Iroise Dumontheil

Positions held:

Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychological Sciences

Address

Room 517b, Malet Street

Email

Birkbeck: i.dumontheil@bbk.ac.uk

Overview
Overview

Biography

Dr Iroise Dumontheil is a Professor in Cognitive Neuroscience in the Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London. She obtained a PhD from the University of Paris VI and then was a postdoc in labs in London, Cambridge and Stockholm. She is a member of Centre for Educational Neuroscience and the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development. In 2015 she received the Spearman Medal, an early-career British Psychological Society award, and in 2017 the British Neuropsychological Society Elizabeth Warrington Prize. Her research focuses on the typical development of social cognition and cognitive control during adolescence and their functioning in adulthood. Her studies combine a variety of methods to study brain and cognitive development including functional and structural neuroimaging, behavioural assessments, and genetics. She is interested in the impact of cognitive training, from computerised games to mindfulness meditation practice, on cognition in children and adolescents, as well as the potential implications of neuroscience research for education.

Qualifications
- PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience, University Paris VI, France, 2006
- MSc in Cognitive Science, University Paris VI, France, 2003
Web profiles
Professional activities

Associate Editor of Developmental Science

Associate Editor of Mind, Brain and Education

Professional memberships
- Member of the editorial board of the journal Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
- Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science
Honours and awards
- Elizabeth Warrington Prize, British Neuropsychological Society , November 2017
- Spearman Medal, British Psychological Society, November 2015
ORCID
0000-0001-5236-7849
Research
Research

Research interests
- Development of cognitive control/executive functions during childhood and adolescence
- Development of social cognition during childhood and adolescence
- Cognitive neuroscience of executive functions
- Executive functions and science and maths reasoning
- Cognitive training
- Genetic and environmental predictors of cognitive abilities and academic achievement
Research overview

My research examines social and executive functions in adulthood and their development during childhood and adolescence. I am particularly interested in the role played by the rostral prefrontal cortex, or Brodmann area 10. This brain region supports both social functions, such as mentalising or theory of mind, and executive functions such as relational reasoning, multitasking, prospective memory, as well as other cognitive processes such as mindwandering or episodic memory retrieval.
My research combines behavioural, structural and functional neuroimaging methods. I have also studied the effect of genetic polymorphisms on cognition, as well as the impact of various types of cognitive training interventions.
For example, I am currently researching:
- The effect of genetic polymorphisms affecting the dopamine system on the development of relational reasoning, emotional regulation, and both social and standard working memory measures.
- The development during adolescence of prospective memory, working memory, inhibitory control, and science and maths reasoning.
- The effect of mindfulness training in healthy adults and adolescents on self-regulation and other executive functions.
- The impact of the Stop & Think intervention on science and maths achievement in primary school (unlocke.org)
- The development of executive functions and behavioural problems during adolescence (www.scampstudy.org)
Research Centres and Institutes
- Faculty Committee member, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development
- Management Committee member, Centre for Educational Neuroscience
Lab information
- Lab website: https://sites.google.com/site/idcnlab/
Supervision and teaching
Supervision and teaching

Supervision

Supervisions within Birkbeck:

6

I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students or postdoctoral fellows who are interested in undertaking research in any of my areas of research interest.
PhD funding can be sought from the UBEL doctoral training partnership. Note however PhD studentship cover Home fees only.

Current doctoral researchers
- ELIZABETH BOOTH
  
  Nature of supervision:
  Principal Supervisor, Oct 2016 onwards
- FOTINI VASILOPOULOS
  
  Nature of supervision:
  Principal Supervisor, Oct 2020 onwards
  
  Title of thesis:
  Investigation of the associations between dance, executive functions and educational outcomes in primary school
  
  Description:
  The central aim of this study is to investigate the short-term and long-term effects of physical activity on executive functions and educational outcomes. The first aim is to carry out a meta-analysis or systematic review of the impact of physical activity interventions with and without cognitive components on executive functions and educational outcomes during development. The second aim is to investigate the impact of a specific dance intervention which combines physical activity and creativity practice on executive functions and educational outcomes, specifically attendance, engagement and attainment, in primary school children.
- LUCY PALMER
  
  Nature of supervision:
  Principal Supervisor, Oct 2021 onwards
  
  Title of thesis:
  The neural correlates of inhibitory control and counterintuitive reasoning in typically developing children, adolescents and adults.
  
