Research
The research activities of the Aston Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment (IHN) members aim to advance our understanding of fundamental brain processes at the cellular level so that we can better target disordered neural signalling to improve patient outcomes. Our work on the cognitive science and neuroscience of human vision, sensation, language and affect uses innovative methodologies to advance knowledge of typical behaviour. These insights can then be applied to improving the characterisation of neurological disorders, atypical neurodevelopment (e.g. autism, epilepsy, dyslexia) and creation of targeted interventions to improve child health (e.g. anxiety management in autism, co-design of mental health services, evidence-based nutrition guidance for children, novel approaches to feeding and eating behaviour change in individuals, services and systems, public health policy change regarding medicines used in pregnancy, presurgical imaging tools to improve prediction of outcome neurosurgery).
Our research is concentrated into three Themes (Cellular/Fundamental, Behavioural/Cognitive and Applied/ Clinical Neuroscience) with four cross-cutting key areas of research strength (Social Cognition/Autism, Reading/Dyslexia, Epilepsy, Eating/Nutrition).