Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development
School of Psychology, Birkbeck College
The Henry Wellcome Building, Torrington Square, London WC1E 7HX
Phone: +44 (0)20 7631 6895
Fax: +44 (0)20 7631 6587
Email: a.senju at bbk dot ac dot uk
Research interests
My main research interest is the developmental origin of the "Social Brain" network, and its atypical development in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Especially, I'm interested in how infants and children attend to, evaluate and react to others' social and communicative signal such as eye contact, contingent movement and referential gaze/pointing. Currently I'm utilizing both behavioural and electrophysiological measurement to tackle these questions.
Curriculum Vitae
Degrees
2000: B.A. Liberal Arts, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
The development of mind-reading test for typically developing individuals and individuals with autism.
(Supervisor: Toshikazu Hasegawa)
2002: M.A. Multidisciplinary Sciences, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Others' eye gaze triggers reflexive orienting in children with autism.
(Supervisor: Toshikazu Hasegawa)
2005: Ph.D. Multidisciplinary Sciences, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Processing of perceived direct gaze in typical adults and children with and without autism.
(Supervisor: Toshikazu Hasegawa)
Academic Positions
2002-2005: Research Fellow (DC1), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan
(Supervisor: Toshikazu Hasegawa)
2005, 2006: Researcher, Japan Agency of Science and Technology, Fukuoka, Japan
(Supervisor: Yoko Kamio)
2005-2006: Visiting Research Fellow, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
(Supervisors: Mark Johnson and Gergely Csibra)
2006-present: Research Fellow, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
(Supervisors: Mark Johnson)
Grant Supports
2000: Travel Award for Graduate Students, The University of Tokyo.
2002: Travel Award for Graduate Students, The University of Tokyo.
2002-2004: Three-year Graduate Fellowship, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
2005-2006: Visiting Fellowship, Leverhulme Trust, UK (£19,550.00).
2006-2008: ESRC/MRC Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Fellowship, Economic and Social Research Council and Medical Research Council, UK (£182,836.00).
2008-2011: ESRC Research Fellowship, Economic and Social Research Council, UK (£288,914.00).
2009-2010: Grant for the project: “Cognitive psychological experiment on the effect of cultural norms on the processing of eye contact”, Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, Japan/UK (£2,500.00).
Awards
2000: Presentation Award. Japanese Psychonomic Society.
2002: Presentation Award. Japanese Psychonomic Society.
2005: President’s Award of The University of Tokyo, The University of Tokyo.
2007: JPA Awards for International Contributions to Psychology, Award for Distinguished Early and Middle Career Contributions, Japanese Psychological Association.
Publications
in press
Senju, A. (in press). Contagious yawning: Developmental and comparative perspectives. In O. Walusinski (Eds.), The Mystery of Yawning in Physiology and Diseases. Basel: Karger.
Senju, A., Southgate, V., Miura, Y., Matsui, T., Hasegawa, T., Tojo, Y., Osanai, H., & Csibra, G. (in press). Absence of spontaneous action anticipation by false belief attribution in children with autism spectrum disorder. Development and Psychopathology.
Farroni, T., & Senju, A. (in press). Specialized brain for the social vision: Perspectives from typical and atypical development. In R. B. Adams, Jr., N. Ambady, K. Nakayama & S. Shimojo (Eds.), The Science of Social Vision. New York: Oxford University Press.
