2021年7月14日15:00— 赵晶晶教授：Cognitive, neuroanatomical, and genetic basis of developmental dyslexia

Speaker: Jingjing Zhao

Title: Cognitive, neuroanatomical, and genetic basis of developmental dyslexia

Time: 15:00 – 16:30, Wed, 14 July 2021  

           (Beijing, Hong Kong time)

Venue: https://cuhk.zoom.us/j/779556638

            https://cuhk.zoom.cn/j/779556638

About the speaker 

Jingjing Zhao received a B.Sc. (Electronic Information and Technology, 2004) and an M.Sc. (Psychology, 2007) from Beijing Normal University, and a Ph.D. (Psychology, 2012) from University of Connecticut. Before she joined the faculty at Shaanxi Normal University in the School of Psychology where she has been a full professor since 2015, she completed two post-doctoral positions at Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris(2012-2014)and National University of Ireland in Galway (2014-2015), respectively. She was awarded Early Career Investigator Prize by the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics (2015) and Outstanding Achievement Award of Scientific Research in Colleges and Universities (HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES) with a Youth Achievement Award by Ministry of Education of People’s Republic of China (2020).  

Dr. Zhao’s current research interests are the development of language, math, and social cognition, its disorders (e.g., developmental dyslexia, dyscalculia, autism) and its determinants at multiple levels of description (e.g., cognitive, neural, genetic, environmental). Her main focus is on the etiology of the following neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders: developmental dyslexia, developmental dyscalculia, autism, and psychiatric disorders (such as bipolar disorders, major depressive disorders, and anxiety disorders) in young population.

Cognitive, neuroanatomical, and genetic basis of developmental dyslexia 

Jingjing Zhao 

School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University 

Abstract: Developmental dyslexia is a common learning disability affecting the acquisition of fluent reading skills despite normal intelligence and schooling. It is increasingly acknowledged to be a genetically influenced disorder with a neurological basis, which in turn engenders cognitive deficits affecting the behavior of reading acquisition. In this talk, I will present my main works about the cognitive, neuroanatomical, and genetic basis of developmental dyslexia during the past five years. Moreover, I will also show some of our new results about how parental education moderates genetic and neural influences on reading dis/ability.

  

Representative Publications:

1. Cheng, C., Yao, Y., Wang, Z., & Zhao, J.* Visual attention span and phonological skills in Chinese developmental dyslexia. (2021). Research in Developmental Disabilities, 116C, 104015.

2. Lou, C., Duan, X., Altarelli, I., Sweeney, J., Ramus, F., Zhao, J.* (2019). White matter network connectivity deficits in developmental dyslexia, Human Brain Mapping, 40, 505-516.

3. Su, M., Zhao, J., Thiebaut de Schotten, M., Zhou, W., Gong, G., Ramus, F., Shu, H. (2018). Alterations in white matter pathways underlying phonological and morphological processing in Chinese developmental dyslexia. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience,31, 11-19. 

4. Ramus, F., Altarelli, I., Jednoróg, K., Zhao, J., & Scotto di Covella, L. (2018). Neuroanatomy of developmental dyslexia: pitfalls and promise. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 84, 434-452. 

5.Zhao, J. *, Thiebaut de Schotten, M., Altarelli, I., Dubois J., & Ramus, F. (2016). Altered hemispheric lateralization of white matter pathways in developmental dyslexia: Evidence from spherical deconvolution tractography. Cortex,76, 51-62.