Why do some children struggle in school while others seem to sail through? This is the question that drives my research. To tackle this complex and multi-faceted problem, I'm using the full arsenal of cognitive neuroscience tools of neuroimaging, genetics, psychometric assessments, and computational modelling.
I hope that this research will contribute to all children being able to reach their full potential and lead happy and fulfilling lives.
Development of cognitive skills, particularly attention, working memory, and other executive functions, between pre-school and adolescence.
Connectomics, tractography, cortical morphology; electroencephalography (EEG) for electrical neuroimaging and event-related potentials
Advanced statistical methods including machine learning, factor analytic methods, and clustering methods; Analysis of complex systems using network science
Communicating science to expert audiences, including in peer-reviewed publications and at scientific meetings; general audiences, including parents and adolescents; and experts in education and clinical practice
University of Amsterdam
Royal Holloway, University of London
University of Amsterdam
University of Cambridge
Royal Holloway, University of London
University College London & Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children
University College London (UCL)
University of Tübingen
Bathelt, J., Rastle, K., & Taylor, J. S. H. (2024). Relationship between resting state functional connectivity and reading-related behavioural measures in 69 adults. Neurobiology of Language, 5, 589–607. https://doi.org/10.1162/nol_a_00146
Pascalidis, J., & Bathelt, J. (2024). The “central” importance of loneliness in mental health: A network psychometric study. International Journal of Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.13133
Agelink van Rentergem, J., Bathelt, J., Geurts, H. M. (2022). Clinical subtyping using community detection: Limited utility? Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/mpr.1951
Deserno, M. K., Bathelt, J. (joint first author), Groenman, A. P., & Geurts, H. M. (2022). Probing the overarching continuum theory: data-driven phenotypic clustering of children with ASD or ADHD. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-022-01986-9
Xie, W., Bathelt, J. (joint first author), Fasman, A., Nelson, C. A., & Bosquet Enlow, M. (2022). Temperament and psychopathology: The "community" to which you belong matters. Child Development. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13742
Bathelt, J., Geurts, H. M., & Borsboom, D. (2022). More than the sum of its parts: Merging network psychometrics and network neuroscience with application in autism. Network Neuroscience, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1162/netn_a_00222/
Bathelt, J., Koolschijn, P. C. M., & Geurts, H. M. (2021). Atypically slow processing of faces and non-faces in older autistic adults. Autism, 13623613211065297. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613211065297/p>
Visser, R. M., Bathelt, J. (joint first author), Scholte, H.S., & Kindt, M. (2021). Robust BOLD responses to faces but not to conditioned threat: challenging the amygdala's reputation in human fear and extinction learning. Journal of Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0857-21.2021
Blanken, T., Bathelt, J., Deserno, M. K., Voge, L., Borsboom, D., Douw, L. (2021). Connecting brain and behavior in clinical neuroscience: A network approach. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.07.027
Bathelt, J., Vignoles, A., Astle, D. E. (2021). Just a phase? Mapping the transition of behavioural problems from childhood to adolescence. Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-02014-4
Astle, D. E., Johnson, A., Bathelt, J., Akarca, D., the RED team (2020). Far and Wide: Associations between childhood socio-economic status and brain connectomics. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100888
Bathelt, J., Geurts, H.M. (2020). Difference in default mode network subsystems in autism across childhood and adolescence. Autism https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361320969258
Siugzdaite, R., Bathelt, J., Holmes, J., Astle, D. E. (2020). Transdiagnostic brain mapping in developmental disorders. Current Biology 30, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.01.078
Bathelt, J., Koolschijn, P. C., Geurts, H. M., (2020). Age-variant and invariant features of functional brain organization in middle-aged and older autistic adults Molecular Autism 11(9), https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-020-0316-y
Scheller, M., Garcia, S., Bathelt, J., de Haan, M., Petrine, K. (2019). Active touch facilitates object size perception in children but not adults: A multisensory event related potential study. Brain Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2019.146381
Bathelt, J., Dale, N. J., de Haan, M., Clark, C. A. (2019). Brain structure in children with congenital visual disorders and visual impairment. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, https://doi.org/10.1111/dmcn.14322