  Description:
  My research interests lie broadly in Educational Neuroscience and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) methods. More specifically, I am interested in executive functions, including inhibitory control, and how these processes relate to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) learning.
  Studying scientific and mathematical concepts can be challenging for students of all ages. The reason for which may be due to the prevalence of counterintuitive concepts in STEM subjects. Building on previous work from the UnLocke programme, my PhD project will explore the neural mechanisms of inhibitory control in counterintuitive reasoning in maths and science, using functional MRI data in primary school children. The second aim of the project will be to investigate the neural mechanisms of inhibitory control and counterintuitive reasoning across development in adolescents and adults.
Doctoral alumni since 2013-14
- ANNIE BROOKMAN-BYRNE
  
  Nature of supervision:
  Principal Supervisor, Sep 2015
  
  Title of thesis:
  The cognitive and neural bases of science and maths reasoning in adolescence
  
  Awarded:
  2019
- GEORGINA DONATI
  
  Nature of supervision:
  Principal Supervisor, Sep 2015
  
  Title of thesis:
  Investigating the relationship between emotion and cognition during adolescence: genes, brain and behaviour
  
  Awarded:
  2019
Publications
Publications
Article
- Shen, C. and Mireku, M.O. and Di Simplicio, M. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Thomas, Michael S.C. and Röösli, M. and Elliott, P. and Toledano, M.B. (2022) Bidirectional associations between sleep problems and behavioural difficulties and health‐related quality of life in adolescents: evidence from the SCAMP longitudinal cohort study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Advances ISSN 2692-9384.
- Dumontheil, Iroise and Brookman-Byrne, Annie and Tolmie, A. and Mareschal, Denis (2022) Neural and cognitive underpinnings of counterintuitive science and maths reasoning in adolescence. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 34 (7), pp. 1205-1229. ISSN 0898-929X.
- Gauthier, Andrea and Porayska-pomsta, Kaska and Mayer, S. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Farran, E.K. and Bell, D. and Mareschal, Denis (2022) Redesigning learning games for different learning contexts: Applying a serious game design framework to redesign Stop & Think. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction 33, pp. 100503. ISSN 2212-8689.
- Gauthier, A. and Porayska-Pomsta, K. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Mayer, S. and Mareschal, Denis (2022) Manipulating interface design features affects children’s stop-and-think behaviours in a counterintuitive-problem game. Transactions on Computer Human Interaction 29 (2), pp. 1-22. ISSN 1073-0516.
- De Mooij, Susanne and Dumontheil, Iroise and Kirkham, Natasha and Raijmakers, M.E.J. and van der Maas, H.L.J. (2022) Post-error slowing: large scale study in an online learning environment for practising mathematics and language. Developmental Science 25 (2), pp. e13174. ISSN 1363-755x.
- Morris, S. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Farran, E. (2021) Responses to Navon tasks differ across development and between tasks with differing attentional demands. Vision Research 185, pp. 17-28. ISSN 0042-6989.
- Donati, Georgina and Dumontheil, Iroise and Pain, O. and Asbury, K. and Meaburn, Emma (2021) Evidence for specificity of polygenic contributions to attainment in English, maths and science during adolescence. Scientific Reports 11 (3851), ISSN 2045-2322.
- De Mooij, Susanne and Raijmakers, M.E.J. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Kirkham, Natasha Z. and van der Maas, H.L.J. (2021) Error detection through mouse movement in an online adaptive learning environment. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 37 (1), pp. 242-252. ISSN 0266-4909.
