CDS Seminar Series : Dr Saloni Krishnan | Brain organisation in language development and disorder

This seminar is free to attend and is open to all, both within and outside the University. If you wish to attend in person or via Zoom, please register your interest to attend via the Zoom portal using the link above. Zoom details will be shared prior to the event via email.

We are delighted to announce that the Centre for Developmental Science will welcome Dr Saloni Krishnan, Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London, to present a hybrid CDS Seminar, taking place on Tuesday 7th of March, 13:00-14:00.

You are welcome to attend either in person at Gisbert Kapp Lecture Theatre, Room N225, or online via Zoom. If you wish to attend, please register your interest to attend either in person or online via the Zoom portal using the link above. 

Prof Krishnan's Twitter handle is @salonikrishnan and she can be contacted on Saloni.krishnan@rhul.ac.uk 

There will be the opportunity for an informal discussion after the seminar itself.

To arrange a 1:1 meeting with the speaker, please email Anne Darby,  a.darby@bham.ac.uk

CDS Event Host - Dr Matthew Apps

Brain organisation in language development and disorder 

Abstract

Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) struggle to learn their native language. These language difficulties occur in approximately 7% of children, and can substantially limit academic and social achievement. Given the high prevalence and social and economic impact, it is somewhat surprising that we do not understand more about the neural basis of DLD. To this end, I will discuss some recent findings from the Oxford Brain Organisation in Language Development (BOLD) study. In the BOLD study, we used a series of functional and structural tasks to probe changes in brain organisation relating to atypical language. We have scanned 175 children, half of whom presented with a history of speech and language difficulties. In this talk, I will focus on children’s functional neural organisation for verb generation (the focus of our recent registered report). I will then discuss some new findings based on a new quantitative imaging protocol (multiparameter mapping). I will interpret our data with reference to two theories about the neural basis of DLD. The first theory suggests that children with DLD are atypically lateralised for language. The second idea, proposed by us and others, suggests that frontostriatal systems for language learning are abnormal or dysfunctional in DLD. Finally, I will discuss some new work in my lab, which focuses on the role of intrinsic reward and motivation in language learning, and potential disturbance of this mechanism in reading and language disorders.

Speaker Biography

Saloni Krishnan is a developmental cognitive neuroscientist by training. She leads a research group at Royal Holloway. Her research focuses on brain differences in childhood communication disorders, such as DLD (developmental language disorder) and dyslexia. Saloni is an Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard Award Holder and an MRC New Investigator. She has won several awards, including the Neil O’Connor Award from the British Psychological Society. She was named a Rising Star by the Association of Psychological Sciences in 2022. She works as an editorial board member at Communications Psychology and as an associate editor at the International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. Saloni’s research has featured on the BBC, the Guardian, Daily Mail, and the Boston Globe.

This seminar is free to attend and is open to all, both within and outside the University. If you wish to attend in person or via Zoom, please register your interest to attend via the Zoom portal using the link above. Zoom details will be shared prior to the event via email.