![Ross Vanderwert](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/3069?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Overview
Research summary
My primary research interests are in the role of early experiences (parent-infant relationships, environmental, and individual differences) that promote healthy brain development and in identifying factors that may place an individual at risk for psychopathology. I am interested in infant, child, and adult development and I employ various behavioural and neuroimaging techniques, including eye-tracking, electroencephalogram (EEG), and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).
Publication
2025
- Frewin, K. L. et al. 2025. Parent-reported relations between vocabulary and motor development in infancy: Differences between verbs and nouns. Infancy 30 (1) e12638. (10.1111/infa.12638)
- Hashmi, S. et al., 2025. Does children's play and associated neural activity differ according to individual differences in social skills, social understanding, and social contexts?. Cognitive Development 76 101623. (10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101623)
- Mitev, K. et al., 2025. The who, when, and why of pacifier use. Pediatric Research 97 , pp.2282-2287. (10.1038/s41390-024-03540-6)
- Rapuc, S. et al., 2025. Cognitive development at late infancy and school age in children cooled for neonatal encephalopathy. Pediatric Research (10.1038/s41390-025-04152-4)
- Thomas, K. S. et al. 2025. Neural correlates of emotion regulation and associations with disordered eating during preadolescence. Developmental Psychobiology 67 (1) e70009. (10.1002/dev.70009)
2024
- Keating, J. et al. 2024. Embracing neurodiversity in doll play: Investigating neural and language correlates of doll play in a neurodiverse sample. European Journal of Neuroscience 60 (3), pp.4097-4114. (10.1111/ejn.16144)
- Keating, J. et al. 2024. Exploring the presence and impact of sensory differences in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder. Research in Developmental Disabilities 148 104714. (10.1016/j.ridd.2024.104714)
- Marshall, T. E. et al., 2024. Disordered eating behaviours and basic psychological need satisfaction: the mediating role of anxiety symptoms in preadolescents. Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health 34 (1-3), pp.42-52. (10.2989/17280583.2023.2277763)
- Thomas, K. S. et al. 2024. Associations between disordered eating, internalizing symptoms, and behavioral and neural correlates of response inhibition in preadolescence. Developmental Psychobiology 66 (3) e22477. (10.1002/dev.22477)
2023
- Keating, J. et al. 2023. Possible disrupted biological movement processing in Developmental Coordination Disorder. Cortex 168 , pp.1-13. (10.1016/j.cortex.2023.06.018)
2022
- Birch-Hurst, K. et al. 2022. Altering facial movements abolishes neural mirroring of facial expressions. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience 22 , pp.316-327. (10.3758/s13415-021-00956-z)
- Hashmi, S. et al. 2022. Doll play prompts social thinking and social talking: representations of internal state language in the brain. Developmental Science 25 (2) e13163. (10.1111/desc.13163)
- Thomas, K. S. et al. 2022. Neural correlates of executive functioning in anorexia nervosa and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 16 841633. (10.3389/fnhum.2022.841633)
2021
- Aanestad, E. et al., 2021. What is happening in children’s brains when they are playing pretend?. Frontiers for Young Minds (10.3389/frym.2021.644083)
- Thomas, K. S. , Williams, M. O. and Vanderwert, R. E. 2021. Disordered eating and internalizing symptoms in preadolescence. Brain and Behavior 11 (1) e01904. (10.1002/brb3.1904)
2020
- Hashmi, S. et al. 2020. Exploring the benefits of doll play through neuroscience. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 14 560176. (10.3389/fnhum.2020.560176)
- Rychlowska, M. and Vanderwert, R. 2020. The pacified face: early embodiment processes and the use of dummies. Frontiers in Psychology 11 387. (10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00387)
2018
- Bimbi, M. et al., 2018. Simultaneous scalp recorded EEG and local field potentials from monkey ventral premotor cortex during action observation and execution reveals the contribution of mirror and motor neurons to the mu-rhythm. NeuroImage 175 , pp.22-31. (10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.03.037)
