Dr. Danielle Ropar

Research Interests:

I initiated the Autism Research Team at Nottingham in 2001 in the School of Psychology.

My research focuses on understanding a broad range of clinical symptoms of Autism Spectrum Condition including, sensory, social, and attentional processes. Specifically, I am interested in how functioning in these areas interact and how they impact upon autistic individuals in a variety of different contexts. The underlying drive behind my work is to conduct research which will have a direct and beneficial impact on autistic individuals and the general public. To achieve this, I work in partnership with key stakeholders and within interdisciplinary teams involving both academics and non-academics, including policy-makers.

Current PhD Students:

Publications:

2020-2021

ARORA I., BELLATO, A. , GLIGA,T., ROPAR. D., KOCHARA, P., HOLLIS,, C. and GROOM, M. (In press). What is the effect of stimulus complexity on attention to repeating and changing information 3 in Autism? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

ARORA I., BELLATO, A., ROPAR. D., HOLLIS,, C. and GROOM, M. Is autonomic function during resting-state atypical in Autism: A systematic review of evidence. Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Reviews, Volume 125, June 2021, Pages 417-441

CROMPTON,C, SHARP, M, AXBEY, H., FLETCHER-WATSON, S. FLYNN,E.G., and ROPAR, D. 2020. Neurotype-Matching, but Not Being Autistic, Influences Self and Observer Ratings of Interpersonal Rapport, Frontiers in Psychology 11, 2961.

DUBEY, I., GEORGESCU, M, HOMMELSON, M., VOGELEY, K., ROPAR., D,and HAMILTON, A. 2020. Distinct neural correlates of social and object reward seeking motivation, European Journal of Neuroscience, 52 (9), 4214-4229.

CROMPTON, C., ROPAR, D., EVANS-WILLIAMS, C., FLYNN, E., and FLETCHER-WATSON, S. 2020. Autistic peer-to-peer information transfer is highly effective. Autism. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361320919286

HOLLOWAY, C.A., MUNRO, N., JACKSON, J., PHILLIPS, S., and ROPAR, D. (2020). Exploring the autistic and police perspectives of the custody process through a participative walkthrough. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 97:103545.

CROMPTON, C.J., HALLETT, S., ROPAR, D., FLYNN, E., and FLETCHER-WATSON, S..(2020). ‘I never realised everybody felt as happy as I do when I am around autistic people’: A thematic analysis of autistic adults’ relationships with autistic and neurotypical friends and family. doi.org/10.1177/1362361320908976.

2018-2019

MARSH,L.E, ROPAR,D., and HAMILTON, AFC. 2019. Are you watching me? The role if audience and object novelty in overimitation. Journal of experimental child psychology 180, 123-130.

HOLLOWAY, C.A., JACKSON, J., ROPAR, D. and MUNRO, N. 2019. Autism and Policing (Policy Brief). Retrieved from: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/autismandpolicing/documents/policy-brief.pdf

ROPAR D, GREENFIELD, K., SMITH, A.D., CAREY, M. and NEWPORT, R., (2018). Body representation difficulties in children and adolescents with autism may be due to delayed development of visuo-tactile temporal binding. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 29, 78-85.

SMITH, D., ROPAR, D., and ALLEN, HA. (2018) Does stereopsis account for the link between motor and social skills in adults? Molecular autism 9 (1), 55.

BROWN, B.J., SOYOUNG, K., SAUNDERS, H., BACHMANN, C., THOMPSON, J., ROPAR, D., JACKSON, S.R. and JACKSON, G.M., 2017. A neural basis for contagious yawning Current Biology. 27, 1-5

SMITH, D., ROPAR, D. and ALLEN, HA. 2018. Does stereopsis account for the link between motor and social skills in adults? Molecular autism 9 (1), 1-15

DUBEY,I., ROPAR, D. AND HAMILTON, A. 2018. Comparison of choose-a-movie and approach–avoidance paradigms to measure social motivation, Motivation and emotion 42 (2), 190-199.

2016-2017

SMITH D, ROPAR D and ALLEN HA, 2017. The Integration of Occlusion and Disparity Information for Judging Depth in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of autism and developmental disorders. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 47 (10), 3112-3124.

