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Eleanor Braithwaite

PhD Student
Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development
Department of Psychological Sciences
Birkbeck, University of London
 
 
 

Supervisors

Prof. Emily Jones
Prof. Jacqueline Barnes (Institute for the Study of Children, Families and Social Issues, Birkbeck)
 

Research interests

My research is focussed on developing and improving methods for measuring cognitive ability during toddlerhood, which can then be used in large scale studies. I am also interested in increasing the diversity of participants in these studies, with a particular focus on including children of lower socioeconomic status. I will thus develop data collection methods specifically to facilitate the participation of a diverse sample of toddlers. 
 
Using large samples of data, I also aim to investigate the structure of cognition in toddlerhood and how this varies with socioeconomic status (SES). I am particularly interested in how SES may cause the adaptation of psychological processes, which could lead to enhanced performance on cognitive tasks in certain contexts. I hope to investigate how the relative strengths and weaknesses of individuals differ and whether this is impacted by SES. I will use a range of methods during my PhD, including app-based data collection, and portable eye-tracking and EEG systems. 
 

Education

PhD Psychology, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck (2019 – present)

MSc Educational Neuroscience (Distinction), UCL Institute of Education & Birkbeck (2017 – 2018)

BA(hons) Psychology & Linguistics, University of Oxford (2013 – 2016)

 

Previous employment

2018 - 2019 Research Assistant, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck
2016 - 2017 Teaching Assistant, Holy Trinity Infant CE School
2016  Research Assistant, Catch Up Literacy
 

Publications 

Braithwaite, E. K., Jones, E. J., Johnson, M. H., & Holmboe, K. (2019). Dynamic modulation of frontal theta power predicts cognitive ability in infancy. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 100818. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100818

Braithwaite, E. K., Gui, A., & Jones, E. J. H. (2020). Social attention: What is it, how can we measure it, and what can it tell us about autism and ADHD?. Progress in Brain Research, volume 258. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2020.05.007

Haartsen, R., Mason, L., Braithwaite, E. K., Del Bianco, T., Johnson, M. H., & Jones, E. J. (2021). Reliability of an automated gaze‐controlled paradigm for capturing neural responses during visual and face processing in toddlerhood. Developmental Psychobiology, 63(7), e22157. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/dev.22157
 
 

Talks

Braithwaite E. K. & Haartsen, R. (July 2021). CBCD researchers discuss global Braintools project. Talk at the Virtual Coffee Talks at the Babylab (online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH76rYaNdBU).
 
Braithwaite E. K. (April 2020). Talk to unveil new online study. Talk at the Virtual Coffee Talks at the Babylab. 
 
 

Poster Presentations

Braithwaite, E. K., Jones, E. J., Johnson, M. H., & Holmboe, K. (Nov 2019) Dynamic modulation of frontal theta power predicts cognitive ability in infancy: a pre-registered analysis. Poster presented at the CBCD 21st Anniversary in London, UK.

Braithwaite, E. K., Jones, E. J., Johnson, M. H., & Holmboe, K. (Jan 2020) Dynamic modulation of frontal theta power predicts cognitive ability in infancy: a pre-registered analysis. Poster accepted at BCCCD20 conference; unable to present due to illness.

Braithwaite, E. K., Jones, E. J., Johnson, M. H., & Holmboe, K. (July 2020) Dynamic modulation of frontal theta power predicts cognitive ability in infancy: a pre-registered study. Poster accepted at Virtual ICIS 2020 conference; unable to present due to Covid.

Braithwaite, E. K., Jones, E. J., Johnson, M. H., & Holmboe, K. (Jan 2021) Dynamic modulation of frontal theta power predicts cognitive ability in infancy: a pre-registered study. Poster presented at Virtual BCCCD21.

Braithwaite, E. K., Jones, E. J. H., & Leech, R. (June 2021) iTapp: Interactive Toddler App

Braithwaite, E. K., Jones, E. J. H., Leech, R., Dalvit Menabe, S., & Johnson, M. H. (August 2021) Virtual LCICD 2021: poster presentation. TEACH-BRITE: Transforming Early Childhood - Bringing Research to Individuals through online Technology.

 

Conferences

Cumberland Lodge – Life Beyond the PhD (August 2021)
 
 

Teaching

Demonstrator, Research Methods 1 (2019, 2020, 2021)
Demonstrator, Research Methods 2 (2021)
 
 

PhD funding

My PhD is funded by the UBEL-DTP’s Economic and Social Research Council studentship.