- Crespo-Llado, M. M. , Vanderwert, R. and Geangu, E. 2018. Individual differences in infants' neural responses to their peers' cry and laughter. Biological Psychology 135 , pp.117-127. (10.1016/j.biopsycho.2018.03.008)
- Crespo-Llado, M. M. et al., 2018. Eight-month-old infants' behavioral responses to peers' emotions as related to the asymmetric frontal cortex activity. Scientific Reports 8 17152. (10.1038/s41598-018-35219-4)
- Festante, F. et al., 2018. EEG beta desynchronization during hand goal-directed action observation in newborn monkeys and its relation to the emergence of hand motor skills. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience 30 , pp.142-149. (10.1016/j.dcn.2018.02.010)
2017
- Bowman, L. C. et al., 2017. The mu-rhythm can mirror: insights from experimental design, and looking past the controversy. Cortex 96 , pp.121-125. (10.1016/j.cortex.2017.03.025)
- Stamoulis, C. et al., 2017. Neuronal networks in the developing brain are adversely modulated by early psychosocial neglect. Journal of Neurophysiology jn.00014.2017. (10.1152/jn.00014.2017)
2016
- Cannon, E. N. et al., 2016. Relations between infants' emerging reach-grasp competence and event-related desynchronization in EEG. Developmental Science 19 (1), pp.50-62. (10.1111/desc.12295)
- Fox, N. A. et al., 2016. Assessing human mirror activity with EEG mu rhythm: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin 142 (3), pp.291-313. (10.1037/bul0000031)
- Vanderwert, R. E. et al. 2016. Normalization of EEG activity among previously institutionalized children placed into foster care: A 12-year follow-up of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience 17 , pp.68-75. (10.1016/j.dcn.2015.12.004)
2015
- Ehrlich, K. B. et al., 2015. Hypervigilance to rejecting stimuli in rejection sensitive individuals: behavioral and neurocognitive evidence. Personality and Individual Differences 85 , pp.7-12. (10.1016/j.paid.2015.04.023)
- Ravicz, M. M. et al., 2015. Infants' neural responses to facial emotion in the prefrontal cortex are correlated with temperament: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study. Frontiers in Psychology 6 922. (10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00922)
- Stamoulis, C. et al., 2015. Early psychosocial neglect adversely impacts developmental trajectories of brain oscillations and their interactions. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 27 (12), pp.2512-2528. (10.1162/jocn_a_00877)
- Vanderwert, R. E. et al. 2015. Early social experience affects neural activity to affiliative facial gestures in newborn nonhuman primates. Developmental Neuroscience 37 (3), pp.243-252. (10.1159/000381538)
- Vanderwert, R. et al. 2015. Looking to the eyes influences the processing of emotion on face-sensitive event-related potentials in 7-month-old infants. Developmental Neurobiology 75 (10), pp.1154-1163. (10.1002/dneu.22204)
2014
- Cannon, E. N. et al., 2014. Action experience, more than observation, influences mu rhythm desynchronization. PLoS ONE 9 (3) e92002. (10.1371/journal.pone.0092002)
- Coude, G. et al., 2014. Frequency and topography in monkey electroencephalogram during action observation: possible neural correlates of the mirror neuron system. Philosophical Transactions B: Biological Sciences 369 (1644) 20130415. (10.1098/rstb.2013.0415)
- Vanderwert, R. and Nelson, C. A. 2014. The use of near-infrared spectroscopy in the study of typical and atypical development. NeuroImage 85 , pp.264-271. (10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.10.009)
2013
- McDermott, J. M. et al., 2013. Psychosocial deprivation, executive functions, and the emergence of socio-emotional behavior problems. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 7 167. (10.3389/fnhum.2013.00167)
- Suway, J. et al., 2013. Modification of threat-processing in non-anxious individuals: a preliminary, behavioral and ERP study. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 44 (3), pp.285-292. (10.1016/j.jbtep.2012.11.006)
- Vanderwert, R. , Fox, N. A. and Ferrari, P. F. 2013. The mirror mechanism and mu rhythm in social development. Neuroscience Letters 540 , pp.15-20. (10.1016/j.neulet.2012.10.006)
2012
- Ferrari, P. F. et al., 2012. Distinct EEG amplitude suppression to facial gestures as evidence for a mirror mechanism in newborn monkeys. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 24 (5), pp.1165-1172.
