Institute of Psychiatry, King's College
P020, Decrespigny Park
London, SE5 8AF
+44 (0) 20 7848 0938 +44 (0) 20 7848 0938
ResearcherID: I-3939-2012
Twitter: @Rachael_Bedford
Research interests
My research focuses on the application of advanced statistical modelling techniques, such as latent variable models, to developmental processes. In my PhD I used these methods to characterise social and non-social trajectories of development in infants at high risk for autism spectrum disorder. I am interested in trying to understand the mechanisms that drive both typical and atypical development, including children with autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and callous-unemotional traits.
Publications
Bedford, R., Pickles, A., Sharp, H., Wright, N., Hill, J. Reduced face preference in infancy: A developmental precursor for callous-unemotional traits? Biological Psychiatry (in press).
Gliga, T., Jones, E. J. H., Bedford, R., Charman, T. and Johnson, M. H. (2014). From early markers to neuro-developmental mechanisms of autism.Developmental Review, 34, 189-207.
Jones, E. J. H., Gliga, T., Bedford, R., Charman, T. and Johnson, M. H. (2014). Developmental pathways to autism: A review of prospective studies of infants at risk. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 39, 1-33.
Bedford, R., Pickles, A., Gliga, T., Elsabbagh, M., Charman, T., Johnson, M. H. and The BASIS Team. (2014). Additive effects of social and non-social attention during infancy relate to later autism spectrum disorder. Developmental Science, 17, 612-620.
Hudry, K., Chandler, S., Bedford, R., Pasco, G., Gliga, T., Elsabbagh, M., Johnson, M. H., Charman, T. and The BASIS Team. (2014). Early language profiles in infants at high-risk for autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44, 154-167.
Leonard, H. C., Bedford, R., Charman, T., Elsabbagh, M., Johnson, M. H., Hill, E. L. and The BASIS Team. (2014). Motor development in children at-risk of autism: A follow-up study of infant siblings. Autism, 18, 281-291.
Elsabbagh, M., Bedford, R., Senju, A., Charman, T., Pickles, A., Johnson, M. H. and The BASIS Team. (2014). What you see is what you get: contextual modulation of face scanning in typical and atypical development. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 9, 538-543.
Bedford, R., Gliga, T., Frame, K., Hudry, K., Chandler, S., Johnson, M. H., Charman, T. and the BASIS team. (2013) Failure to learn from feedback underlies word learning difficulties in toddlers at-risk for autism. Journal of Child Language, 40, 29-46.
Bedford, R., Elsabbagh, M., Senju, A., Gliga, T., Pickles, A., Charman, T., Johnson, M. H. and the BASIS team. (2012). Precursors to social and communication difficulties in infants at-risk for autism: Gaze following and attentional engagement. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 42,2208-2218.
Nardini, M., Bedford, R., Mareschal, D. (2010). Fusion of visual cues is not mandatory in children. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., 107, 17041-17046.
Nardini, M., Jones, P., Bedford, R., Braddick, O. (2008). Development of cue integration in human navigation. Current Biology, 18, 689-693.
Published Consortium Papers
Gliga T., Senju A., Southgate V., Pettinato M., Charman T., Johnson M. H., and The BASIS Team (2014). (Baron-Cohen, S., Bedford, R., Bolton, P., Chandler, S., Garwood, H., Hudry, K., Pasco, G., Tucker, L. and Volein, A). Spontaneous belief attribution in younger siblings of children on the autism spectrum. Developmental Psychology, 50(3), 903-913.
Leonard, H., Elsabbagh, M., Hill, E., and The BASIS Team (Baron-Cohen, S., Bedford, R., Bolton, P., Chandler, S., Garwood, H., Gliga, T., Hudry, K., Pasco, G., Tucker, L. and Volein, A). (2014). Early and persistent motor delay in infants at-risk of developing autism spectrum disorder: A prospective study. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 11, 18-35.
