Skip to Content

Department of Cognitive Science

Dr Jon Brock

BSc Bristol, PhD Warwick.

Dr Jon Brock

Research Fellow

Contact Details

Office : 3.821
Phone : +61 2 9850 6869
Fax : +61 2 9850 6059
email : jon.brock@mq.edu.au
Homepage : http://crackingtheenigma.blogspot.com/

External Address

Department of Cognitive Science
Australian Hearing Hub
16 University Avenue
Macquarie University NSW 2109

Profile

My research focuses on the cognitive and neural mechanisms involved in a range of developmental disorders. In my PhD, supervised by Prof Jill Boucher at Warwick University (UK), I investigated the links between language and memory abilities in children with Williams syndrome. I then completed a post-doctoral position with Dr Chris Jarrold at Bristol University (UK), looking at similar issues in Down syndrome. In 2004, I moved to Oxford University (UK), where I worked on a project with Prof Kate Nation, using eye-tracking to look at language comprehension in children with autism.

I became a MACCS Research Fellow in 2007 and have recently begun working with Dr Blake Johnson and Dr Genevieve McArthur on a 5-year project funded by the ARC. Our aim is to link cognitive and neural-level mechanisms of language impairment in autism. We will be adopting a range of methodological approaches including behavioural testing, eye-tracking, and brain imaging using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and structural MRI.

I am also currently supervising two PhD students investigating other aspects of autism. Ellie Wilson (co-supervised by Romina Palermo) is looking at face-recognition skills in children with autism and developmental prosopagnosia. Tommy Ng (primary supervisor, Blake Johnson) is investigating the neural basis of motor coordination in adults with and without autism.

External Memberships

  • Experimental Psychology Society

Awards

  • Promotion to Senior Lecturer (Level C) (2012), Brock, J.

Grants Awarded

  • Macquarie University Research Infrastructure Block Grant Scheme (2012) “Upgrade of child magnetoencephalography (MEG) system.” Johnson, B.W., Crain, S., Thornton, R., Demuth, K., Brock, J., Sowman P., Zhou, P., & Johnson, M. ($100,000)
  • Macquarie University Faculty of Human Sciences Visiting Fellowship (2012) "Visit of Professor Kevin Pelphrey, Yale University, USA." Brock, J., & Pelphrey, K. ($3,500)
  • ARC Centre of Excellence [CE110001021] (2011 - 2017) "ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders." Crain, S., Rhodes, G., Hodges, J., Coltheart, M., Castles, A., Barnier, A., Brock, J., Byrne, B., Demuth, K., Green, M., Langdon, R., Johnson, B., McArthur, G., Miller, L., Nickels, L., Piguet, O., Savage, G., Thompson, W., Thornton, R. et al. ($21,000,000)
  • Macquarie Faculty Research Infrastructure Fund (2010) "Macquarie Online Test Interface (MOTIf)." McArthur, G., Kohnen, S., Castles, A., Coltheart, M., Nickels, L., Savage, G., Johnson, B., Brock, J., Wheldall, K., Beaman, R., Rowe, D., Morgan, M., Porter, M., & Sharma, M. ($75,000)
  • Macquarie University Research Infrastructure Block Grant Scheme (2010) "A dual pulse magnetic stimulator for the study of brain excitation and inhibition in human movement studies." Sowman, P., Finkbeiner, M., Crain, S., Harrison, E., Cox, F., Brock, J., Savage, G., Johnson, B., Friedman, J., Mannell, R. ($75,000)
  • Macquarie University Research Infrastructure Block Grant Scheme (2010) "MEG-compatible eyetracker." Brock, J., Crain, S., Williams, M., Savage, G., Rich, A., McArthur, G., Sharma, M., Langdon, R., Tesan, G. ($40,000)
  • HCSNet Workshop Grant (2009) "Communication in autism." Arciuli, J. & Brock, J. ($20,000)
  • Macquarie University Research Infrastructure Block Grant Scheme (2009) "Remote eyetracker for testing special populations." Crain. S., Brock, J., Thornton, R., Castles, A., McArthur, G., Thornton, R., Marsh, P., Brock, J., Savage, G., Rich, A., Cox, R., Rowe, D., A. Gamble, A., Langdon, R., Rapee, R., Hudson, J., Lyneham, H., & Porter, M. ($47,908)
  • Macquarie University Research Infrastructure Block Grant Scheme (2009) "Kids' Science Club: A Children's Research Register at Macquarie University". McArthur, G., Robbins, R., Castles, A., Crain, S., Rapee, R., Thornton, R., Lyneham, H., Cupples, L., Hudson, J., Bowes, J., Palermo, R., Brock, J., Porter, M., Johnson, B., Cox, F., Warburton, W., Kohnen, S., Jensen, B. ($32,858)
  • ARC Discovery Project Grant [DP0984666] (2009 - 2013) "Cognitive and neural cause of language impairment in autism." Brock, J., Johnson, B., & McArthur, G. ($422,285)
  • Macquarie University Safety Net Grant (2008) "Cognitive integration in autism spectrum disorders." Brock, J. ($18,000)
  • Macquarie University Research Development Grant (2008 - 2010) Language-mediated eye-movements in autism, specific language impairment, and typical development. Brock, J. ($49,905)