- Vanderwert, R. et al. 2012. Spectral characteristics of the newborn rhesus macaque EEG reflect functional cortical activity. Physiology & Behavior 107 (5), pp.787-791. (10.1016/j.physbeh.2012.06.010)
2010
- Vanderwert, R. et al. 2010. Timing of intervention affects brain electrical activity in children exposed to severe psychosocial neglect. PLoS ONE 5 (7) e11415. (10.1371/journal.pone.0011415)
2009
- Reeb-Sutherland, B. C. et al., 2009. Attention to novelty in behaviorally inhibited adolescents moderates risk for anxiety. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 50 (11), pp.1365-1372. (10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02170.x)
Articles
- Aanestad, E. et al., 2021. What is happening in children’s brains when they are playing pretend?. Frontiers for Young Minds (10.3389/frym.2021.644083)
- Bimbi, M. et al., 2018. Simultaneous scalp recorded EEG and local field potentials from monkey ventral premotor cortex during action observation and execution reveals the contribution of mirror and motor neurons to the mu-rhythm. NeuroImage 175 , pp.22-31. (10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.03.037)
- Birch-Hurst, K. et al. 2022. Altering facial movements abolishes neural mirroring of facial expressions. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience 22 , pp.316-327. (10.3758/s13415-021-00956-z)
- Bowman, L. C. et al., 2017. The mu-rhythm can mirror: insights from experimental design, and looking past the controversy. Cortex 96 , pp.121-125. (10.1016/j.cortex.2017.03.025)
- Cannon, E. N. et al., 2016. Relations between infants' emerging reach-grasp competence and event-related desynchronization in EEG. Developmental Science 19 (1), pp.50-62. (10.1111/desc.12295)
- Cannon, E. N. et al., 2014. Action experience, more than observation, influences mu rhythm desynchronization. PLoS ONE 9 (3) e92002. (10.1371/journal.pone.0092002)
- Coude, G. et al., 2014. Frequency and topography in monkey electroencephalogram during action observation: possible neural correlates of the mirror neuron system. Philosophical Transactions B: Biological Sciences 369 (1644) 20130415. (10.1098/rstb.2013.0415)
- Crespo-Llado, M. M. , Vanderwert, R. and Geangu, E. 2018. Individual differences in infants' neural responses to their peers' cry and laughter. Biological Psychology 135 , pp.117-127. (10.1016/j.biopsycho.2018.03.008)
- Crespo-Llado, M. M. et al., 2018. Eight-month-old infants' behavioral responses to peers' emotions as related to the asymmetric frontal cortex activity. Scientific Reports 8 17152. (10.1038/s41598-018-35219-4)
- Ehrlich, K. B. et al., 2015. Hypervigilance to rejecting stimuli in rejection sensitive individuals: behavioral and neurocognitive evidence. Personality and Individual Differences 85 , pp.7-12. (10.1016/j.paid.2015.04.023)
- Ferrari, P. F. et al., 2012. Distinct EEG amplitude suppression to facial gestures as evidence for a mirror mechanism in newborn monkeys. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 24 (5), pp.1165-1172.
