ABOUT US RESEARCHERS - JESSICA WARD-KING

Jessica Ward-King, PhD

Post-Doctoral Fellow

Faces provide many important social cues, and open up avenues of communication. Typically developing people look at faces in predictable ways, for example focusing on the eyes. Their brains also react to seeing faces in predictable ways which are connected to the chemicals in their brains and the genes that control these chemicals. People with autism spectrum disorders have different ways of looking at faces, for example they tend to focus more on the mouth region. Their brains also react differently to seeing faces. It is not clear whether this is related to their genes or not. One of Jessica's studies aims to find out whether the way that people with ASD look at faces and the way their brain reacts to faces is related to their genes.

RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS:

Ward-King, J., Cohen, I., Penning, H., Holden, J.J.A., (2010). Brief Report: Telephone administration of the Autism Diagnostic Interview - Revised: Reliability and suitability for use in research. (Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders - In Press.)

Ward-King, J, Heaton, P., Mayer, J.. Enhanced timbre perception in individuals with autism spectrum disorders. (Submitted to Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, In Revision)

Ward-King, J, Levitin, D.J. Independent vs. integrated motor action plans: Evidence from 2-person polyrhythmic tapping. (In Revision)

Ward-King, J., Heaton, P., Hill, E., Mayer, J.. Spared rhythm processing in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. (In Revision)

Ward-King, J. Heaton, P., Hill, E.. Brief Report: Rhythm cognition in children with autism spectrum disorders. (In Preparation).

Ward-King, J. Implicit Learning of Musical, but not Linguistically-Presented, Steady-State Grammars in ASD. (In Preparation).PRESENTATIONS & POSTERS:

Ward, J.; Holden, J.J.A.; Liu, X. (2009). Do genes affect the EEG patterns of individuals with ASD when they look at faces? Poster presented at the
Queen's University Centre for Neurosciences Research Day, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Ward, J. (2009). Evaluating Patterns of Spared and Enhanced Processing within the Music Domain in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Paper presented at the Queen's University Department of Psychiatry 2009 Research Conference, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Ward, J.; Heaton, P. (2007). Poster Presentation: Implicit Learning of Musical, but not Linguistically-Presented, Steady-State Grammars in ASD. Poster Presented at Autism Europe International Congress, Oslo, Norway.

Ward, J. (2005, May). How do Musical Savants Do What They Do? A Model of Musical Talent. Poster presented at Spring Review, Goldsmiths College, London.

Ward, J. (2005, February). Model of rhythmic joint action plans: A Coupled Couple, or Independent Tappers?. Paper presented at New England Sequencing and Timing meeting

Ward, J., Levitin, D. (2004, April). Model of rhythmic joint action plans: A Coupled Couple, or Independent Tappers?. Poster presented (by J. Ward) at the Hebb poster session, Montreal, Quebec.

Ward, J., Levitin, D. (2004, March). Cross-modal integration of gesture and movement: Implications for broadband-mediated joint action plans. Poster presented (by J. Ward) at the VRQ poster session, Montreal, Quebec