2009
Senju, A., Kikuchi, Y., Akechi, H., Hasegawa, T., Tojo, Y., & Osanai, H. (2009). Does eye contact induce contagious yawning in children with autism spectrum disorder? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39, 1598-1602. (doi:10.1007/s10803-009-0785-5)
Kikuchi, Y., Senju, A., Tojo, Y., Osanai, H., & Hasegawa, T. (2009). Face does not capture special attention in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A change blindness study. Child Development, 80, 1421-1433. (doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01342.x)
Senju, A., & Johnson, M. H. (2009). Atypical eye contact in autism: Models, mechanisms and development. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 33, 1204-1214. (doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.06.001)
Senju, A., Southgate, V., White, S., & Frith, U. (2009). Mindblind eyes: An absence of spontaneous theory of mind in Asperger syndrome. Science, 325, 883-885. [Abstract and reprint via Science "refer" service] 4)
Akechi, H., Senju, A., Kikuchi, Y., Tojo, Y., Osanai, H., & Hasegawa, T. (2009). Does gaze direction modulate facial expression processing in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder?. Child Development, 80, 1134-1146. (doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01321.x)
Senju, A., & Johnson, M. H. (2009). The eye contact effect: Mechanisms and development. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13, 127-134. (doi:10.1016/j.tics.2008.11.009)
2008
Senju, A., Csibra, G., & Johnson, M. H. (2008). Understanding the referential nature of looking: Infants' preference for object-directed gaze. Cognition, 108, 303-319. (doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2008.02.009)
Senju, A., Kikuchi, Y., Hasegawa, T., Tojo, Y., & Osanai, H. (2008). Is anyone looking at me? Direct gaze detection in children with and without autism. Brain and Cognition, 67, 127-139. (doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2007.12.001)
Senju, A., & Csibra, G. (2008). Gaze following in human infants depends on communicative signals. Current Biology, 18, 668-671. (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.03.059) 3)
Joly-Mascheroni, R. M., Senju, A., & Shepherd, A. J. (2008). Dogs catch human yawns. Biology Letters, 4, 446-448. (doi:10.1098/rsbl.2008.0333) 2)
2007
Senju, A., Maeda, M., Kikuchi, Y., Hasegawa, T., Tojo, Y., & Osanai, H. (2007). Absence of contagious yawning in children with autism spectrum disorder. Biology Letters, 3, 706-708. (doi:10.1098/rsbl.2007.0337) 1)
Southgate, V., Senju, A., & Csibra, G. (2007). Action anticipation through attribution of false belief by two-year-olds. Psychological Science, 18, 587-592. (doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01944.x)
2006
Senju, A., Johnson, M. H. & Csibra, G. (2006). The development and neural basis of referential gaze perception. Social Neuroscience, 1, 220-234. (doi:10.1080/17470910600989797)
Senju, A., & Hasegawa, T. (2006). Do the upright eyes have it? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13, 223-228.
Kunihira, Y., Senju, A., Dairoku, H., Wakabayashi, A., & Hasegawa, T. (2006). 'Autistic' traits in non-autistic Japanese populations: Relationships with personality traits and cognitive ability. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36, 553-566.
2005
Senju, A., & Hasegawa, T. (2005). Direct gaze captures visuospatial attention. Visual Cognition, 12, 127-144.
Senju, A., Hasegawa, T., & Tojo, Y. (2005). Does perceived direct gaze boost detection in adults and children with and without autism? The stare-in-the-crowd effect revisited. Visual Cognition, 12, 1474-1496.
Senju, A., Tojo, Y., Yaguchi, K., & Hasegawa, T. (2005). Deviant gaze processing in children with autism: An ERP study. Neuropsychologia, 43, 1297-1306.
Hirai, M., Senju, A., Fukushima, H., & Hiraki, K. (2005). Active processing of biological motion perception: An ERP study. Cognitive Brain Research. 23, 387-396.
2003-2004
Senju, A., Tojo, Y., Dairoku, H., & Hasegawa, T. (2004). Reflexive orienting in response to eye gaze and an arrow in children with and without autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45, 445-458.
Senju, A., Yaguchi, K., Tojo, Y., & Hasegawa, T. (2003). Eye contact does not facilitate detection in children with autism. Cognition, 89, B43-B51.
1) Senju et al. (2007) was featured in: news@nature.com, Reuters, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, The Herald, Irish Independent, The Globe and Mail, spektrumdirect, scienceticker.info, Wissenschaft, Der Tagesspiegel, Nooderlicht, Hír TV, National Geographic Magyarország, Corriere della Sera, Il Messagerro, El Confidencial, Lidovky, Salajevo-X, Postimees, Gândal, El Colombiano, El Comercio, El Mercurio, ABC.net.au, WebIndia123.com, The Daily India, MedIndia.com, The Times of India, vnexpress, Yam天空-新聞;, News-Medical.net, Pretoria News, Le Scienze, Science & Vie, Televisa, BBC Indonesia and Birkbeck, University of London.
2) Joly-Mascheroni et al. (2008) was featured in: BBC, ITN, Reuters, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Daily Express, The Metro, The Scotsman, Science NOW, Science News, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Ynet, Los Angels Times, Seattle Times, ABC News, The Irish Times, ABC.net.au, The Hindu, 新华网 [English], 朝日新聞; [English], nana10, Die Zeit, The Veterinary Record, Cães & Cia, Ladies' Home Journal, Weekly Reader, Greater Good Magazine, Scholastic SuperScience Magazine, BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 4, BBC Five Live, BBC World Service, BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio Cambridge, BBC Radio Newcatsle, BBC Radio Northern Ireland, SPIN 1038, ZDF and Birkbeck, University of London.
3) Senju & Csibra (2008) was featured in: Frith, C. D. (2008). Social cognition: Hi there! Here's something interesting. Current Biology, 18, R524-R525. [ScienceDirect]
4) Senju, Southgate, White & Frith (2009) was featured in: The Times, Reuters Health, ScientificAmerican.com, Simons Foundation News & Commentary and Birkbeck, University of London.
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