- Donati, Georgina and Meaburn, Emma and Dumontheil, Iroise (2021) Internalising and externalising in early adolescence predict later executive function, not the other way around: a cross-lagged panel analysis. Cognition and Emotion 35 (5), pp. 986-998. ISSN 0269-9931.
- Dumontheil, Iroise (2020) La régulation du comportement et des émotions pendant l’adolescence.. Neuroéducation 7 (1), ISSN 1929-1833.
- Magis-Weinberg, L. and Custers, R. and Dumontheil, Iroise (2020) Sustained and transient processes in event-based prospective memory in adolescence and adulthood. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 32 (10), pp. 1924-1945. ISSN 0898-929X.
- Symeonidou, I. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Ferguson, H.J. and Breheny, R. (2020) Adolescents are delayed at inferring complex social intentions in others, but not basic (false) beliefs: an eye movement investigation. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 73 (10), pp. 1640-1659. ISSN 1747-0218.
- Jenkins, R.H. and Shen, C. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Thomas, Michael S.C. and Elliott, P. and Röösli, M. and Toledano, M.B. (2020) Social networking site use in young adolescents: association with health-related quality of life and behavioural difficulties. Computers in Human Behavior 109 (106320), ISSN 0747-5632.
- Edey, Rosanna and Yon, Daniel and Dumontheil, Iroise and Press, Clare (2020) Association between action kinematics and emotion perception across adolescence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 46 (7), pp. 657-666. ISSN 0096-1523.
- van Atteveldt, N. and Peters, S. and De Smedt, B. and Dumontheil, Iroise (2020) Towards greater collaboration in educational neuroscience - perspectives from the 2018 Earli-SIG22 conference. Mind, Brain, and Education 14 (2), pp. 124-129. ISSN 1751-2271.
- Dumontheil, Iroise and Kilford, E.J. and Blakemore, S.-J. (2020) Development of dopaminergic genetic associations with visuospatial, verbal and social working memory. Developmental Science 23 (2), pp. e12889. ISSN 1363-755x.
- Wilkinson, H.R. and Smid, C. and Morris, Suzanne and Farran, E.K. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Mayer, S. and Tolmie, A. and Bell, D. and Porayska-Pomsta, K. and Holmes, W. and Mareschal, Denis and Thomas, Michael S.C. (2019) Domain-specific inhibitory control training to improve children’s learning of counterintuitive concepts in Mathematics and Science. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement ISSN 2509-3290.
- Magis-Weinberg, L. and Custers, R. and Dumontheil, Iroise (2019) Rewards enhance proactive and reactive control in adolescence and adulthood. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 14 (11), pp. 1219-1232. ISSN 1749-5016.
- de Mooij, Susanne M.M. and Kirkham, Natasha Z. and Raijmakers, M. and van der Maas, H.L.J. and Dumontheil, Iroise (2019) Should online maths learning environments be tailored to individuals’ cognitive profiles?. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 191, pp. 104730. ISSN 0022-0965.
- Morris, S. and Farran, E.K. and Dumontheil, Iroise (2019) Field independence associates with mathematics and science performance in 5- to 10-year-olds after accounting for domain-general factors. Mind, Brain, and Education 13 (4), pp. 268-278. ISSN 1751-2271.
- Brookman-Byrne, Annie and Mareschal, Denis and Tolmie, Andrew K and Dumontheil, Iroise (2019) The unique contributions of verbal analogical reasoning and non-verbal matrix reasoning to science and maths problem-solving in adolescence. Mind, Brain, and Education 13 (3), pp. 211-223. ISSN 1751-2271.
- Donati, Georgina and Dumontheil, Iroise and Meaburn, Emma (2019) Genome-wide association study of latent cognitive measures in adolescence: genetic overlap with intelligence and education. Mind, Brain, and Education 13 (3), pp. 224-233. ISSN 1751-2271.
