Article
Dering B, Wright D & Gheorghiu E (2024) The interaction between luminance polarity grouping and symmetry axes on the ERP responses to symmetry. Visual Neuroscience.
Contact details
- Email b.r.dering@stir.ac.uk
- Telephone+44 (0)1786 467655
About me
My PhD thesis focused on face perception, specifically how faces are perceived differently from other objects using event-related potentials (ERPs). ERP technique allows for the mapping of combined neuronal activity over time, building a picture of the brain's first responses to presented stimuli with millisecond precision. Our findings indicate that as early as 100 ms after stimulus presentation, neural responses for faces can be distinct from other object categories.
In 2012 I worked at the Salk institute for biological studies in California, with Dr. Ursula Bellugi on classifying the social phenotype of Williams syndrome (WS), a rare genetic condition caused by a micro-deletion of 25-28 genes on chromosome 7q11.23. Among the multitude of health problems the condition presents with, WS individuals exhibit low IQ scores, poor visuo-spatial abilities, and high frequency hearing loss manifesting as a sensitivity to sound. However, they use language relatively fluently and affectively, have an affinity to music, and are intensely fascinated by faces. Above all, they are characterised by their love of social interaction. Please see the Williams syndrome association's website: http://www.williams-syndrome.org/
After a period of time as a research fellow at the University of Stirling, and Lecturer at Staffordshire University, I returned to Stirling as a Lecturer. My main area of focus since returning to work in Stirling has been the impact of alcohol on the developing brain and subsequently cognition.
Research
My current research focus explores the impact of alcohol on development of the brain, and subsequently cognition, across the lifespan. Within a number of different projects my collaborators, my students, and I are exploring the pathogenic mechanisms of alcohol damage to the brain, the acute and long-term impacts of alcohol-induced memory blackouts, and we are also exploring the impact of alcohol upon visual perception - specifically the interaction between context and vision affected by alcohol.
Outputs (23)
Outputs
Article
Jackson J, Donaldson DI & Dering B (2021) The morning after the night before: Alcohol-induced blackouts impair next day recall in sober young adults. PLOS ONE, 16 (5), Art. No.: e0250827. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250827
Article
Gheorghiu E & Dering B (2020) Shape facilitates number: brain potentials and microstates reveal the interplay between shape and numerosity in human vision. Scientific Reports, 10, Art. No.: 12413. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68788-4
Article
Many Labs 5: Registered Replication Report of Crosby, Monin & Richardson (2008)
Rabagliati H, Corley M, Dering B, Hancock PJB, King J, Levitan CA, Loy J & Millen AE (2020) Many Labs 5: Registered Replication Report of Crosby, Monin & Richardson (2008). Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 3 (3), pp. 353-365. https://doi.org/10.1177/2515245919870737
Article
Many Labs 5: Testing Pre-Data-Collection Peer Review as an Intervention to Increase Replicability
Ebersole CR, Mathur MB, Baranski E, Bart-Plange D, Buttrick NR, Chartier CR, Corker KS, Corley M, Hartshorne JK, IJzerman H, Lazarevic LB, Rabagliati H, Dering B, Hancock PJB & Millen A (2020) Many Labs 5: Testing Pre-Data-Collection Peer Review as an Intervention to Increase Replicability. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 3 (3), pp. 309-331. https://doi.org/10.1177/2515245920958687
Article
Wright D, Dering B, Martinovic J & Gheorghiu E (2020) Neural responses to dynamic adaptation reveal the dissociation between the processing of the shape of contours and textures. Cortex, 127, pp. 78-93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2020.01.015
Article
Alcohol and the Developing Brain: Why Neurons Die and How Survivors Change
Granato A & Dering B (2018) Alcohol and the Developing Brain: Why Neurons Die and How Survivors Change. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 19 (10), Art. No.: 2992. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms19102992
Article
Wright D, Mitchell C, Dering B & Gheorghiu E (2018) Luminance-polarity distribution across the symmetry axis affects the electrophysiological response to symmetry. NeuroImage, 173, pp. 484-497. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.02.008
Article
Effects of Acute Alcohol Exposure on Layer 5 Pyramidal Neurons of Juvenile Mice
Ferrini F, Dering B, De Giorgio A, Lossi L & Granato A (2018) Effects of Acute Alcohol Exposure on Layer 5 Pyramidal Neurons of Juvenile Mice. Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, 38 (4), pp. 955-963. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10571-017-0571-4
Article
Partial and Entropic Information Decompositions of a Neuronal Modulatory Interaction
Kay JW, Ince RAA, Dering B & Phillips W (2017) Partial and Entropic Information Decompositions of a Neuronal Modulatory Interaction. Entropy, 19 (11), Art. No.: 560. https://doi.org/10.3390/e19110560
