Professor Rod I Nicolson

Degrees and Career

After a first degree in mathematics at the University of Cambridge, I took an M.Sc. in Experimental Psychology at the University of Sussex. Following my PhD on learning at the University of Cambridge I was offered a lectureship at the University of Sheffield, where I have stayed ever since. My lifelong interest is in learning, and I have enjoyed the opportunity to make contributions both to research and practice. I was awarded a Personal Chair in 1996. Following a much appreciated year's Senior Fellowship awarded by the Royal Society / Leverhulme Trust, I was Head of Psychology for four years, completing the extended term of office in August 2004. I also completed an MBA in strategic planning in 2005. I was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Pure Science in 2005.

Research Interests

My interests are in dyslexia and developmental learning disabilities, and these started in the late 1980s, when (with Angela Fawcett) I started investigating learning processes in dyslexia. This led to our automatisation deficit hypothesis (1990) – a `cognitive level´ framework that demonstrated that dyslexic people have difficulty in automatising a range of skills, including skills completely outside the literacy domain. We followed this five years later by our cerebellar deficit hypothesis, a `brain level´ hypothesis that attributed the automaticity problems to inefficient cerebellar function, This was followed six years later by our `ontogenetic causal chain´ model that provided a developmental model of how the symptoms arise. This framework was broadened five years later by our `Specific Procedural Leaning Difficulties´ framework that investigates dyslexia in terms of the neural systems involved, and manages to provide a framework which facilitates discussion of all the developmental disorders within a coherent framework. I have published over 100 articles, book chapters and software systems. Recent screening tests (with A. Fawcett) include the Pre-school Screening Test, the Dyslexia Early Screening Test, the Dyslexia Screening Test and the Dyslexia Adult Screening Test, and Ready to Learn, all published by the Psychological Corporation. The research is now highly influential internationally. A key characteristic of the inter-disciplinary research is that it highlights the value of brain-based diagnostic techniques to the understanding and treatment of learning disorders.

Grants (recent)

2006 Network Rail (£20K) Co-investigator (with Prof. C. Clegg). Investigation of cognitive and personality dimensions to safety issues.

2005-6 Rolls Royce (£18K). Co-investigator (with Prof. C. Clegg). Individual differences in cognitive abilities and learning style.

2004-6 Neuroimaging Research Bid (~£1.2M). I led the inter-department group submitting this bid. The bid was for a 7T animal magnet, human imaging presentation kit and Diffusion Optical Tomography equipment approved by HEFCE in April 2004. The facility is now installed and running.

2003-6 Warnke, R. (Meditech, Germany) and Nicolson, R.I. €1.4M. Foreign language with the instinct of a child (FLIC). EU framework IV project, funded June 2003. c£300K to Sheffield.

Activities and Distinctions

• Royal Society / Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship (1998/9).
• Executive Editor: Dyslexia (1994 to the present)
• Senior Examiner (Psychology) ESRC Postgraduate Studentship competition 2004, 2005; ESRC PGT Accreditation Committtee 2005; ESRC PGR Studentship Moderating Panel 2006.
• Recent Invited Talks: The Cerebellum, Reading and Learning. Oxford Autumn School in Cognitive Neuroscience. Oxford University, 2005; : The role of the cerebellum. International Neuropsychological Association. Greece, 2004; Learning, the cerebellum and dyslexia. Joint International Symposium on Dyslexia. Kobe, Japan, 2004. Keynote: BDA Sixth International conference. Warwick, March 2004.
• Conference Chair. British Dyslexia Association 5th International Conference: ‘Dyslexia at the Start of the New Millennium’ (York, 2001); Conference Organising Committee. British Dyslexia Association 6th International Conference: (Warwick, 2004)
• My research has been covered in the Times, Sunday Times, Guardian, Daily Mail, Yorkshire Post, Daily Express, local papers, and magazines, as well as on radio and TV. In addition to media coverage for the theoretical dyslexia research, there is extensive and rather heated media coverage of applied aspects of the research.