- Mireku, M.O. and Barker, M.M. and Mutz, J. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Thomas, Michael S.C. and Röösli, M. and Elliott, P. and Toledano, M.B. (2019) Night-time screen-based media device use and adolescents’ sleep and health-related quality of life.. Environment International 124, pp. 66-78. ISSN 0160-4120.
- Toledano, M.B. and Mutz, J. and Röösli, M. and Thomas, Michael S.C. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Elliott, P. (2019) Cohort profile: the study of cognition, adolescents and mobile phones (SCAMP). International Journal of Epidemiology 48 (1), pp. 25-26l. ISSN 1464-3685.
- Donati, Georgina and Meaburn, Emma and Dumontheil, Iroise (2018) The specificity of associations between cognition and attainment in English, maths and science during adolescence. Learning and Individual Differences 69, pp. 84-93. ISSN 1041-6080.
- Brookman-Byrne, Annie and Mareschal, Denis and Tolmie, A.K. and Dumontheil, Iroise (2018) Inhibitory control and counterintuitive science and maths reasoning in adolescence. PLoS One ISSN 1932-6203.
- Mireku, M. and Mueller, W. and Fleming, C. and Chang, I. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Thomas, Michael S.C. and Eeftens, M. and Elliott, P. and Röösli, M. and Toledano, M. (2018) Total recall in the SCAMP Cohort: validation of self-reported mobile phone use in the smartphone era. Environmental Research 161, pp. 1-8. ISSN 0013-9351.
- Tamnes, C.K. and Overbye, K. and Ferschmann, L. and Fjell, A.M. and Walhovd, K.B. and Blakemore, S.-J. and Dumontheil, Iroise (2018) Social perspective taking is associated with self-reported prosocial behavior and regional cortical thickness across adolescence. Developmental Psychology 54 (9), pp. 1745-1757. ISSN 0012-1649.
- Magis-Weinberg, L. and Blakemore, S.-J. and Dumontheil, Iroise (2017) Social and non-social relational reasoning in adolescence and adulthood. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 29 (10), pp. 1739-1754. ISSN 0898-929X.
- Edey, Rosanna and Yon, Daniel and Cook, J. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Press, Clare (2017) Our own action kinematics predict the perceived affective states of others. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 43 (7), pp. 1263-1268. ISSN 0096-1523.
- Symeonidou, I. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Chow, W.-Y. and Breheny, R. (2016) Development of online use of theory of mind during adolescence: an eye-tracking study. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 149, pp. 81-97. ISSN 0022-0965.
- Dumontheil, Iroise (2016) Adolescent brain development. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences 10, pp. 39-44. ISSN 2352-1546.
- Dumontheil, Iroise and Wolf, L.K. and Blakemore, S.-J. (2016) Audience effects on the neural correlates of relational reasoning in adolescence. Neuropsychologia 87, pp. 85-95. ISSN 0028-3932.
- Humphrey, Gillian and Dumontheil, Iroise (2016) Development of risk-taking, perspective-taking, and inhibitory control during adolescence. Developmental Neuropsychology pp. 1-18. ISSN 8756-5641.
- Dumontheil, Iroise (2015) Development of the social brain during adolescence. Psicología Educativa 21 (2), pp. 117-124. ISSN 1135-755X.
- Mills, K.L. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Speekenbrink, M. and Blakemore, S.-J. (2015) Multitasking during social interactions in adolescence and early adulthood. Royal Society Open Science 2 (11), pp. 150117. ISSN 2054-5703.
- Jensen, S.K.G. and Dickie, E.W. and Schwartz, D.H. and Evans, C.J. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Paus, T. and Barker, E.D. (2015) Effect of early adversity and childhood internalizing symptoms on brain structure in young men. JAMA Pediatrics 169 (10), pp. 938-946. ISSN 2168-6203.