Article
Dissociating attention effects from categorical perception with ERP functional microstates
Dering B & Donaldson D (2016) Dissociating attention effects from categorical perception with ERP functional microstates. PLoS ONE, 11 (9), Art. No.: e0163336. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0163336
Article
Seeing objects through the language glass
Boutonnet B, Dering B, Vinas-Gausch N & Thierry G (2013) Seeing objects through the language glass. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 25 (10), pp. 1702-1710. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00415
Conference Paper (published)
Dering B, Hoshino N & Thierry G (2012) N170 Modulation is expertise driven: Evidence from word-inversion effects in speakers of different languages. In: Ojima S, Otsu Y, Connolly J & Thierry G (eds.) Future Trends in the Biology of Language. CARLS Proceedings: Future Trends in the Biology of Language, 7. Future Trends in the Biology of Language 2011, Keio University, Japan, 09.03.2011-10.03.2011. Tokyo: Keio University. http://www.keio-up.co.jp/np/isbn/9784766419269/
Article
Jarvinen A, Dering B, Neumann D, Ng R, Crivelli D, Grichanik M, Korenberg J & Bellugi U (2012) Sensitivity of the autonomic nervous system to visual and auditory affect across social and non-social domains in williams syndrome. Frontiers in Psychology, 3 (343). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00343
Article
Effects of speed of word processing on semantic access: the case of bilingualism
Martin C, Costa A, Dering B, Hoshino N, Wu Y & Thierry G (2012) Effects of speed of word processing on semantic access: the case of bilingualism. Brain and Language, 120 (1), pp. 61-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2011.10.003
Article
Face-sensitive processes one hundred milliseconds after picture onset
Dering B, Martin C, Moro S, Pegna A & Thierry G (2011) Face-sensitive processes one hundred milliseconds after picture onset. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 5 (93). https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00093
Article
Category-sensitivity in the N170 range: a question of topography and inversion, not one of amplitude
Boehm S, Dering B & Thierry G (2011) Category-sensitivity in the N170 range: a question of topography and inversion, not one of amplitude. Neuropsychologia, 49 (7), pp. 2082-2089. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.03.039
Article
Behavioral and ERP evidence for amodal sluggish attentional shifting in developmental dyslexia
Lallier M, Tainturier M, Dering B, Donnadieu S, Valdois S & Thierry G (2010) Behavioral and ERP evidence for amodal sluggish attentional shifting in developmental dyslexia. Neuropsychologia, 48 (14), pp. 4125-4135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.09.027
Article
Athanasopoulos P, Dering B, Wiggett A, Kuipers JR & Thierry G (2010) Perceptual shift in bilingualism: brain potentials reveal plasticity in pre-attentive colour perception. Cognition, 116 (3), pp. 437-443. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2010.05.016
Article
Martin C, Dering B, Thomas E & Thierry G (2009) Brain potentials reveal semantic priming in both the 'active' and the 'non-attended' language of early bilinguals. NeuroImage, 47 (1), pp. 326-333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.04.025
Article
The Whorfian mind: Electrophysiological evidence that language shapes perception (Article Addendum)
Athanasopoulos P, Wiggett A, Dering B, Kuipers JR & Thierry G (2009) The Whorfian mind: Electrophysiological evidence that language shapes perception (Article Addendum). Communicative and Integrative Biology, 2 (4), pp. 332-334. https://doi.org/10.4161/cib.2.4.8400
Article
Is the N170 peak of visual event-related brain potentials car-selective?
Dering B, Martin C & Thierry G (2009) Is the N170 peak of visual event-related brain potentials car-selective?. NeuroReport, 20 (10), pp. 902-906. https://doi.org/10.1097/WNR.0b013e328327201d
Article
Unconscious effects of language-specific terminology on preattentive color perception
Thierry G, Athanasopoulos P, Wiggett A, Dering B & Kuipers JR (2009) Unconscious effects of language-specific terminology on preattentive color perception. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106 (11), pp. 4567-4570. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0811155106
Teaching
I am lead supervisor for currently 4 PhD projects investigating alcohol, memory, and visual perception, and supervise 2 other PhD students as a 2nd supervisor.
I also supervise student research projects at undergraduate and masters levels, and give lectures across a range of postgraduate modules. I have coordinated a number of psychology modules, specifically:
2020/21: Module Coordinator for PSYU9A4: Brain & Behaviour: Clinical Perspectives
2015/16-2019/20: Module coordinator PSYU917: Psychology Dissertation project; PSYU9RP: Psychology and Biology Dissertation Project
2017/18-2019/20: Module coordinator for PSYU918: Joint Honours research project in psychology
2015/16 - 2017/18: Module coordinator for PSYU9X7, PSYU9Y7, PSYU9X8, PSYU9Y8: Psychology elective classes