing during reading: Do the eyes have it? Contemporary Psychology, 48, 62-65

Richards, I., Witton, C., Moores, E., Reddy, P., Rippon, G. & Talcott, J. (2002). The Dyslexia ecosystem: Reply to Nicolson. Dyslexia, 8, 226-233.

Talcott, J.B. (2003). Sensory and cognitive constraints on information processing during reading: Do the eyes have it? Contemporary Psychology, 48, 62-65

Talcott, J. (2001). Pay attention to attention! Review of: Everatt, J (Ed.), Reading and Dyslexia: Visual and attentional processes. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5, 44. Talcott, J. B. (1998). Temporal perception in normal and dysfunctional reading. The Physiological Society Magazine, 31, 17-19.

Talcott, J. B. (1994). Unravelling the dyslexia rubric. [Review of the book Reading Disabilities: Genetic and Neurological Influences. B.F. Pennington (Ed.).] American Journal of Psychology, 107, 305-314.