Elsabbagh, M., Fernandes, J., Webb, S. J., Dawson, G., Charman, T., Johnson, M. H., and The BASIS Team. (Baron-Cohen, S., Bedford, R., Bolton, P., Chandler, S., Garwood, H., Gliga, T., Hudry, K., Pasco, G., Tucker, L. and Volein, A). (2013). Disengagement of visual attention in infancy is associated with emerging autism in toddlerhood. Biological Psychiatry, 74, 189-194.
Wan, M. W., Green, J., Elsabbagh, M., Johnson, M. H., Plummer, F., Charman, T., & The BASIS Team. (Baron-Cohen, S., Bedford, R., Bolton, P., Chandler, S., Fernandes, J., Garwood, H., Gliga, T., Pasco, G., Tucker, L. and Volein, A). (2013). Quality of interaction between at-risk infants and caregiver at 12-15 months is associated with three year autism outcome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54, 763-771.
Clifford, S., Hudry, K., Elsabbagh, M., Charman, T., Johnson, M. H. and The BASIS Team. (Baron-Cohen, S., Bedford, R., Bolton, P., Chandler, S., Fernandes, J., Garwood, H., Gliga, T., Pasco, G., Tucker, L. and Volein, A). (2013). Temperament in the first two years of life in infants at high-risk for autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 43, 673-686.
Elsabbagh, M., Gliga, T., Pickles, A., Hudry, K., Charman, T., Johnson, M. H., & The BASIS Team (Baron-Cohen, S., Bedford, R., Bolton, P., Chandler, S., Fernandes, J., Garwood, H., Gilhooly, N., Pasco, G., Tucker, L. and Volein, A). (2013). The development of face orienting in infants at-risk for autism.Behavioural Brain Research, 251, 147-154.
Wan, M. W., Green, J., Elsabbagh, M., Johnson, M., Charman, T., Plummer, F. and The BASIS Team (Baron-Cohen, S., Bedford, R., Bolton, P., Chandler, S., Fernandes, J., Garwood, H., Gliga, T., Hudry, K., Tucker, L. and Volein, A). (2012). Parent-infant interaction in infant siblings at risk of autism.Research in Developmental Disabilities, 33, 924-932.
Elsabbagh, M., Mercure, E., Hudry, K., Chandler, S., Pasco, G., Charman, T., Pickles, A., Baron-Cohen, S., Bolton, P., Johnson, M. H. and The BASIS Team (Bedford, R., Fernandes, J., Garwood, H., Gliga, T., Tucker, L. and Volein, A). (2012). Infant neural sensitivity to dynamic eye gaze is associated with later emerging autism. Current Biology, 22, 1-5.
Gliga, T., Elsabbagh, M., Hudry, K., Charman, T., Johnson, M. H. and the BASIS Team (Baron-Cohen, S., Bedford, R., Bolton, P., Chandler, S., Fernandes, J., Garwood, H., Tucker, L. and Volein, A). (2012). Gaze following, gaze reading and word learning in children at-risk for autism. Child Development, 83, 926-38.
Elsabbagh, M., Holmboe, K., Gliga, T., Mercure, E., Hudry, K., Charman, T., Baron-Cohen, S., Bolton, P., Johnson, M. H. and The BASIS Team (Bedford, R., Chandler, S., Clifford, S., Fernandes, J., Garwood, H., Leonard, H., Tucker, L. and Volein, A.). (2011). Social and attention factors during infancy and the later emergence of autism characteristics. In Oliver Braddick, Janette Atkinson and Giorgio M. Innocenti, editors: Progress in Brain Research, Vol. 189, Burlington: Academic Press, pp. 195-207.
Published Book Chapters
Pickles, A. and Bedford, R. What Clinicians’ Need to Know about Statistical Issues and Methods. In Rutter’s Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Sixth Edition (Eds. Michael Rutter, Dorothy V. M. Bishop, Daniel S. Pine, Stephen Scott, Jim Stevenson, Eric Taylor, Anita Thapar). Blackwell Publishing Ltd (in press).
