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Hana D’Souza

Associate Research Fellow

Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development
Henry Wellcome Building
Birkbeck, University of London
Malet Street
London
WC1E 7HX

Phone: +44 (0)20 7079 0855
Email: h.dsouza@mail.bbk.ac.uk

Project webpage: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/london-down-syndrome-consortium/research-themes/infants

Research Interests

I am interested in the development of attention and motor abilities, and how these interact over developmental time and constrain other domains in typically and atypically developing children. My research focuses on infants and toddlers with neurodevelopmental disorders of known genetic origin, such as Down syndrome, fragile X syndrome, and Williams syndrome.

As part of the London Down Syndrome (LonDownS) Consortium, I am currently investigating individual differences and interactions between various domains and levels of description across development in infants and toddlers with Down syndrome. The LonDownS Consortium is a multidisciplinary team of human geneticists, cellular biologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, neuroscientists, and mouse geneticists, whose aim is to understand the link between Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease, and to identify protective and risk factors that could inform interventions.

Research Positions

Since 4/16           Postdoctoral Research Fellow with Prof Annette Karmiloff-Smith, Prof Michael Thomas, and Prof Denis Mareschal

  • Centre for Brain & Cognitive Development (CBCD), Birkbeck, University of London, UK.
  • London Down Syndrome Consortium (LonDownS), UCL, UK.

 

10/15 - 3/16       Postdoctoral Research Associate (60% FTE) with Prof Emily Farran.

  • UCL, UK.
  • Project: Motor system and navigation in ADHD and Williams syndrome.

 

8/15 - 3/16          Postdoctoral Research Fellow (40% FTE) with Prof Annette Karmiloff-Smith

  • Centre for Brain & Cognitive Development (CBCD), Birkbeck, University of London, UK
  • London Down Syndrome Consortium (LonDownS), UCL, UK

 

2013 - 2015         Honorary Research Fellow with Prof Annette Karmiloff-Smith

  • Centre for Brain & Cognitive Development (CBCD), Birkbeck, University of London, UK
  • Project: Cognitive and neurophysiological processes in infants and toddlers with autism, Down syndrome, fragile X syndrome and Williams syndrome

 

Education

2012 - 2016        PhD in Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK

  • Thesis: Specialization of the motor system in typically developing infants and infants with Down syndrome
  • Supervisors: Prof Andrew Bremner & Prof Annette Karmiloff-Smith

3/15 - 6/15         Visiting Doctoral Student, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, USA

  • Developmental Neuromotor Control Laboratory/Center for Human Growth & Development
  • Supervisor: Prof Beverly Ulrich

2013 - 2015        PGCert in the Management of Learning & Teaching in Higher Education Goldsmiths, University of London, UK

2011 - 2012        MSc in Psychological Research, University of Oxford, UK

  • Dissertation: Synaesthetic sound-symbolism and word learning in 16-month-olds
  • Supervisors: Prof Kim Plunkett & Dr Suzy Styles             

2009 - 2010        International Exchange Student in Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada

2005 - 2011        Master’s degree (Mgr.) in Psychology (5 years), graduated in Clinical Psychology, Masaryk University, Czech Republic

2005 - 2009        Bachelor’s degree (Bc.) in Psychology & Media Studies and Journalism (Double), Masaryk University, Czech Republic

 

Research Assistant Experience (selected)

7/11 - 2/13         Research Assistant

  • Centre for Brain & Cognitive Development (CBCD), Birkbeck, University of London, UK
  • Supervisor: Prof Annette Karmiloff-Smith
  • Project: Cognitive and neurophysiological processes in infants and toddlers with autism, Down syndrome, fragile X syndrome and Williams syndrome

 

10/11 - 3/12       Research Assistant

  • Oxford University BabyLab, University of Oxford, UK
  • Supervisors: Prof Kim Plunkett & Dr Suzy Styles

 

9/10 - 9/11         Research Assistant

  • Institute for Research on Children, Youth and Family Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
  • Supervisor: Dr Lenka Lacinová
  • Project: ELSPAC - European longitudinal study of pregnancy and childhood

 

6/10 - 6/11         Research Assistant

  • Institute of Psychology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Czech Republic
  • Supervisor: Dr Gabriela Marková
  • Project: Early communication: Physiological correlates of sharing emotions with others during the first year of life

 

Grants

  • 2017                     
    • Better Data (British Academy), Embodied language development: Using head-mounted cameras and LENA to understand word learning in atypically developing toddlers (Hana D’Souza (PI) & Dean D’Souza) (£1,500)
  • 2016                    
    • Autour des Williams, What early processes in infancy have the greatest impact on later developmental outcomes in children with Williams syndrome? (Dean D’Souza (PI), Hana D’Souza, & Annette Karmiloff-Smith) (£13,062)
  • 2012                    
    • The Waterloo Foundation, Are early behavioural and neurophysiological markers syndrome specific? A cross-syndrome comparison (Annette Karmiloff-Smith (PI), Dean D'Souza, Hana Kyjonková, Tim Smith, & Gaia Scerif) (£32,200)
  • 2012                    
    • Autour des Williams, Alterations in domain-relevant mechanisms constrain language acquisition in Williams syndrome (Annette Karmiloff-Smith (PI), Dean D’Souza, & Hana Kyjonková) (£4,500)