Key Publications:

Recent Papers

Needle, J. L., Fawcett, A. J., & Nicolson, R. I. (2006). Balance and dyslexia: An investigation of adults' abilities. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 18(6), 909-936.

Nicolson, R. I. and Fawcett, A. J. (2006). Do cerebellar deficits underlie phonological problems in dyslexia? Developmental Science, 9(3), 259-262.

Nicolson, R. I. and Fawcett, A. J. (2005). Developmental Dyslexia, Learning and the Cerebellum. Journal of Neural Transmission Suppl. 69, 19-36.

Stoodley, C. J., Fawcett, A. J., Nicolson, R. I., & Stein, J. F. (2005). Impaired balancing ability in dyslexic children. Experimental Brain Research, 167(3), 370-380.

Smith-Spark, J. H., Fawcett, A. J., Nicolson, R. I., & Fisk, J. E. (2004). Dyslexic students have more everyday cognitive lapses. Memory, 12(2), 174-182.

Smith-Spark, J.H., Fisk, J.E., Fawcett, A.J. & Nicolson, R.I. (2003). Investigating the central executive in adult dyslexics: Evidence from phonological and visuospatial working memory performance. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 15 (4): 567-587.

Reynolds, D., Nicolson, R.I. and Hambly, H. (2003). Evaluation of an exercise-based treatment for children with reading difficulties. Dyslexia, 9, 48-71.

Moores, E., Nicolson, R.I. and Fawcett, A.J. (2002). Attention Deficits in Dyslexia: Evidence for an Automatisation Deficit? European Journal of Cognitive Psychology,15, 321-348.

Finch, A. J., Nicolson, R. I., & Fawcett, A. J. (2002). Evidence for a neuroanatomical difference within the olivo-cerebellar pathway of adults with dyslexia. Cortex, 38,529-539.

Nicolson, R. I., Daum, I., Schugens, M. M., Fawcett, A. J., & Schulz, A. (2002). Abnormal eyeblink conditioning for dyslexic children. Experimental Brain Research, 143, 42-50.

Nicolson, R. I. (2002). The Dyslexia Ecosystem. Dyslexia, 8, 55-66.

Fawcett, A.J. and Nicolson, R.I. (2002). Children with dyslexia are slow to articulate a single speech gesture. Dyslexia, 8, 189-203.

Fawcett, A. J., Nicolson, R. I., & Maclagan, F. (2001). Cerebellar tests may differentiate between poor readers with and without IQ discrepancy. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 24(2), 119-135.

Highly Cited Works

Nicolson, R. I., Fawcett, A. J., & Dean, P. (2001). Developmental dyslexia: the cerebellar deficit hypothesis. Trends in Neurosciences, 24(9), 508-511. [85 citations]

Nicolson, R.I., Fawcett, A.J., Berry, E.L., Jenkins, H., Dean, P. and Brooks, D. (1999). Association of abnormal cerebellar activation with motor learning difficulties in dyslexic adults. The Lancet, 353, 1662-1667. [71 citations].

Fawcett, A.J., Nicolson, R.I. and Dean, P. (1996). Impaired performance of children with dyslexia on a range of cerebellar tasks. Annals of Dyslexia, 46, 259-283. [61 citations]

Nicolson, R.I., Fawcett, A.J. and Dean, P (1995). Time estimation deficits in developmental dyslexia: Evidence for cerebellar involvement. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences, 259, 43-47. [64 citations]

Nicolson, R.I. and Fawcett, A.J. (1994). Reaction times and dyslexia. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 47A, 29-48. [58 citations]

Nicolson, R.I. and Fawcett, A.J. (1990). Automaticity: a new framework for dyslexia research? Cognition, 30, 159-182. [102 citations]

Nicolson, R.I. (1981). The relationship between memory span and processing speed. In M. Friedman, J.P. Das & N. O'Connor (Eds.), Intelligence and Learning. Plenum, London. [83 citations].

Postgraduate supervisor to:

Maya Alivisatos

Rebecca Brookes

Clare Huyton

Suzanna Laycock

Roy Rutherford

Kate Thomason