Fuhrmann, D., Simpson-Kent, I. L., Bathelt, J., the CALM team, & Kievit, R. A. (2019). A hierarchical watershed model of fluid intelligence in childhood and adolescence. Cerebral Cortex, https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhz091
Rennie, J. P., Zhang, M., Hawkins, E., Bathelt, J., Astle, D. E. (2019) Mapping differential responses to cognitive traning using machine learning Developmental Science, https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12868
Bathelt, J., Johnson, A., Zhang, M., Astle, D. E. (2019). The cingulum as a marker of individual differences in neurocognitive development. Scientific Reports 9(2281), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-38894-z
Bathelt, J., Scerif, G., Nobre, A.C., & Astle, D. (2019). Whole-brain white matter organization, intelligence, and educational attainment. Trends in Neuroscience & Educationhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.tine.2019.02.004
Bathelt, J., de Haan, M., Dale, N. (2019). Adaptive behaviour and quality of life in school-age children with congenital visual disorders and different levels of visual impairment. Research in Developmental Disabilities 85, 154-162, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2018.12.003
Astle, A., Bathelt, J., the CALM team, Holmes, J. (2018). Remapping the cognitive and neural profiles of children who struggle at school. Developmental Science, 22(1) https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12747
Bathelt, J., Gathercole, S., Butterfield, S., & Astle, D. (2018). The role of the structural connectome in literacy and numeracy development in children. Developmental Science, 21(5), https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12662
Bathelt, J., Holmes, J., the CALM team, & Astle, D. (2018). Data-driven subtyping of executive function difficulties in childhood. Journal of the American Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2018.01.014
O’Reilly, M., Bathelt, J., Salt, A., de Haan, M., Dale, N. (2017). Frontal EEG asymmetry and later behavior vulnerability in infants with congenital visual impairment. Clinical Neurophysiology, 128(11), 2191-2199, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2017.08.016
Bathelt, J., Dale, N., de Haan, M. (2017). Event-related potential response to auditory social stimuli, parent-reported social communicative deficits and autism risk in school-aged children with congenital visual impairment. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 27, 10-18, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2017.07.003
Bathelt, J., Gathercole, S., Johnson, A., Astle, D. (2017). Differences in brain morphology and working memory capacity across childhood. Developmental Science, 21:e12579, https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12579
Bathelt, J., Barnes, J., Raymond, F. L., Baker, K., & Astle, D. (2017). Global and local connectivity differences converge with gene expression in a neurodevelopmental disorder of known genetic origin. Cerebral Cortex, 27(7), 3806-3817, https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhx027
Downes, M., Bathelt, J. (joint first author) & de Haan, M. (2017). Event‐related potential measures of executive functioning from preschool to adolescence. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 59, 581-590, https://doi.org/10.1111/dmcn.13395
Bathelt, J., Astle, D., Barnes, J., Raymond, F. L., & Baker, K. (2016). Structural brain abnormalities in a single gene disorder associated with epilepsy, language impairment and intellectual disability. NeuroImage: Clinical, 21, 655-665, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2016.07.016
Bathelt, J., de Haan, M., Salt, A., & Dale, N. J. (2016). Executive abilities in children with congenital visual impairment in mid-childhood. Child Neuropsychology, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/09297049.2016.1240158
Bathelt, J., O'Reilly, H., & de Haan, M. (2014). Cortical source analysis of high-density EEG recordings in children. JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments), (88), e51705, https://doi.org/10.3791/51705
Bathelt, J., O'Reilly, H., Clayden, J. D., Cross, J. H., & de Haan, M. (2013). Functional brain network organisation of children between 2 and 5 years derived from reconstructed activity of cortical sources of high-density EEG recordings. NeuroImage, 82, 595–604. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.06.003
Symposium Chair: “Network Methods in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience”, Flux Society, Paris 2022
Oral Presentation: “Make your data shine”, Dutch Neuropsychology Society (NVN), Nijmegen 2022
Oral Presentation: “Characterising heterogeneity in neurodevelopmental disorders”, Flux annual conference, 2021
Oral Presentation: “Heterogeneity in neurodevelopmental disorders”, University of Amsterdam, 2019
Oral Presentation: “Subtyping executive function-related problems in struggling learners", International Mind, Brain, and Education Society (IMBES), Los Angeles, CA, September 2018
Oral Presentation: “Two sides of the same coin: Using structural connectomics to investigate the overlap between maths and reading problems”, International Mind, Brain, and Education Society (IMBES), Los Angeles, CA, September 2018
