Emma Kate Ward
Postdoctoral Researcher
Birkbeck and UCLDecember 2021 – present
Submitted Manuscripts
Ward, E. K. & Press, C. (Submitted). Surprise impairs perception of surprising, and incidental, events. Link to preprint Link to code
Ward, E. K., Rutar, D., Zaadnoordijk, L., Poli, F., & Hunnius, S. (In revision). Beyond the Adult Mind: A Developmental Framework for Predictive Processing in Infancy. Link to preprint
Belteki, Z., Ward, E. K., et al. (In revision). Assessing language in infants with an elevated likelihood or diagnosis of autism: The association between parent- versus researcher-administered measures. Link to preprint
Publications
Ward, E. K., Buitelaar, J. K. & Hunnius, S. (2024). Autistic and non-autistic adolescents do not differ in adaptation to gaze direction. Autism Research, 17(5), 1001-1015. Link to paper Link to code
Ward, E. K. & Press, C. (2024) Sixty years of predictive perception. Cortex, 170, 57-63. Link to paper
Köster, M., Brzozowska, A., Bánki, A., Tünte, M., Ward, E. K. & Hoehl, S. (2023) Rhythmic visual stimulation as a window into early brain development: a systematic review. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 64, 101315. Link to paper
Menn, K. H., Ward, E. K. , Braukmann, R., van den Boomen, C., Buitelaar, J., Hunnius, S. & Snijders, T. M. (2022) Neural tracking in infancy predicts language development in children with and without family history of autism. Neurobiology of Language, 3(3), 495-514. Link to paper
Ward, E. K., Buitelaar, J. K. & Hunnius, S. (2022) Implicit learning in three-year-olds with high and low likelihood of autism shows no evidence of precision weighting differences. Developmental Science, 25(2), e13158. Link to paper Link to code
Ward, E. K. (2021) Predictive Processing Accounts of Autism and Early Development. PhD thesis. Link to thesis
van Rooijen, R., Ward, E.K., de Jonge, M., Kemner, C. & Junge, C. (2021) Two-year-olds at risk for autism can learn novel words from their parents. Journal of Child Language, 49(5), 1052–1063. Link to paper
Ward, E. K., Braukmann, R., Weiland, R., Bekkering, H., Buitelaar, J. K. & Hunnius, S. (2021) Action predictability is reflected in beta power attenuation and predictive eye movements in adolescents with and without autism. Neuropsychologia, 157, 107859. Link to paper Link to code
Ward, E. K., Braukmann, R., Buitelaar, J. K., & Hunnius, S. (2020). No evidence for neural markers of gaze direction adaptation in 2-year-olds with high or low likelihood of autism. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 129(6), 612–623. Link to paper Link to code
Di Lorenzo, R., Munsters, N., Ward, E.K., de Jonge, M., Kemner, C. & van den Boomen, C. (2020). Is it fear? Similar brain responses to fearful and neutral faces in infants with a heightened likelihood for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 51 (3), 961-972. Link to paper
Ward, E. K., & Hunnius, S. (2020). Does variability in an implicit learning task help infants learn faster? A registered report. Developmental Science. Stage 1 Registered Report. Link to registration
Jones, E.J.H., Mason, L., Begum Ali, J., van den Boomen, C., Braukmann, R., Cauvet, E., Demurie, E., Hessels, R.S., Ward, E. K., Hunnius, S., Bolte, S., Tomalski, P., Kemner, C. , Warreyn, P., Roeyers, H., Buitelaar, J. , Falck-Ytter, T., Charman. T., Johnson, M.H., & the EuroSibs Team. (2019). EuroSibs: Towards robust measurement of infant neurocognitive predictors of autism across Europe. Infant Behaviour and Development, 57, 101316. Link to paper
Braukmann, R., Ward, E. K., Hessels, R. S., Bekkering, H., Buitelaar, J. K., & Hunnius, S. (2018). Action prediction in 10-month-old infants at high and low familial risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 49, 34-46. Link to paper
Invited Talks
2024
Surprise impairs perception of surprising and incidental events. Rik Henson lab, MRC-CBU, University of Cambridge.