Published Conference Abstracts
Bedford, R., Nardini, M., Pellicano, E., Begus, K., Mareschal, D. (2011). Integration of disparity and texture cues to slant in adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Vision, 11(11), 440.
Nardini, M., Bedford, R., Desai, M., Mareschal, D. (2010). Fusion of disparity and texture cues to slant is not mandatory in children. Journal of Vision10(7): 494.
Nardini, M., Bedford, R., Desai, M., Mareschal, D. (2010). Children exploit multiple visual cues for speed, not accuracy. Perception 39(2), 265-266.
Nardini, M., Bedford, R., Mareschal, D. (2009). Development of spatial cue integration between and within modalities. Cognitive Processing 10 (Suppl. 2), S158
Nardini, M., Bedford, R., Mareschal, D. (2009). The role of a perceptual decision rule in development of variance reduction by cue integration. Journal of Vision 9 (8), 49a.
Nardini, M., Jones, P., Bedford, R., Braddick, O. (2008). Development of optimal integration for self-motion and landmark cues in human navigation. Journal of Vision 8 (6), 832a.
Other Conference Presentations
Bedford, R., Elsabbagh, M., Senju, A., Gliga, T., Pickles, A., Charman, T., Johnson, M. H. and the BASIS team. (2011). Do infants at-risk for autism follow eye gaze? British Psychological Society, Developmental Section, Newcastle.
Bedford, R., Elsabbagh, M., Senju, A., Gliga, T., Pickles, A., Charman, T., Johnson, M. H. and the BASIS team. (2011). Intact early gaze following in infants at-risk for autism spectrum disorder. International Meeting for Autism Research, San Diego.
Bedford, R., Gliga, T., Frame, K., Hudry, K., Chandler, S., Johnson, M. H., Charman, T. and the BASIS team. (2010). Ostensive Cueing Enhances Retention of Fast Mapped Words in Typically Developing 24-Month-Olds but Not Those at High-Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). Autism Europe, Catania.
Bedford, R., Nardini, M., Pellicano, E., Begus, K., Mareschal, D. (2010). Integration of visual cues in adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder. BPS Developmental Section, Goldsmiths, London.
Bedford, R., Gliga, T., Frame, K., Hudry, K., Chandler, S., Johnson, M. H., Charman, T. and the BASIS team. (2010). Ostensive Cueing Enhances Retention of Fast Mapped Words in Typically Developing 24-Month-Olds but Not Those at High-Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). International Meeting for Autism Research, Philadelphia.
Elsabbagh, M., Garwood, H., Tucker, L., Volein, A., Bedford, R. and Johnson, M. H. (2010). Context- and Age-dependent Dissociation in Eye tracking Measures: Implications for Different Underlying Cognitive Processes. ISIS, Baltimore.
Desai, M., Nardini, M., Bedford, R., Mareschal, D. (2010). Fusion of visual cues in adults but not six-year olds. Experimental Psychology Society, London.
Nardini, M., Bedford, R., Mareschal, D. (2009). Learning to combine multiple visual cues for optimal perceptual judgements. BPS Developmental Section, Nottingham.
Nardini, M., Bedford, R., Mareschal, D. (2009). Development of variance reduction by cue integration between and within modalities. International Multisensory Research Forum, New York.
Bedford, R., Nardini, M., Mareschal, D. (2009). Development of integration for disparity and texture cues to slant. Experimental Psychology Society, London.
Nardini, M., Thomas, R., Bullens, J., Jones, P., Bedford, R., Atkinson, J., Braddick, O. (2008). Two developmental processes underlying human spatial memory. Experimental Psychology Society, Cambridge.
Funding
2014-2018 Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship (£250,000).
2009-2012 Bloomsbury Scholarship (£15,290 per annum).
2010 IMFAR travel award, $500.
2007 Wellcome Trust, vacation scholarship, £1400.
Editorial review
Ad hoc reviewer: Behavior Research Methods, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Child Development