- Festante, F. et al., 2018. EEG beta desynchronization during hand goal-directed action observation in newborn monkeys and its relation to the emergence of hand motor skills. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience 30 , pp.142-149. (10.1016/j.dcn.2018.02.010)
- Fox, N. A. et al., 2016. Assessing human mirror activity with EEG mu rhythm: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin 142 (3), pp.291-313. (10.1037/bul0000031)
- Frewin, K. L. et al. 2025. Parent-reported relations between vocabulary and motor development in infancy: Differences between verbs and nouns. Infancy 30 (1) e12638. (10.1111/infa.12638)
- Hashmi, S. et al., 2025. Does children's play and associated neural activity differ according to individual differences in social skills, social understanding, and social contexts?. Cognitive Development 76 101623. (10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101623)
- Hashmi, S. et al. 2022. Doll play prompts social thinking and social talking: representations of internal state language in the brain. Developmental Science 25 (2) e13163. (10.1111/desc.13163)
- Hashmi, S. et al. 2020. Exploring the benefits of doll play through neuroscience. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 14 560176. (10.3389/fnhum.2020.560176)
- Keating, J. et al. 2023. Possible disrupted biological movement processing in Developmental Coordination Disorder. Cortex 168 , pp.1-13. (10.1016/j.cortex.2023.06.018)
- Keating, J. et al. 2024. Embracing neurodiversity in doll play: Investigating neural and language correlates of doll play in a neurodiverse sample. European Journal of Neuroscience 60 (3), pp.4097-4114. (10.1111/ejn.16144)
- Keating, J. et al. 2024. Exploring the presence and impact of sensory differences in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder. Research in Developmental Disabilities 148 104714. (10.1016/j.ridd.2024.104714)
- Marshall, T. E. et al., 2024. Disordered eating behaviours and basic psychological need satisfaction: the mediating role of anxiety symptoms in preadolescents. Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health 34 (1-3), pp.42-52. (10.2989/17280583.2023.2277763)
- McDermott, J. M. et al., 2013. Psychosocial deprivation, executive functions, and the emergence of socio-emotional behavior problems. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 7 167. (10.3389/fnhum.2013.00167)
- Mitev, K. et al., 2025. The who, when, and why of pacifier use. Pediatric Research 97 , pp.2282-2287. (10.1038/s41390-024-03540-6)
- Rapuc, S. et al., 2025. Cognitive development at late infancy and school age in children cooled for neonatal encephalopathy. Pediatric Research (10.1038/s41390-025-04152-4)
- Ravicz, M. M. et al., 2015. Infants' neural responses to facial emotion in the prefrontal cortex are correlated with temperament: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study. Frontiers in Psychology 6 922. (10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00922)
- Reeb-Sutherland, B. C. et al., 2009. Attention to novelty in behaviorally inhibited adolescents moderates risk for anxiety. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 50 (11), pp.1365-1372. (10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02170.x)
- Rychlowska, M. and Vanderwert, R. 2020. The pacified face: early embodiment processes and the use of dummies. Frontiers in Psychology 11 387. (10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00387)
- Stamoulis, C. et al., 2015. Early psychosocial neglect adversely impacts developmental trajectories of brain oscillations and their interactions. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 27 (12), pp.2512-2528. (10.1162/jocn_a_00877)
- Stamoulis, C. et al., 2017. Neuronal networks in the developing brain are adversely modulated by early psychosocial neglect. Journal of Neurophysiology jn.00014.2017. (10.1152/jn.00014.2017)
- Suway, J. et al., 2013. Modification of threat-processing in non-anxious individuals: a preliminary, behavioral and ERP study. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 44 (3), pp.285-292. (10.1016/j.jbtep.2012.11.006)
- Thomas, K. S. et al. 2022. Neural correlates of executive functioning in anorexia nervosa and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 16 841633. (10.3389/fnhum.2022.841633)
- Thomas, K. S. et al. 2025. Neural correlates of emotion regulation and associations with disordered eating during preadolescence. Developmental Psychobiology 67 (1) e70009. (10.1002/dev.70009)
