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Dr Sinead Rocha

Staff details

Dr Sinead Rocha

Position

Lecturer

Department

Psychology

Email

s.rocha (@gold.ac.uk)

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience of Music

Sinead is a developmental cognitive neuroscientist, primarily interested in why (and how) we humans grow into such musical beings. More specifically, she studies the development of rhythm perception and production, measured at neural and behavioural levels. Since her undergraduate degree in Psychology she has worked in cutting edge infancy research, completing her PhD at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, and working as a postdoctoral research associate at the Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, and King's College, Cambridge. Sinead worked as a Lecturer in Psychology at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, directing the ARU Kids Lab, before joining Goldsmiths in 2023. She is currently co-director of the Goldsmiths InfantLab.

Academic qualifications

  • PhD Developmental Science 2018

Research interests

Sinead's research uses infants and young children as a tool for understanding complex human behaviours, including music, dance and language. Sinead has expertise in using diverse methodologies including EEG, EMG and motion capture. Recently, Sinead has also been interested in arts for health and wellbeing, and is involved in several projects using mixed method and creative arts for maternal and childhood wellbeing. Her current research projects focus on:
• Early rhythm perception and production as predictors of language acquisition (Cambridge UK BabyRhythm Project)
• Infant spontaneous motor tempo
• Infant sensorimotor synchronisation
• Rhythm and executive function in toddlers
• Dance and body representation in young children
• Arts interventions for maternal wellbeing
• Group drumming for adolescent wellbeing

Publications and research outputs

Article