Oral Presentation: “Subtyping executive function-related problems in children”, Executive Functions Masterclass with Prof Adele Diamond, Cambridge, UK, June 2018
Oral Presentation: “Subtyping executive function-related problems in children”, Executive Functions Masterclass with Prof Adele Diamond, Cambridge, UK, June 2018
Poster: “Data-driven subtypes of executive function-related behavioural difficulties in children”, European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) Neuroscience and Education meeting, London, UK, June 2018
Poster: “Data-driven brain types and their cognitive consequences”, Vereniging Nederlandse Ontwikkelingspsychologie meeting, Wageningen, Netherlands, May 2018
Poster: “Remapping the cognitive and neural profiles of children who struggle at school”, Flux satellite meeting ‘Big data, little brains’, Chapel Hill, US, May 2018
Oral Presentation & Poster: “Data-driven brain types and their cognitive consequences”, Cognitive Neuroscience Association Annual Meeting, Boston, US, March 2018
Oral Presentation: “Data-driven brain types and their cognitive consequences”, Cambridge Neuroscience Meeting, Cambridge, UK, March 2018
Oral Presentation: “Data-driven subtyping of executive function difficulties in childhood”, International Conference for Cognitive Neuroscience, Amsterdam, Netherlands, August 2017
Oral Presentation & Poster: “The role of the structural connectome in literacy and numeracy development in children”, Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, US, March 2017
Poster: “Global and local connectivity differences converge with gene expression in a single-gene disorder”, Organisation for Human Brain Mapping Annual Meeting, Geneva, Switzerland, June 2016
Poster: “Structural brain development in a single gene disorder associated with language impairment”, Cambridge Neuroscience Symposium, Cambridge UK, April 2015
Poster: “Is there an association between reduced cortico-spinal tract integrity and severe visual impairment in childhood neural development?”, Paediatric Neuropsychology Symposium, London, UK, June 2014
Poster: “Focal attention, executive and social vulnerabilities in children with visual impairment (VI)”, European Academy of Childhood Disability, Newcastle, UK, October2013
Poster: “Functional brain network organisation of children between 2 and 5 years derived from reconstructed activity of cortical sources of high-density EEG recordings”, Organisation for Human Brain Mapping Annual Meeting, Seattle, US, June 2013
Poster: “Hearing one’s own name increases functional connection strength between areas of the Human Mirror Neuron System”, British Neuroscience Association Meeting, London, UK, June 2013
Ad-hoc peer review: I acted as a reviewer for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Developmental Science, Frontiers in Psychology, IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, Human Brain Mapping, Infant and Child Development, Journal of Neuroscience, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Journal of Neurophysiology, Journal of Neuropsychology,Molecular Psychiatry, and Sage Open Psychology. A verified list of my peer review activity can be found under: https://publons.com/a/654079
Open science: I strongly believe that data and analysis code needs to be shared for transparency, reproducibility, and to benefit the scientific community. I’m actively involved in data sharing efforts and make my analysis code available online (12 repositories, ttps://github.com/joebathelt)
I served as a judge for Google Science Fair, an international science competition for young people between 13 and 18 years (2018)
I'm a Science Mentor for Frontiers for Young Minds, a scientific journal from young people for young people
I won the UK science communication competition “I’m a scientist get me out of here” that lets teenagers ask questions about science. (around 450 teenagers, November 2016)
I developed a lesson “Working Memory for Kids” for schools to teach children between 7 and 11 years about working memory together with a local school (Fenstanton and Hilton Primary School, November 2017).
I put together interactive demonstrations suitable for children and presented them at the Blue Dot Festival of Music, Science, and Art 2017 (~4,500 visitors from the general public, Manchester Area, June 2017).
Public talk: “Why do some children struggle in school”, Corpus Christi graduate conference, Cambridge, June 2018 (around 100 members of the public)
Public talk: “What are the behavioural difficulties of children struggling in school”, CALM practitioner workshop, June 2018, Cambridge (around 60 specialist teachers, educational psychologists, and other professionals working with children)
Writing for general audiencesI write a biweekly blog on Medium about neuroscience, productivity, and academic life
A child should be defined by her own unique strengths not her deficits BOLD - Blog on Learning & Development
Apples and oranges: What distinguishes struggling learners?" BOLD - Blog on Learning & Development
Look beyond the label TES Magazine
Crushed by the ivory tower - a personal account of mental health in academia Medium
