[CogSci] Postdoctoral position at Johns Hopkins/Georgetown Universities

[Elissa Newport]

Postdoctoral Research position on collaborative project:

The developmental course of cerebral lateralization in space and language

Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University Medical School

We seek an outstanding Postdoctoral Researcher for a newly-funded 4-year 
NSF grant, collaborative between Barbara Landau (Johns Hopkins 
University) and Elissa Newport (Georgetown University Medical 
School).The project aim is to understand the developmental course of 
cerebral lateralization for space and language among healthy children 
between ages 4 and 11 years.

Qualifications: The postdoctoral researcher will be hired full time to 
work on the project (3 years active), starting in the fall-winter of 
2023-2024.The successful candidate will hold a Ph.D. in Cognitive 
Science, Cognitive Neuroscience, and/or related fields, with theoretical 
and technical understanding of language and spatial representation and 
its development from birth through adulthood.The position is ideal for 
the candidate who values theoretical approaches to the development of 
brain and mind and is extremely well-trained in both behavioral and 
brain imaging (fMRI) approaches to cognition across domains.The 
researcher will work with PIs Landau and Newport, and Co-PI Anna 
Greenwald to adapt and use multiple existing imaging (fMRI) tasks to 
measure cortical lateralization over development and do the same for 
multiple behavioral tasks that will test for performance correlates as 
lateralization changes.The suite of tasks will be administered to child 
participants ranging from 4 to 11 years of age, with each child 
undergoing a set of imaging and behavioral tests that tap both spatial 
and language functions.Analytic techniques will include modeling 
development of lateralization over age across different tasks, and 
within-subject for the full range of tasks, to determine whether changes 
in lateralization are parallel across domains or vary by domain, and how 
these changes relate to behavioral performance. In addition to the 
central questions guiding the project, there will be room for intensely 
probing specific questions about the relationships between tasks within 
the language system (e.g. syntax/ prosody) and across language and space 
(e.g. words/faces).

Work environment:All testing of participants (both imaging and 
behavioral) will be carried out at Georgetown Medical School, in the 
Center for Brain Plasticity.More generally, however, the postdoctoral 
researcher will be expected to take advantage of the resources at both 
universities (JHU, Georgetown) as appropriate, including seminars and 
lab meetings held jointly on a regular basis as well as colloquia held 
at each location. The candidate should be one who values the opportunity 
to join a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary team and they 
should be prepared to lead in the research project as well as activities 
designated for NSF broader impacts.Salary and benefits are competitive.

Application: Please send a CV and cover letter detailing interests and 
accomplishments, as well as the names and contact information of three 
referees to landau at jhu.edu and/or eln10 at georgetown.edu.
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