2023
Perceiving and learning from the unexpected. Cognition and Motivated Behaviour Lab, University of Cambridge.
What happens to perception when an unexpected observation signals the need to update the model? Donders Centre for Cognition, Nijmegen.
2021
What we have and haven't learnt from Predictive Processing accounts of autism. Psychology Seminar, Birkbeck, University of London. Video available here.
2020
Evaluating Predictive Processing accounts of autism in early childhood. Cognition in Complex Environments Group, University of Stirling.
2019
Learning from noisy visual input in children with high- and low- likelihood of autism. Prediction and Learning Lab, University of Cambridge.
2017
Distinguishing the various Predictive Processing theories of autism empirically. Predictive Processing Birds of a Feather, Nijmegen.
Previous Education and Research Positions
PhD Candidate
Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour
August 2015 – August 2020 (part-time)
Thesis title: Predictive Processing Accounts of Autism and Early Development
MSc Psychology of Language (with distinction)
University of Edinburgh
September 2013 – September 2014
Dissertation title: Visual search and referring expressions may be affected by variability of features in the surrounding context
BA Psychology
New College of Florida
August 2007 – May 2011
Dissertation title: Executive control and language mode in monolingual and bilingual young adults
Ad hoc Reviewer for
Attention, Perception & Psychophysics
Autism Research
CogSci
Cortex
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
eLife
Journal of Open Source Software
Molecular Autism
Nature Communications
Psychophysiology
TiCS
TopiCS
Conference Contributions
Ward, E. K. & Press, C. (2024, January). Surprise impairs perception of surprising and incidental events. Talk at Experimental Psychology Society, London, UK.
Ward, E. K. & Press, C. (2023, December). Surprise impairs perception of surprising and incidental events. Poster presented at NVP: Dutch Society for Brain and Cognition, Egmond-aan-Zee, Netherlands.
Ward, E. K. & Press, C. (2023, October). Does an unexpected observation lead to a perceptual boost? Poster presented at FENS Brain Conference: Structuring knowledge for flexible behaviour, Rungsted Kyst, Denmark.
(2023, July-August). Session chair. Solstice School.
Ward, E. K. & Press, C. (2022, July). Does a surprising observation facilitate perception of all subsequent sensory input? Poster presented at TEX2022: Bringing together predictive processing and statistical learning, Trieste, Italy.
Ward, E. K., Kayhan, E., Kliesch, C., Cichy, R., Hoehl, S., & Koester, M. (2021, May). Theta power and theta-gamma coupling during formation of novel representations in the infant brain. Online talk at Vision Sciences Society.
Ward, E. K. & Koester, M. (2021, April). Symposium organisers. The Theta Rhythm as a Neural Signature of Early Learning Processes. Society for Research in Child Development.
Ward, E. K., Kayhan, E., Kliesch, C., Cichy, R., Hoehl, S., & Koester, M. (2021, April). Theta and theta-gamma coupling processes as an index of building object representations in the infant brain. Online talk at Society for Research in Child Development.
Ward, E. K., Buitelaar, J.K. & Hunnius, S. (2020, October). No evidence for reduced precision-weighting of prediction errors in autistic adolescents' ERPs or behaviour during adaptation. Online talk at Neuromatch Conference. Watch the video recording here.
Ward, E. K., Buitelaar, J.K. & Hunnius, S. (2020, September). No evidence for reduced precision-weighting of prediction errors in autistic adolescents: Evidence from ERPs and behaviour during adaptation. Poster presented online at Expectation, Cognition and Perception workshop.
Ward, E. K., Buitelaar, J.K. & Hunnius, S. (2020, July). Implicit learning from noisy stimuli in 3-year-olds with high and low likelihood of autism. Poster presented online at virtual International Congress for Infant Studies.
