
Professor Christopher Jarrold
M.A.(Cantab.), Ph.D.(Sheff.)
Current positions
Professor of Cognitive Development
School of Psychological Science
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
My research focuses on children’s cognitive development, and particularly on the processes that support goal-directed behaviour and the maintenance of information in immediate memory. These abilities in turn affect children’s control of behaviour, and aspects of their language learning and educational attainment. Although my work is based on a detailed understanding of typical development, much of it is applied to developmental conditions including autism, Down syndrome, and Williams syndrome. It therefore has both clinical and educational relevance, and has led to the development of information resources for educational professionals.
Recent and current grants
• Yanoaka, K., Jarrold, C., Saito, S., Van ‘t Wout, F. ‘Acquisition and development of strategic skill knowledge for cognitive control in adults and children’. JSPS Open Partnership Joint Research Project award. £18k, 24 months funding from April 2020.
• Jarrold C. & Van ‘t Wout, F. ‘The development of procedural working memory’. Leverhulme Trust Project Grant. £193k, 36 months funding from January 2015.
• Jarrold C. & Smith, E. ‘Providing a novel framework to measure the key components of executive function in DS, with applications for efficient early clinical diagnosis of dementia’. Jerome Lejeune Foundation Grant. €19k, 12 months funding from January 2015.
• Hall, D. & Jarrold C. ‘Making working memory work for educational psychologists’. ESRC Knowledge Exchange Scheme grant. £27k, 12 months funding from January 2014.
• Williams, D., Boucher, J., & Jarrold C. ‘Time-based and event-based prospective memory in autism: The roles of executive function and theory of mind’. ESRC research award. £80k, 11 months funding from January 2011.
• Jarrold C. & Towse J. N. ‘The development of working memory’. ESRC research award. £460k (plus £52k grant-linked studentship), 36 months funding from January 2011.
• Bayliss, D. M., & Jarrold, C. ‘Memory consolidation and educational achievement in children’. Australian Research Council grant. AUS$ 150k, 36 months funding from January 2009.
• Oberauer, K., Farrell, S., & Jarrold, C. ‘Modeling working memory’. ESRC research award. 674k, 36 months funding from September 2008.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Metre and Memorisation
Principal Investigator
Role
Co-Investigator
Description
This is an interdisciplinary project between English and Psychology investigating the psychological effects of verse which will concentrate upon the effects of metre and memorisation.Managing organisational unit
Department of EnglishDates
05/03/2021 to 31/07/2021
GW4 Neurodevelopmental Neurodiversity Network
Role
Co-Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Dates
01/08/2020 to 31/07/2021
Acquisition and development of strategic skill knowledge for cognitive control in adults and children
Role
Co-Investigator
Description
Funding for Japanese Researcher (Kaichi Yanaoka) to support an international collaborative research project and international travel (including to Bristol)Managing organisational unit
School of Psychological ScienceDates
01/04/2020 to 31/03/2022
Fellowship - Sebastian Poloczek
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Psychological ScienceDates
01/10/2016 to 30/09/2018
The Development of Working Memory
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Psychological ScienceDates
01/01/2011 to 01/08/2015
Thesis supervisions
The effects of task demands on prospective memory, and their relationship with Autistic traits
Supervisors
How Articulatory Suppression, Visual-Spatial Suppression and Private Speech Affect Planning in Autism Spectrum Disorder
Supervisors
Examining the Impact of Memory and Processing Speed Deficits upon Literacy Attainment in Key Stage 3 Pupils in a UK Mainstream Secondary School
Supervisors
Correlations Between Inhibition and Memory Components of Executive Function and Measures of Autistic Traits in the General Population
Supervisors
Inhibition in children with autism
Supervisors
An investigation into the underlying mechanisms of enactment in Working Memory
Supervisors
Investigating the relationship between anxiety, attentional control, and working memory performance in typically developing older adolescents
Supervisors
Publications
Selected publications
02/09/2017Working out how working memory works
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Reevaluating Key Evidence for the Development of Rehearsal
Developmental Psychology
How Does Processing Affect Storage in Working Memory Tasks? Evidence for Both Domain-General and Domain-Specific Effects
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition
The complexities of complex span: Explaining individual differences in working memory in children and adults
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
Genetically dissociated components of working memory: evidence from Down's and Williams syndrome
Neuropsychologia
Recent publications
01/04/2024Age-related differences in the removal of information from working memory
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
Evidence for positive and negative transfer of abstract task knowledge in adults and school-aged children
Cognition
Is verbal rehearsal strategic? An investigation into overt rehearsal of nameable pictures in 5- to 10-year-old children
Journal of Cognition and Development
No evidence for cross-paradigm transfer of abstract task knowledge in adults and school-aged children
Memory and Cognition
When stimulus variability accelerates the learning of task knowledge in adults and school-aged children
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology