Personal profile
Overview
Speech, language, and communication skills are essential to human wellbeing. Currently funded by the Royal Society and Waterloo Foundation, my research aims to improve our understanding of neurological disorders affecting these skills through behavioural experimentation and computational modelling, with the goal of improving clinical assessment, intervention, and rehabilitation. I have specific interests in: (i) auditory processing; (ii) the neural population dynamics of neurodivergent learning and cognitive control, and; (iii) resource-rational models of neurodivergent information seeking. Papers, code, and data for all of my projects can be found on my Open Science Framework page.
Teaching and Supervision
- Language and its disorders
- Developmental psychology
- Biological bases of neurodevelopmental disorders
- Methods in cognition and brain research
Postgraduate Project Opportunities
I would be very happy to supervise PhD projects focussed on computational approaches to understanding individual differences in human cognitive development across the lifespan. Please get in touch via email.
Research Group/s
Cognitive neuroscience institute
Grant Awards and Projects
2025 - The Waterloo Foundation. The Waterloo Foundation report into transdiagnostic neurodevelopmental assessment. PI. £59,472.29.
2024 - The Royal Society, Research Grant. Enhancing developmental speech perception modelling through head and torso simulation. Samuel Jones, PI. £30,896.57.
2023 - UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Talent and Research Stabilisation Fund. To support the purchase of high-spec computing resources to model the neurodivergent brain and infant and child behaviour. £7,160.
2022 - Co-investigator (with Dr. Kami Koldewyn, Reader, Bangor University, PI). Bangor University Impact and Innovation Award (BUII). Towards a comprehensive Bangor University (BU) service for neurocognitive developmental disorders: Developing a screener for social-behavioural difficulties as a route to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) assessment. £46,582.
Related documents
Education/Academic qualification
Postgraduate, PhD, Lancaster University
Award Date: 30 Apr 2020
Postgraduate, MA, University of Nottingham
Award Date: 30 Apr 2017
Keywords
- BF Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Developmental disorders
- Computational modelling
- Psychopathology
- Decision theory
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being -
SDG 4 Quality Education -
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities -
SDG 15 Life on Land
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Computational rationality and developmental neurodivergence
Jones, S., Rauwolf, P. & Westermann, G., 8 Feb 2025, In: Trends in Cognitive Sciences.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile46 Downloads (Pure) -
No Evidence for Curiosity‐Driven Information Selection Advantage in Infants’ Novel Word Learning
Bazhydai, M., Wong, M. K. Y., Altmann, E. C., Jones, S. & Westermann, G., 28 Nov 2025, In: Developmental Science. 29, 1, e70101.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile10 Downloads (Pure) -
Perception and cognitive control in rationally inattentive child behaviour
Jones, S., Jones, M., Koldewyn, K. & Westermann, G., 1 Jan 2025, In: Developmental Science. 28, 1, e13587.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
A maturational frequency discrimination deficit may explain developmental language disorder
Jones, S., Stewart, H. J. & Westermann, G., Apr 2024, In: Psychological Review. 131, 3, p. 695-715Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile126 Downloads (Pure) -
Rational inattention: A new theory of neurodivergent information seeking
Jones, S., Jones, M., Koldewyn, K. & Westermann, G., 29 Mar 2024, In: Developmental Science. 27, 4Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile222 Downloads (Pure)
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The Waterloo Foundation report into effective neurodevelopmental assessment
Jones, S. (PI)
1/03/25 → 15/04/27
Project: Research
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Enhancing developmental speech perception modelling through head and torso simulation
Jones, S. (PI)
1/03/23 → 15/10/25
Project: Research
Activities
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The North Wales Speech and Language Exchange
Jones, S. (Director)
Nov 2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participation in Academic workshop, seminar, course
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Reverse Engineering the Brain and Mind
Lira Calabrich, S. (Organiser) & Jones, S. (Speaker)
17 Sept 2025Activity: Other › Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar
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Reverse engineering the brain and mind
Jones, S. (Speaker)
2025Activity: Talk or presentation › Oral presentation
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Rational inattention and individual differences in child development
Jones, S. (Speaker)
2025Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
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North Wales Speech and Language Exchange
Jones, S. (Director)
Nov 2024Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participation in Academic workshop, seminar, course