Selected Publications

Books

  • Arciuli, J., & Brock, J. (In Press). Communication in Autism: Trends in Language Acquisition Research (TiLAR) Series. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Book Chapters

  • Jarrold, C., & Brock, J. (2012). Short-term memory and working memory in mental retardation. In J.A. Burack, R.M. Hodapp, G. Iarocci & E. Zigler (Eds.), Handbook of Intellectual Disability and Development (2nd ed., pp. 109-124). New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Brock, J., & Caruana, N. (In Press). Reading for sound and reading for meaning in autism: Frith and Snowling (1983) revisited. In J. Arciuli & J. Brock (Eds.), Communication in Autism: Trends in Language Acquisition Research (TiLAR) Series. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Brock, J., Einav, S., & Riby, D. (2008). The other end of the spectrum? Social cognition in Williams syndrome. In T. Striano & V. Reid (Eds.), Social cognition: Development, neuroscience and autism (pp. 281-300). Oxford: Blackwell.
  • Jarrold, C., Purser, H.R.M., & Brock, J. (2006). Short-term memory in Down syndrome. In T.P. Alloway & S. Gathercole (Eds.), Working memory and neurodevelopmental disorders (pp. 239-266). Hove, UK: Psychology Press.

Periodicals

  • Johnson, B.W., McArthur, G., Hautus, M., Reid, M., Brock, J., Castles, A., & Crain, S. (2013). Lateralized auditory brain function in children with normal reading ability and in children with dyslexia. Neuropsychologia, 51, 633-641. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.12.015
  • Ng, T., Sowman, P., Brock, J., & Johnson, B.W. (2013). Neuromagnetic brain activity associated with anticipatory postural adjustments for bimanual load lifting. Neuroimage, 66, 343-352.
  • Wilson, C.E., Palermo, R., & Brock, J. (2012). Visual scan paths and recognition of facial identity in autism spectrum disorder and typical development. PLoS One, 7, e37681.
  • Brock, J. (2012). Alternative Bayesian accounts of autistic perception: Comment on Pellicano and Burr. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12, 573-574.
  • Ng, T.H.B, Sowman, P.F., Brock, J., & Johnson, B.W. (2011). Premovement brain activity in a bimanual load-lifting task. Experimental Brain Research, 208(2), 189-201. doi:10.1007/s00221-010-2470-5
  • Wilson, C.E., Palermo, R., Burton, A.M., & Brock, J. (2011). Recognition of own- and other-race faces in autism spectrum disorders. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64(10), 1939-1954.
  • Brock, J. (2011). Complementary approaches to the developmental cognitive neuroscience of autism – reflections on Pelphrey et al. (2011). Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52, 645-646.
  • Brock, J., Xu, J. Y., & Brooks, K. (2011). Individual differences in visual search: relationship to autistic traits, discrimination thresholds, and speed of processing. Perception, 40, 739-742.
  • Wilson, C.E., Brock, J., & Palermo, R. (2010). Attention to social stimuli and facial identity recognition skills in autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 54(12), 1104-1115.
  • Wilson, C.E., Freeman, P., Brock, J., Burton, A.M., & Palermo, R. (2010). Facial identity recognition in the broader autism phenotype. PLoS One, 5(9), e12876. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0012876
  • Wilson, C .E., Palermo, R., Brock, J., & Burton, A.M. (2010). Learning new faces in typically developing children and children on the autistic spectrum. Perception, 39(12), 1645-1658. doi:10.1068/p6727
  • Wilson, C.E., Palermo, R., Schmalzl, L., & Brock, J. (2010). Specificity of impaired facial identity recognition in children with suspected developmental prosopagnosia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 27(1), 30-45.
  • Norbury, C.F., Brock, J., Cragg, L., Einav, S., Griffiths, H., & Nation, K. (2009). Eye-movement patterns are associated with communicative competence in autistic spectrum disorders. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50, 834-842.
  • Brock, J., Norbury, C. F., Einav, S., & Nation, K. (2008). Do individuals with autism process words in context? Evidence from language-mediated eye-movements. Cognition.
  • Langdon, R. & Brock, J. (2008). Hypo- or hyper-mentalizing: It all depends upon what one means by "mentalizing". Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31, 274-275.
  • Rippon, G., Brock, J., Brown, C.C., & Boucher, J. (2007). Disordered connectivity in the autistic brain: challenges for the 'new psychophysiology'. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 63, 164-172.
  • Brock, J. (2007). Language abilities in Williams syndrome: a critical review. Development and Psychopathology, 19, 97-127.
  • Brock, J., Jarrold, C., Farran, E. K., Laws, G., & Riby, D.M. (2007). Do children with Williams syndrome really have good vocabulary knowledge? Methods for comparing cognitive and linguistic abilities in developmental disorders. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 21, 673-688.
  • Brock, J., Brown, G.D.A., & Boucher, J (2006). Free recall in Williams syndrome: Is there a dissociation between short- and long-term memory? Cortex, 42, 366-375.
  • Bott, L., Brock, J., Brockdorff, N., Boucher, J., & Lamberts, K. (2006). Perceptual similarity in autism. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 59A, 1237-1254.
  • Brock, J. & Jarrold, C. (2005). Serial order reconstruction in Down syndrome: Evidence for a selective deficit in verbal short-term memory. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46, 304-316.
  • Brock, J., McCormack, T., & Boucher, J. (2005). Probed serial recall in Williams syndrome: Lexical influences on phonological short-term memory. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 48, 360-371.
  • Brown, C.C., Gruber, T., Boucher, J., Rippon, G., & Brock, J. (2005). Gamma abnormalities during perception of illusory figures in autism. Cortex, 41, 364-376.
  • Brock, J. & Jarrold, C. (2004). Language influences on verbal short-term memory in Down syndrome: Item and order recognition. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47, 1334-1346.
  • Jarrold, C., & Brock, J. (2004). To match or not to match? Methodological issues in autism-related research. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34, 81-86.
  • McCormack, T., Brown, G.D.A., Smith, M.C., & Brock, J. (2004). A timing-specific memory distortion effect in young children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 87, 33-56.
  • Brock, J., Brown, C.C., Boucher, J., & Rippon, G. (2002). The temporal binding deficit hypothesis of autism. Development and Psychopathology, 14, 209-224.

