Top Researchers
Top Neuroscience Researchers at University of York for 2026
The University of York’s recent neuroscience research spans memory, perception, sleep, language, and social cognition. Across the last year, researchers have been exploring how the brain organizes experience, supports learning, and shapes everyday understanding.
Below, you’ll find a snapshot of the scholars contributing most actively in this area, along with the themes that appear most often across their work. Together, these patterns show a community working across cognitive, experimental, and applied questions in neuroscience.
Featured Researchers
Elizabeth Jefferies
Elizabeth Jefferies, at the University of York, focused on cognitive neuroscience questions about the default mode network, task states, and hippocampal memory signals.
Activity over the last year: 13 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- The architecture of the human default mode network explored through cytoarchitecture, wiring and signal flow (Jan 2025)
- Self-reports map the landscape of task states derived from brain imaging (Jan 2025)
- Hippocampal mismatch signals are based on episodic memories and not schematic knowledge (Aug 2025)
Daniel H. Baker
Daniel H. Baker, based at the University of York, worked across cognitive neuroscience and visual perception, including contrast processing, the uncanny valley, and melanopsin responses.
Activity over the last year: 9 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
Timothy J. Andrews
Timothy J. Andrews, at the University of York, examined scene and face processing, linking functional connectivity with behavior and natural viewing.
Activity over the last year: 7 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Functional Connectivity of the Scene Processing Network at Rest Does Not Reliably Predict Human Behavior on Scene Processing Tasks (Jan 2025)
- A composite face effect for vertically divided faces (May 2025)
- Hyperfamiliarity for faces enhances functional connectivity between visual and non-visual regions of the brain during natural viewing (Jul 2025)
Alex R. Wade
Alex R. Wade, from the University of York, studied visual system contrast processing and internal perceptual states affecting psychomotor performance.
Activity over the last year: 7 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
Dan Denis
Dan Denis, at the University of York, focused on sleep and memory, especially emotional consolidation, fear extinction retention, and the effects of recovery sleep.
Activity over the last year: 6 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Both slow wave and rapid eye movement sleep contribute to emotional memory consolidation (Mar 2025)
- Slow Oscillation–Sleep Spindle Coupling Is Associated With Expectancy Measures of Fear Extinction Retention in Trauma-Exposed Individuals (Sep 2025)
- Recovery sleep after total sleep deprivation preserves neutral and enhances emotional declarative memory (Dec 2025)
Ehsan Solaimani
Ehsan Solaimani, at the University of York, explored language, gesture comprehension, and theory of mind in autistic and neurotypical children.
Activity over the last year: 5 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
Rebecca L. Jackson
Rebecca L. Jackson, at the University of York, investigated semantic control, conceptual development, and functional connectivity in semantic processing.
Activity over the last year: 5 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Late maturation of semantic control promotes conceptual development (Mar 2025)
- Linear and nonlinear multidimensional functional connectivity methods reveal similar networks for semantic processing in EEG/MEG data (Jul 2025)
- Late maturation of semantic control promotes conceptual development (Mar 2025)
M. Gareth Gaskell
M. Gareth Gaskell, at the University of York, examined episodic memory in language comprehension, overnight consolidation, and how sleep supports new learning.
Activity over the last year: 5 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Involvement of episodic memory in language comprehension: Naturalistic comprehension pushes unrelated words closer in semantic space for at least 12 h (Feb 2025)
- Does overnight memory consolidation support next-day learning? (Jul 2025)
- Memory consolidation during sleep: a facilitator of new learning? (Nov 2025)
What University of York's Neuroscience Community Is Working On
The strongest signal across the featured research is cognitive neuroscience, which anchors work on memory, perception, language, and brain networks. Experimental and cognitive psychology also appears frequently, reflecting close attention to behavior, learning, and task performance. Around that core, smaller but meaningful contributions from developmental and educational psychology, atomic and molecular physics and optics, and epidemiology suggest a field that is methodologically varied and open to questions that cross traditional boundaries. In practice, this means the University of York community is actively studying how cognition emerges from neural systems, experience, and development.- Cognitive Neuroscience - seen across 8 of the featured researchers
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology - seen across 3 of the featured researchers
- Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics - seen across 2 of the featured researchers
- Developmental and Educational Psychology - seen across 2 of the featured researchers
- Epidemiology - seen across 1 of the featured researchers
These recent publications highlight a broad and connected research community at the University of York, with neuroscience work ranging from visual processing and semantic control to sleep, memory, and development. If you’re following related research, explore the individual profiles below to see how these themes intersect—and consider Resub for help with citation discovery, manuscript formatting, and submission preparation in your own workflow.
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