Professor Pam Heaton

Musical cognition, abnormal development, autism, savants

Research Interests

My primary research interest is in developmental disorders, especially autism.  Since completing my PhD on musical cognition in autism in 1999, I have been a principal researcher or research group leader on EU and ESRC grant applications investigating remediation of sensory abnormalities, pitch and colour discrimination and memory, and colour categorisation in autism.

Before studying psychology I trained as a classical singer and retain a strong interest in the cognitive neuropsychology of music. In particular I am interested in how musical information processing distinguishes atypical and typically developing children and adolescents.  My current interests mainly focus on investigating the relationship between speech and music perception in autism, SLI, Down syndrome and typical development.