*Ward, E. K. & Hunnius, S. (2020, June). Talk as part of symposium "Multisensory Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorders". International Multisensory Research Forum.* Cancelled because of SARS-CoV2-19 pandemic.
Ward, E. K. (2019, September). “The Challenges of Using Neuroscience for Early Detection of Developmental Disorders”. Symposium organiser. Donders Discussions, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Ward, E. K. (2019, September). Precious participants, small sample sizes, and null results: Maximising the value of neuroscience for early detection of developmental disorders. Talk at Donders Discussions, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Ward, E. K., Buitelaar, J.K. & Hunnius, S. (2019, May). Learning during noisy vision in 3-year-olds with high and low likelihood of autism. Poster presented at Vision Sciences Society, St Pete Beach, FL, USA.
Ward, E. K., Buitelaar, J.K. & Hunnius, S. (2019, April). Learning from noisy visual input in children with high- and low- likelihood of autism. Talk at Prediction and Learning Lab, Cambridge.
Ward, E. K., Buitelaar, J.K. & Hunnius, S. (2018, December). Signal-noise discrimination in 3-year-olds at high and low risk for autism. Talk at Perception Day, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Ward, E. K. (2018, October). “Understanding Perception in Autism using a Predictive Processing Framework”. Symposium organiser. Donders Discussions, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Ward, E. K., Braukmann, R., Buitelaar, J.K. & Hunnius, S. (2018, October). Neural markers of adaptation in two-year-olds at high- and low- risk for autism. Talk at Donders Discussions, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Ward, E. K. (2018, September). The search for evidence for/against a Predictive Processing account of Autism. Talk at ETADE conference on Early Typical and Atypical Development, London, UK.
Ward, E. K., Braukmann, R., Buitelaar, J.K. & Hunnius, S. (2018, July). Adaptation to Gaze Direction in Children at High- and Low-Risk for Autism: An ERP study. Poster presented at International Congress for Infant Studies, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Ward, E. K. (2018, January). “Where can Predictive Processing theories of Autism take us next?” Symposium organiser. Budapest CEU Conference on Cognitive Development, Budapest, Hungary.
Ward, E. K., Braukmann, R., Buitelaar, J.K. & Hunnius, S. (2018, January). Neural markers of adaptation in 24-month-old children at high- and low-risk for ASD. Poster presented at Budapest CEU Conference on Cognitive Development, Budapest, Hungary.
Ward, E. K., Braukmann, R., Buitelaar, J.K. & Hunnius, S. (2016, December). Perception and Expectations in Young Children At-risk for Autism. Poster presented at Perception Day, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Ward, E. K., Braukmann, R., Buitelaar, J.K. & Hunnius, S. (2016, September). Adaptation of Visual Perception in Children at Risk for Autism – a study in progress. Poster presented at Autism Europe IX Congress, Edinburgh, UK.
Ward, E. K., Braukmann, R., Buitelaar, J.K. & Hunnius, S. (2016, August). Perception and Expectations in Young Children At-risk for Autism. Poster presented at Lancaster Conference on Infant and Child Development, Lancaster, UK.
Ward, E. K., Braukmann, R., Buitelaar, J.K. & Hunnius, S. & The Zebra Team. (2015, November). Bayesian Inference and Adaptation in Young Children at Risk of Autism. Poster presented at Donders Discussions, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Ward, E. K., Rohde, H., Clarke, A., & Elsner, M. (2014, August). Distractor heterogeneity in visual arrays may affect referring expression production. Poster presented at RefNet Workshop on Psychological and Computational Models of Reference Comprehension and Production, Edinburgh, UK.
Outreach
Volunteer at InScience film festival
Hoe onze verwachtingen onze acties beïnvloeden. (“How our expectations influence our actions”). Demonstration for high-school students at a university open day.
Ward, E. K. (2019, June). International Experience in your PhD. Talk for PhD students. Donders Graduate School PhD Day.