 

Awards and Scholarships

  • 2017                     Trisomy 21 Research Society Travel Award
  • 2016                     Guarantors of Brain Travel Grant
  • 2015                     Experimental Psychology Society Study Visit Grant
  • 2015                     Goldsmiths Graduate School Fund
  • 2014                     British Psychological Society Postgraduate Study Visit Scheme
  • 2014                     Grindley Grant for Conference Attendance
  • 2013                     Poster Award, ‘Intentional Inhibition: From motor suppression to self-control’ workshop, UCL, UK
  • 2013                     Guarantors of Brain Travel Grant
  • 2013                     British Psychological Society Developmental Section Postgraduate Conference Bursary
  • 2013                     Cornell University Sackler Summer Institute Fellowship
  • 2012                     British Psychological Society Developmental Section Postgraduate Conference Bursary
  • 2012 - 2015          Goldsmiths Departmental Bursary for a fully funded 3 years PhD
  • 2011                     Masaryk University Exceptional Scholarship for Support of Research Activity
  • 2011                     Rector’s Award for the Best Master’s Degree Programme Students, Masaryk University
  • 2010                     Masaryk University Scholarship for E-learning support of Counselling Psychology course
  • 2010                     Masaryk University Special Scholarship
  • 2009 - 2010          Czech Ministry of Education Scholarship
  • 2009                     First prize in A. I. Bláha Scholarship Competition, Masaryk University, Czech Republic

 

Publications

  • D’Souza, D., D’Souza, H., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2017). Precursors to language development in typically and atypically infants and toddlers: the importance of embracing complexity. Journal of Child Language, 1-37. Early view.
  • D’Souza, H., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2017). Neurodevelopmental disorders. WIREs Cognitive Science, 8(1-2), e1398.
  • D’Souza, H., Astle, D., Lee, K., Sebastian, C. L., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2016). What can cognitive neuroscience tell us about human development? In Proceedings from the 17th European Conference on Developmental Psychology (pp. 1-8). Bologna: Medimond.
  • D’Souza, H., & Bremner, A. J. (2016). Calling for a developmental perspective on action-based consciousness. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 39, e174.
  • D’Souza, H., Cowie, D., Karmiloff-Smith, A., & Bremner, A. J. (2016). Specialization of the motor system in infancy: From broad tuning to selectively specialized purposeful actions. Developmental Science. Early view.
  • D’Souza, D., & D’Souza, H. (2016). Bilingual language control mechanisms in anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex: A developmental perspective. Journal of Neuroscience, 36(20), 5434-5436.
  • D’Souza, D., D’Souza, H., Johnson, M. H., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2016). Audio-visual speech perception in infants and toddlers with Down syndrome, fragile X syndrome, and Williams syndrome. Infant Behavior and Development, 44, 249-262.
  • Karmiloff-Smith, A., Al-Janabi, T., D’Souza, H., Groet, J., Massand, E., Mok, K., ... & Strydom, A. (2016). The importance of understanding individual differences in Down syndrome. F1000Research, 5.
  • Soukup Ascençao, T., D’Souza, D., D’Souza, H., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2016). Parent-child interaction as a dynamic contributor to learning and cognitive development in typical and atypical development. Infancia y Aprendizaje, 39(4), 694-726.
  • D’Souza, D., Cole, V., Farran, E. K., Brown, J. H., Humphreys, K., Howard, J., Rodic, M., Dekker, T. M., D’Souza, H., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2015). Face processing in Williams syndrome is already atypical in infancy. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 760.
  • D’Souza, D., D’Souza, H., Johnson, M. H., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2015). Concurrent relations between face scanning and language: a cross-syndrome infant study. PLOS ONE, 10(10), e0139319.
  • Marsová, K., Mezuláníková, K., D’Souza, H., & Lacinová, L. (2014). Teorie mysli v předškolním věku a její souvislost s prostředím dítěte [The relationship between theory of mind and environment in preschool children]. Československá Psychologie, 58(1), 1-12.
  • Michalčáková, R., Lacinová, L., Kyjonková, H., Bouša, O., & Jelínek, M. (2013). Fears in Czech adolescents: A longitudinal study. Journal of Early Adolescence, 33(8), 1072-1090.
  • Kyjonková, H., & Lacinová, L. (2010). Soukromá řeč a typ aktivity u dětí předškolního věku [Private speech and activity type in preschool children]. Československá Psychologie, 54(4), 342-356.