DUBEY I, ROPAR D and HAMILTON AFC, 2017. Social seeking declines in young adolescents. Royal Society open science. 4(8), 170029

GREENFIELD, K., ROPAR, D., THEMELIS, K, RATCLIFFE, N. and NEWPORT, R., 2017. Developmental Changes in Sensitivity to Spatial and Temporal Properties of Sensory Integration Underlying Body Representation MULTISENSORY RESEARCH. 30(6), 467-484

JAMES, RJE, DUBEY, I, SMITH, D, ROPAR,D. and TUNNEY,R. 2016. The latent structure of autistic traits: A taxometric latent class and latent profile analysis of the adult spectrum quotient. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 46 (12), 3712-3728.

SHEPPARD, E., VAN LOON, E., UNDERWOOD, G. and ROPAR, D., 2016. Brief report: difficulties predicting time -to arrival in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Research In Autism Spectrum Disorders. 28, 17-23

DUBEY I, ROPAR D and DE C HAMILTON AF, 2016. Brief Report: A Comparison of the Preference for Viewing Social and Non-social Movies in Typical and Autistic Adolescents. Journal of autism and developmental disorders. 47(2), 514-519

SHEPPARD,E., PILLAI, D., WONG, GTL, ROPAR, D., MITCHELL, P. 2016. How Easy is it to Read the Minds of People with Autism Spectrum Disorder? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 46(4): 1247–1254.

2014-2015

NICOLLE, A, ROPAR, D. and BECK, S.R., 2015. Regret and disappointment in ASD: The matter of thinking versus feeling: A Commentary on "Feelings of Regret and Disappointment in Adults with High-Functioning Autism" by Zalla et al., 2014 CORTEX. 66, 160-162

MARSH, L. E., PEARSON, A., ROPAR, D. and HAMILTON, A. F. DE C., 2015. Predictive Gaze During Observation of Irrational Actions in Adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions JOURNAL OF AUTISM AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS. 45(1), 245-261

PEARSON, A., MARSH. L., ROPAR, D and HAMILTON, A, 2015. Cognitive Mechanisms underlying Visual Perspective Taking in typical and ASC children Autism Research.

DUBEY, I, ROPAR, D, and HAMILTON, A., 2015. Measuring the value of social engagement in adults with and without autism MOLECULAR AUTISM. 6;35,

SMITH, D., ROPAR, D. and ALLEN, H.A., 2015. Visual integration in autism FRONTIERS IN HUMAN NEUROSCIENCE. 9,

CASSIDY S, MITCHELL P, CHAPMAN P and ROPAR D, 2015. Processing of Spontaneous Emotional Responses in Adolescents and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Effect of Stimulus Type. Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research.

GREENFIELD, K., ROPAR,D., SMITH, A.D., CAREY, M, and NEWPORT, R, 2015. Visuo-tactile integration in autism: atypical temporal binding may underlie greater reliance on proprioceptive information Molecular Autism. 6(51).

SMITH D, ROPAR D and ALLEN HA, 2015. Visual integration in autism. Frontiers in human neuroscience. 9, 387.

PILLAI, D., SHEPPARD, E., ROPAR, D., MARSH, L., PEARSON, A. and MITCHELL, P., 2014. Using other minds as a window onto the world: Guessing what happened from clues in behaviour Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 44(10), 2430-2439

MARSH, L., MULLETT, T., ROPAR, D. and HAMILTON, A., 2014. Responses to irrational actions in action observation and mentalising networks of the human brain NEUROIMAGE. 103, 81-90

MARSH, L., ROPAR, D. and HAMILTON, A.., 2014. The Social Modulation of Imitation Fidelity in School-Age Children PLOS ONE. 9(1),

PEARSON, A., MARSH, L., HAMILTON, A. and ROPAR, D., 2014. Spatial Transformations of Bodies and Objects in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder JOURNAL OF AUTISM AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS. 44(9), 2277-2289

CASSIDY, S., ROPAR, D., MITCHELL, P. and CHAPMAN, P., 2014. Can Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorders Infer What Happened to Someone From Their Emotional Response? AUTISM RESEARCH. 7(1), 112-123.

2012-2013

MARSH, L., PEARSON, A., ROPAR, D. and HAMILTON, A., 2013. Children with autism do not overimitate Current Biology. 23(7), R266-R268.