Ward, E.K. (2019, March). Het Zebra Project: Wat kunnen we over autisme leren door onderzoek met jongere broertjes en zusjes? ("The Zebra Project: What can we learn about autism through research with younger brothers and sisters?"). Talk for nursery school directors.
Zebra Project Newsletter Summer 2018.
Zebra Project Newsletter Winter 2016.
Zebra Project Newsletter Winter 2015.
Teaching and departmental service
January 2023 - December 2023
Co-organiser of departmental psychology seminars
9 May, 2019
Lecture: Autism. Module: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. Course: MSc Cognitive Neuroscience.
21 February, 2019
Lecture: Infant Neuroimaging. Module: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. Course: MSc Cognitive Neuroscience.
8 January, 2019
Lecture: Autism. Course: Marie Sklodowska-Curie ITN training school
8 January, 2019
Lecture: Methods of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience: Infant EEG & NIRS. Course: Marie Sklodowska-Curie ITN training school
17 May, 2018
Lecture: Autism. Module: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. Course: MSc Cognitive Neuroscience.
22 February, 2018
Lecture: Infant Neuroimaging. Module: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. Course: MSc Cognitive Neuroscience.
Supervision and mentoring
December 2023 - present
In2Science mentoring of two bachelor's students from under-represented groups
November 2023 - present
Supervising master's thesis project on computational modelling of adaptive responses to unexpected information
September 2023 - present
Co-supervising PhD student working on Predictive Processing accounts in Multiple Sclerosis
Supervising research assistant on modelling learning from unexpected information
January - August 2023
Supervised master's thesis project on computational modelling of learning from unexpected information. Master's awarded with distinction
2021 - present
Co-supervising PhD student working on language development in autistic infants
June 2022 - present
EPS mentoring of PhD student
January - August 2022
Supervised two master's thesis projects on how autistic adults perceive and respond to unexpected information
December 2020 - June 2021
Supervised two research assistants performing video-coding, EEG analysis and data entry
August 2019 – February 2020
Supervised master's thesis in Clinical Psychology, entitled "Relatie voorspellen van actiepatronen en sociale communicatieve vaardigheden bij Autisme Spectrum Stoornis". ("The relationship between prediction of action patterns and social communication skills in Autism Spectrum Disorder")
February – July 2019
Supervised master’s thesis in Clinical Psychology, entitled “Adaptatie aftereffect bij tieners met autisme en de relatie met de vertoonde autistische symptomen ”. ("Adaptation after-effect in adolescents with autism and its relationship with autistic symptoms")
August 2016 – August 2017
Supervised master’s thesis in Cognitive Neuroscience, entitled “Predictive Processing in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder”. Master's awarded with distinction
2015 – 2020
Supervised 5 research assistants and 7 interns working on the Zebra Project. Responsible for interviewing, hiring, training, managing
Grants and Awards
2024
Short-listed for post-PhD poster prize at UCL Neuroscience symposium
Selected for participation in Lorentz Workshop entitled Cognitive Modelling of Complex Behaviour
2022 - 2023
Selected for the Autistica Early Career Researcher training programme, a series of 6 full-day workshops
May 2021
VSS Travel Award: Awarded free registration for VSS 2021
May 2019
Erasmus+ Training Grant, European Commission: Awarded €835 for a lab visit to Cambridge
May 2019
Internationalisation Funds, International Office, Radboud University: Awarded €1400 to attend international conference
October 2018
Winner of “Best abstract award”, Donders Discussions Symposium, “Understanding Perception in Autism using a Predictive Processing Framework”
April 2018
Internationalisation Funds, International Office, Radboud University: Awarded €700 to attend international conference
2015 - 2020
Funded PhD position, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions MSCA-ITN-ETN, "BRAINVIEW: Integrated view on disruptions of early brain development", grant number 642996
January 2007 – June 2011
Florida Academic Scholar award, Bright Futures programme, Florida Student Scholarship and Grant Programs: Awarded 100% tuition to New College of Florida (equivalent to $13,360.34) and $900 textbook stipend