- Thomas, K. S. et al. 2024. Associations between disordered eating, internalizing symptoms, and behavioral and neural correlates of response inhibition in preadolescence. Developmental Psychobiology 66 (3) e22477. (10.1002/dev.22477)
- Thomas, K. S. , Williams, M. O. and Vanderwert, R. E. 2021. Disordered eating and internalizing symptoms in preadolescence. Brain and Behavior 11 (1) e01904. (10.1002/brb3.1904)
- Vanderwert, R. E. et al. 2015. Early social experience affects neural activity to affiliative facial gestures in newborn nonhuman primates. Developmental Neuroscience 37 (3), pp.243-252. (10.1159/000381538)
- Vanderwert, R. et al. 2012. Spectral characteristics of the newborn rhesus macaque EEG reflect functional cortical activity. Physiology & Behavior 107 (5), pp.787-791. (10.1016/j.physbeh.2012.06.010)
- Vanderwert, R. , Fox, N. A. and Ferrari, P. F. 2013. The mirror mechanism and mu rhythm in social development. Neuroscience Letters 540 , pp.15-20. (10.1016/j.neulet.2012.10.006)
- Vanderwert, R. et al. 2010. Timing of intervention affects brain electrical activity in children exposed to severe psychosocial neglect. PLoS ONE 5 (7) e11415. (10.1371/journal.pone.0011415)
- Vanderwert, R. and Nelson, C. A. 2014. The use of near-infrared spectroscopy in the study of typical and atypical development. NeuroImage 85 , pp.264-271. (10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.10.009)
- Vanderwert, R. et al. 2015. Looking to the eyes influences the processing of emotion on face-sensitive event-related potentials in 7-month-old infants. Developmental Neurobiology 75 (10), pp.1154-1163. (10.1002/dneu.22204)
- Vanderwert, R. E. et al. 2016. Normalization of EEG activity among previously institutionalized children placed into foster care: A 12-year follow-up of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience 17 , pp.68-75. (10.1016/j.dcn.2015.12.004)
Research
Research topics and related papers
My current research focuses on the influence of pacifiers (dummies) on infants' ability to regulate emotions, process emotions in others, and understanding parents' decisions to allow their infant to use pacifiers. Pacifiers are controversial among practitioners who have identified a number of potential negative health effects on the infant. However, very little research has examined the psychological effects of pacifier use on either the baby or the family as a whole. We know that parenting a young infant can be a stressful period and pacifiers may help reduce some of that distress. We are currently in the process of collecting and analysing data from three studies surrounding issues related to pacifier use in infants.
My other research interests include understanding how adverse childhood experiences impact neural development and function, how emerging social biases in infancy contribute to risk or resilience to mental health in adolescence, and how motor development can impact how we understand our social environment (including our families and peers).
Funding
"Neural signature of DCD" Waterloo Foundation
“Development of wearable, room-temperature and movement-tolerant MEG for adults and children at Cardiff University” Wellcome Trust ISSF3
"Benefits of doll play" OxyInsight
"Implications of pacifier use for the development of emotional competence." British Academy/Leverhulm Small Research Grant
Ph.D. Students
Kai Thomas
Kelsey Frewin
Charlotte Findlay
Teaching
Modules taught
Current
Neurodevelopmental Disorders 2: Cognition & emotion (MSc in Children's Psychological Disorders)
Research Methods in Developmental Psychology (Final year)
Developmental Psychology Practical (Second year)
Former
Developmental Psychopathology (Final year)
Biography
Undergraduate education
2003
B.A.: Psychology and Mathematics
St. Olaf College, Minnesota, USA
Postgraduate education
2012
Ph.D.: Developmental Science
University of Maryland, College Park, USA
Employment
2012-2015
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Labs of Cognitive Neuroscience
Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts, USA
2008-2012
Special Volunteer
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
National Institutes of Health, Maryland, USA
Supervisions
Postgraduate research interests
If you are interested in applying for a PhD, or for further information regarding my postgraduate research, please contact me directly (contact details available on the 'Overview' page), or submit a formal application.
Current students
Kai Thomas
- Topic: Understanding risk factors for disordered eating