2010-2011

FREETH, M., ROPAR, D., MITCHELL, P., CHAPMAN, P. and LOHER, S., 2011. Brief report: how adolescents with ASD process social information in complex scenes. Combining evidence from eye movements and verbal descriptions Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 41(3), 364-371

FREETH, M., CHAPMAN, P., ROPAR, D. and MITCHELL, P., 2010. Do gaze cues in complex scenes capture and direct the attention of high functioning adolescents with ASD? Evidence from eye-tracking. Journal of autism and developmental disorders. 40(5), 534-547

FREETH, M., ROPAR, D., CHAPMAN, P. and MITCHELL, P., 2010. The eye gaze direction of an observed person can bias perception, memory, and attention in adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 105(1-2), 20-37

MITCHELL, P., MOTTRON, L., SOULIÈRES, I. and ROPAR, D., 2010. Susceptibility to the Shepard illusion in participants with autism: reduced top-down influences within perception? Autism Research. 3(3), 113-119

RAMACHANDRAN, R., MITCHELL, P. and ROPAR, D., 2010. Recognizing faces based on inferred traits in autism spectrum disorders Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice. 14(6), 605-618

SHEPPARD, E., ROPAR, D., UNDERWOOD, G. and VAN LOON, E., 2010. Brief report: driving hazard perception in autism Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 40(4), 504-508

2008-2009

SHEPPARD, E, ROPAR, D and MITCHELL, P, 2009. Drawing the Line: How People With Autism Copy Line Drawings Of Three-Dimensional Objects Perception. 38(7), 1104-1106

RAMACHANDRAN, R., MITCHELL, P. and ROPAR, D., 2009. Do individuals with autism spectrum disorders infer traits from behavior? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 50(7), 871-878

SHEPPARD, E., ROPAR, D. and MITCHELL, P., 2009. Perceiving the impossible: how individuals with autism copy paradoxical figures Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice. 13(4), 435-452

SHEPPARD, E., ROPAR, D. and MITCHELL, P., 2009. Autism and dimensionality: differences between copying and drawing tasks Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 39(7), 1039-1046

2006-2007

BACK, E., ROPAR, D. and MITCHELL, P., 2007. Do the eyes have it? Inferring mental states from animated faces in autism. Child Development. 78(2), 397-411

ROPAR, D. and PEEBLES, D., 2007. Sorting preference in children with autism: the dominance of concrete features Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 37(2), 270-280

SHEPPARD E, ROPAR D and MITCHELL P, 2007. The Impact Of Meaning And Dimensionality On Copying Accuracy In Individuals With Autism. Journal Of Autism And Developmental Disorders. 37(10), 1913-24

2004-2005

CHAPMAN, P., ROPAR, D., MITCHELL, P. and ACKROYD, K., 2005. Understanding boundary extension: normalization and extension errors in picture memory among adults and boys with and without Asperger's syndrome Visual Cognition. 12(7), 1265-1290

SHEPPARD, E., ROPAR, D. and MITCHELL, P., 2005. The impact of meaning and dimensionality on the accuracy of children's copying British Journal of Developmental Psychology. VOL 23(PART 3), 365-382

MITCHELL, P, ROPAR, D, ACKROYD, K and RAJENDRAN, G, 2005. How Perception Impacts on Drawings Journal Of Experimental Psychology-Human Perception And Performance. 31(5), 996-1003

MITCHELL, P. and ROPAR, D., 2004. Visuo-spatial Abilities in Autism: A Review Infant and Child Development. VOL 13(NUMB 3), 185-198

2002-2003

ROPAR, D., MITCHELL, P. and ACKROYD, K., 2003. Do children with autism find it difficult to offer alternative interpretations to ambiguous figures? British Journal of Developmental Psychology. VOL 21(PART 3), 387-396

ROPAR, D. and MITCHELL, P., 2002. Shape constancy in autism: the role of prior knowledge and perspective cues Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines. 43(5), 647-654

1999-2001

ROPAR, D. and MITCHELL, P., 2001. Susceptibility to illusions and performance on visuospatial tasks in individuals with autism Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines. 42(4), 539-550

ROPAR, D. and MITCHELL, P., 2001. Do individuals with autism and Asperger's syndrome utilize prior knowledge when pairing stimuli? DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE. VOL 4(ISSU 4), 433-441

ROPAR D and MITCHELL P, 1999. Are Individuals with Autism and Asperger's Syndrome Susceptible to Visual Illusions? Journal Of Child Psychology And Psychiatry, And Allied Disciplines. 40(8), 1283-93