- Wolf, L.K. and Bazargani, N. and Kilford, E.J. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Blakemore, S.-J. (2015) The audience effect in adolescence depends on who's looking over your shoulder. Journal of Adolescence 43, pp. 5-14. ISSN 0140-1971.
- Kilford, E.J. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Wood, N.W. and Blakemore, S.-J. (2015) Influence of COMT genotype and affective distractors on the processing of self-generated thought. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 10 (6), pp. 777-782. ISSN 1749-5016.
- Dumontheil, Iroise (2014) Development of abstract thinking during childhood and adolescence: the role of rostrolateral prefrontal cortex. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience 10, pp. 57-76. ISSN 1878-9293.
- Bazargani, N. and Hillebrandt, H. and Christoff, K. and Dumontheil, Iroise (2014) Developmental changes in effective connectivity associated with relational reasoning. Human Brain Mapping 35 (7), pp. 3262-3276. ISSN 1065-9471.
- Jensen, Sarah K.G. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Barker, Edward D. (2014) Developmental inter-relations between early maternal depression, contextual risks, and interpersonal stress, and their effect on later child cognitive functioning. Depression and Anxiety 31 (7), pp. 599-607. ISSN 1091-4269.
- Fett, A.-K.J. and Shergill, S.S. and Gromann, P.M. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Blakemore, S.-J. and Yakub, F. and Krabbendam, L. (2014) Trust and social reciprocity in adolescence – a matter of perspective-taking. Journal of Adolescence 37 (2), pp. 175-184. ISSN 0140-1971.
- Goddings, A.-L. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Blakemore, S.J. and Viner, R.M. (2014) The relationship between pubertal status and neural activity during risky decision-making in male adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health 54 (2), pp. S84-S85. ISSN 1054-139X.
- Dumontheil, Iroise and Jensen, S.K.G. and Wood, N.W. and Meyer, M.L. and Lieberman, M.D. and Blakemore, S.-J. (2014) Preliminary investigation of the influence of dopamine regulating genes on social working memory. Social Neuroscience 9 (5), pp. 437-451. ISSN 1747-0919.
- Hillebrandt, H. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Blakemore, S.J. and Roiser, J.P. (2013) Dynamic causal modelling of effective connectivity during perspective taking in a communicative task. NeuroImage 76, pp. 116-124. ISSN 1053-8119.
- Weil, L.G. and Fleming, S.M. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Kilford, E.J. and Weil, R.S. and Rees, G. and Dolan, R.J. and Blakemore, S.J. (2013) The development of metacognitive ability in adolescence. Consciousness and Cognition 22 (1), pp. 264-271. ISSN 1053-8100.
- Dumontheil, Iroise and Hillebrandt, H. and Apperly, I.A. and Blakemore, S.J. (2012) Developmental differences in the control of action selection by social information. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 24 (10), pp. 2080-2095. ISSN 0898-929X.
- Duncan, J. and Schramm, M. and Thompson, R. and Dumontheil, Iroise (2012) Task rules, working memory, and fluid intelligence. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 19 (5), pp. 864-870. ISSN 1069-9384.
- Dumontheil, Iroise and Klingberg, T. (2012) Brain activity during a visuospatial working memory task predicts arithmetical performance 2 years later. Cerebral Cortex 22 (5), pp. 1078-1085. ISSN 1047-3211.
- Ziermans, T. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Roggeman, C. and Peyrard-Janvid, M. and Matsson, H. and Kere, J. and Klingberg, T. (2012) Working memory brain activity and capacity link MAOA polymorphism to aggressive behavior during development. Translational Psychiatry 2 (2), pp. e85. ISSN 2158-3188.
- Dumontheil, Iroise and Roggeman, C. and Ziermans, T. and Peyrard-Janvid, M. and Matsson, H. and Kere, J. and Klingberg, T. (2011) Influence of the COMT Genotype on Working Memory and Brain Activity Changes During Development. Biological Psychiatry 70 (3), pp. 222-229. ISSN 0006-3223.
