The Z-Lab studies Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. We use longitudinal neuroimaging and computational modeling to investigate the developing human brain, answering questions like: What are the brain building blocks that we are born with, how do they change with maturation and experience, and can we use this information to predict the development of individual abilities later in life?

Highlighted publications:

Saygin, Z.M, Norton, E.S, Osher, D.E., Beach, S.D., Cyr, A.B., Ozernov-Palchik, O., Yendiki, A., Fischl, B., Gaab, N., & Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2013). Tracking the Roots of Reading Ability: White Matter Volume and Integrity Correlate with Phonological Awareness in Prereading and Early-Reading Kindergarten Children. Journal of Neuroscience, 33 (33): 13251-13258.

Saygin, Z., Osher, D., Norton, E. et al. (2016). Connectivity precedes function in the development of the visual word form area. Nature Neuroscience. 19: 1250–1255.

Li, J., Osher,D.E., Hansen, H.A., & Saygin, Z.M. (2020) Innate connectivity patterns drive the development of the visual word form area. Scientific Reports doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-75015-7