Development and Lifespan Group

Smiling grandmother being being kissed on cheek by child

Members of the Development and Lifespan Group focus on childhood development of memory, language, social cognition, visual attention and multimodal integration.

We work with typically and atypically developing populations.

The Development and Lifespan Group is part of the ARU Centre for Mind and Behaviour.

We offer a Psychology PhD. We have also identified a range of innovative research project opportunities for postgraduate researchers.

For more information, contact Dr Ruth Ford at [email protected].

Members

Find out more about our group members on their profile pages.

Find out more about our group members on their profile pages.

  • Syeda Asma
  • Martina Finessi
  • Lilly Gyimes-Smith
  • Claudia Silver

  • Stefania Cangemi

  • Dr Elena Sakkalou gave a keynote speech sponsored by Guide Dogs for the Blind at the 2023 Visionary Conference to all charities working in the field of visual impairment.
  • Dr Ruth Ford led the ARU Kids Club at the Chelmsford Science Festival Fun Days in October 2023, with the help of Hugo Hassanzadeh-Ghannad, Maria Imelda, Lou Redshaw, Ella Walton, and Syeda Asma.
  • Dr Elizabeth Kirk organised a public and professional engagement day at ARU Cambridge on Infant Cry Research, July 2023. Attendees included the NSPCC, Mind, social workers, midwives, local mental health charities, and families.
  • Dr Elena Sakkalou organised Mary Kitzinger Trust workshops for professionals, clinicians, and researchers, working with children with visual impairment, 2023.
  • Dr Ruth Ford worked with the Talking Together team at Doncaster City Council to develop a play-based and parent-led intervention to improve the school readiness of preschoolers growing up in low-income families.  

Ford, R. M., Stets, M., Redsell, S., D’Amore, A., & Johnson, S. (2025). Lending a helping hand to preterm infants: Randomized controlled trial of the impact of ‘sticky mittens’ on exploratory behavior and later development. Early Human Development, Vol. 202, 106215. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2025.106215

Salzer, E. B., Meireles, J. F. F., Kirk, E., Preston, C. E., e Sá, D. V. and Neves, C. M. (2024) 'Body understanding measure for pregnancy scale (BUMPs): Cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric properties among Brazilian pregnant women', Body Image, 49, 101689. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2024.101689

Stafford, L., Munns, L., Crossland, A. E., Kirk, E. and Preston, C. E. (2024) 'Bonding with bump: Interoceptive sensibility moderates the relationship between pregnancy body satisfaction and antenatal attachment', Midwifery, 131, 103940. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2024.103940

Ford, R. M., & McLean, T. (2024). Self-processing and social functioning in autistic preschoolers. British Journal of Developmental Psychology. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12468.

Crossland, A. E., Munns, L., Kirk, E. and Preston, C. E. J. (2023) 'Comparing body image dissatisfaction between pregnant women and non-pregnant women: a systematic review and meta-analysis', BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 23(1), pp. 709. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-023-05930-w

Belcher, H. L., Uglik-Marucha, N., Vitoratou, S., Ford, R. M. and Morein-Zamir, S. (2023) 'Gender bias in autism screening: Measurement invariance of different model frameworks of the Autism Quotient', BJPsych Open. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2023.562

Kuppen, S. (2023) 'Supporting Students in School', BACP Children, Young People and Families, British Association for Counselling Psychologists, June 2023, pp. 26-28.

Belcher, H. L., Morein-Zamir, S., Stagg, S. D. and Ford, R. M. (2023) 'Shining a light on a hidden population: Social functioning and mental health in women reporting autistic traits but lacking diagnosis', Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 53(8), pp. 3118-3132. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05583-2

Preston, C. and Kirk, E. (2022) 'Exploring the development of high-level contributions to body representation using the rubber hand illusion and the monkey hand illusion', Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 223, 105477. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105477

Crossland, A., Kirk, E. and Preston, C. (2022) 'Interoceptive sensibility and body satisfaction in pregnant and non-pregnant women with and without children', Scientific Reports, 12(1), 16138. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-20181-z

Kirk, E., Donnelly, S., Furman, R., Warmington, M., Glanville, J. and Eggleston, A. (2022) 'The relationship between infant pointing and language development: A meta-analytic review', Developmental Review, 64, 101023. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2022.101023

Kvavilashvili, L. and Ford, R. M. (2022) 'Metamemory for involuntary autobiographical memories and semantic mind-pops in 5-, 7- and 9-year-old children and young adults', Child Development, 93(5), e484-e500.

Ryder, N., Kvavilashvili, L. and Ford, R. M. (2022) 'Effects of incidental reminders on activity-based prospective memory in 5- and 7-year-old children',Developmental Psychology, 58(5), pp. 890-901. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001035

Belcher, H., Morein-Zamir, S., Mandy, W. and Ford, R. M. (2021) 'Camouflaging intent, first impressions, and age of ASC diagnosis in autistic men and women', Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05221-3

Sakkalou, E., O’Reilly, M. A., Sakki, H., Springall, C., de Haan, M., Salt, A. T. and Dale, N. J. (2020) 'Mother-infant interactions with infants with congenital visual impairment and associations with longitudinal outcomes in cognition and language', Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52(6), pp. 742-750.

Salt, A., O’Reilly, M. A., Sakkalou, E. and Dale, N. J. (2020) 'Detection vision development in infants and toddlers with congenital vision disorders and profound-sever visual impairment: Detection vision in infant vision disorders', Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 62(8), pp. 962-968.