- Sebastian, C.L. and Tan, G.C.Y. and Roiser, J.P. and Viding, E. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Blakemore, S.J. (2011) Developmental influences on the neural bases of responses to social rejection: Implications of social neuroscience for education. NeuroImage 57 (3), pp. 686-694. ISSN 1053-8119.
- Dumontheil, Iroise and Thompson, R. and Duncan, J. (2011) Assembly and use of new task rules in fronto-parietal cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 23 (1), pp. 168-182. ISSN 0898-929X.
- Dumontheil, Iroise and Houlton, R. and Christoff, K. and Blakemore, S.J. (2010) Development of relational reasoning during adolescence. Developmental Science 13 (6), pp. F15-F24. ISSN 1363-755X.
- Dumontheil, Iroise and Gilbert, S.J. and Frith, C.D. and Burgess, P.W. (2010) Recruitment of lateral rostral prefrontal cortex in spontaneous and task-related thoughts. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 63 (9), pp. 1740-1756. ISSN 1747-0218.
- Dumontheil, Iroise and Hassan, B. and Gilbert, S.J. and Blakemore, S.J. (2010) Development of the selection and manipulation of self-generated thoughts in adolescence. Journal of Neuroscience 30 (22), pp. 7664-7671. ISSN 0270-6474.
- Dumontheil, Iroise and Apperly, I.A. and Blakemore, S.J. (2010) Online usage of theory of mind continues to develop in late adolescence. Developmental Science 13 (2), pp. 331-338. ISSN 1363-755X.
- Dumontheil, Iroise and Gilbert, S.J. and Burgess, P.W. and Otten, L.J. (2010) Neural correlates of task and source switching: similar or different?. Biological Psychology 83 (3), pp. 239-249. ISSN 0301-0511.
- Dumontheil, Iroise and Küster, O. and Apperly, I.A. and Blakemore, S.J. (2010) Taking perspective into account in a communicative task. NeuroImage 52 (4), pp. 1574-1583. ISSN 1053-8119.
- Dumontheil, Iroise and Burgess, P.W. and Blakemore, S.J. (2008) Development of rostral prefrontal cortex and cognitive and behavioural disorders. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology 50 (3), pp. 168-181. ISSN 0012-1622.
Book
- Thomas, Michael S.C. and Mareschal, Denis and Dumontheil, Iroise, eds. (2020) Educational neuroscience: development across the life span. Frontiers of Developmental Science. Routledge. ISBN 9781138240346.
Book Section
- Dumontheil, Iroise and Blakemore, S.J. (2012) Social cognition and abstract thought in adolescence: the role of structural and functional development in rostral prefrontal cortex. In: Educational Neuroscience. BJEP Monograph Series II. London, UK: The British Psychological Society. pp. 99-113. ISBN 9781854337177.
Conference Item
- Dumontheil, Iroise and Gilbert, S.J. and Blakemore, S.J. (2010) Adolescent development of the selection and manipulation of self-generated thoughts: a behavioural, functional and structural imaging study. The 20th Annual Rotman Research Institute Conference: The frontal lobes, 2010, Toronto, Canada
Business and community
Business and community

Media

I am happy to receive enquiries from the media on the following topics:
- Adolescent brain development
- Cognitive develompent during adolescence
- Educational neuroscience
Outreach

Please check out my website for links to various talks and interviews:
Talks
Press and Media
Past Meta Arts & Science project

Iroise Dumontheil

Overview

Biography

Qualifications

Web profiles

Professional activities

Professional memberships

Honours and awards

ORCID

Research

Research interests

Research overview

Research Centres and Institutes

Lab information

Supervision and teaching

Supervision

Current doctoral researchers

ELIZABETH BOOTH

FOTINI VASILOPOULOS

LUCY PALMER

Doctoral alumni since 2013-14

ANNIE BROOKMAN-BYRNE

GEORGINA DONATI

Publications

Article

Book

Book Section

Conference Item

Business and community

Media

Outreach