First AcRF Tier 2 Grant awarded to Assoc Prof Annabel Chen
By HSS Communications Office

Autism, schizophrenia and dyslexia have been linked to abnormal functioning of our brain. To come up with better treatments for these psychiatric disorders, clinicians have to understand how our brain affects mental processes. In this consideration, Assoc Prof Annabel Chen, from Psychology Division, has been awarded the Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund (AcRF) Tier 2 grant worth S$762,952, for her research proposal on Cerebellar Contributions to Visual Working Memory.

To be carried out over three years, the research project aims to understand the role of the cerebellum, a structure in the human brain, in higher cognition — how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems.

This is the first ever AcRF Tier 2 grant awarded to a HSS faculty member. It is a competitive award that funds research projects that have academic significance and a good potential for creating new knowledge, potentially leading to innovations and discoveries.

Exploring the Little Brain

The cerebellum has been traditionally regarded as the "little brain" primarily responsible for ensuring different parts of our body work together to enable us to move and act. But recent studies have shown that the "little brain" plays a larger role in the human body. It is covertly helping the cerebrum, aptly nicknamed the "big brain", to seamlessly orchestrate the complex demands of higher cognition.

Assoc Prof Chen's research project will focus on the role of cerebellum in visual working memory — the ability of the brain to actively hold visual information in the mind needed to do complex tasks such as reasoning, comprehension and learning. She will be employing various neuro-imaging techniques to aid in this investigation.

Findings from the research will provide a comprehensive understanding of the neural networks involved in cognitive functioning.

"It will also uncover more focused explanations for complex psychiatric disorders, as well as pave the ways for better interventions," said Assoc Prof Chen.

Following the NRF Research Fellowship scheme, NTU also has its own premier scheme, the elite Nanyang Assistant Professorship (NAP), to attract exceptional young academics throughout the world to work at NTU, further strengthening NTU’s commitment to research excellence. Launched in 2007, the scheme attracted nearly 400 applicants in 2007 and 586 applicants in 2008 with NTU awarding a total of 18 NAPs in these two years. Not only do the NAP recipients receive start-up grants of up to S$1 million, they also have the chance to help lead NTU’s next wave of multidisciplinary research.  For its third NAP call, NTU received more than 500 applications and six NAPs were awarded including the first NAP for the School.

Dr Fan Cao joined NTU in 2011 as a Nanyang Assistant Professor.  She received her PhD from the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University in 2009.  Her broad research areas include Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and Educational Neuroscience.  Her research interests include reading development and disorders in Chinese and English using fMRI and ERP, neural correlates of second language learning in adults and children, and how cognitive neuroscience informs optimal instruction in learning different languages.

Recent publications: 

Cao F, Khalid K, Lee R, Brennan C, Yang Y, Li K, Bolger DJ, & Booth JR (2011). Development of brain networks involved in spoken word processing of Mandarin Chinese. NeuroImage, 57(3), 750-759.

Cao F, Lee R, Shu H, Yang Y, Xu G, Li K & Booth JR (2010) Cultural constraints on brain development - Evidence from a developmental study of Chinese visual words processing. Cerebral Cortex, 20(5), 1223-1233.

Cao F, Khalid K, Zaveri R, Bolger DJ, Bitan T & Booth JR (2010) Neural correlates of priming effects in children during spoken words processing with orthographic demands. Brain and Language, 114(2), 80-89.