Published Abstracts

  • de Lissa, P., Brock, J., & McArthur, G. (2012). Investigating saccade-programming and shifts of attention on a Posner cueing task with Saccade-Related Potentials [Abstract]. Combined Abstracts of 2010 Australian Psychology Conferences [CDROM].

Published Conference Proceedings

  • Parviz, M., Johnson, M., Johnson, B., & Brock, J. (2011). Using Language Models and Latent Semantic Analysis to Characterise the N400m Neural Response. In (Ed.), Proceedings of the Australasian Language Technology Association Workshop 2011 Canberra: Australasian Language Technology Association.
  • Calacouris, S. & Brock, J. (2010). How does sentence context affect activation of homophone and cohort competitors? Evidence from language-mediated eye movements. In Christensen,W., Schier, E., & Sutton, J. (Eds.), ASCS09: Proceedings of the 9th Conference of the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science (pp. 28-34). Sydney: Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science.
  • Ng, T., Sowman, P., Brock, J., & Johnson, B.W. (2010). An EEG/MEG study of anticipatory postural adjustment in a bimanual load-lifting task. In W. Christensen, E. Schier, and J. Sutton (Eds.), In ASCS09: Proceedings of the 9th Conference of the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science (pp. 261-269). Sydney: Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science.

Conference Presentations, Colloquia, and other presentations

  • Caruana, N., Woolgar, A., & Brock, J. (2012, December). An interactive eye-tracking test of joint attention. Paper presented at the Inaugural Scientific Conference of the Australasian Society for Autism Research (ASfAR), Sydney.
  • Brock, J., Caruana, N., & Sowman, P. (2012, December). Picture naming and the language bottleneck in autism. Paper presented at the Inaugural Scientific Conference of the Australasian Society for Autism Research (ASfAR), Sydney.
  • Brock, J. (2012, November). The challenge of heterogeneity in autism research. Invited presentation given at the Victorian Autism Research Forum, Melbourne.
  • Yau, S., Brock, J., & Johnson, B.W. (2012, November). Neural responses to speech and nonspeech sounds and language impairment in children with ASD. Poster session presented at the ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Brisbane, Australia.
  • Tang, J., Brock, J., & Johnson, B.W. (2012, November). Oscillatory phase tracking of acoustic signal: Inter-trial phase locking as a sensitive measure. Poster session presented at the ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Brisbane, Australia.
  • He, W., Brock, J., & Johnson, B.W. (2012, November). Face processing in pre-school aged children: An MEG neuroimaging study. Colloquium at the ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Brisbane, Australia.
  • He, W., Tesan, G., Brock, J., & Johnson, B.W. (2012, August). A neural marker of face processing in a four year old child. Poster session presented at the Annual Workshop of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders (CCD), Macquarie University, Sydney.
  • Caruana, N., & Brock, J. (2012, May). Autistic traits and eye-movements during reading. Poster session presented at the 12th Annual Meeting of the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), Toronto, Canada.
  • Yau, S.H., Johnson, B.W., & Brock, J. (2012, May). Auditory processing and language impairment in children with ASD. Poster session presented at the 12th Annual Meeting of the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), Toronto, Canada.
  • Brock, J., & Johnson, B.W. (2012, May). Atypical brain responses to illusory auditory pitch in children with autism. Poster session presented at the 12th Annual Meeting of the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), Toronto, Canada.
  • Brock, J. (2012, May). Facial identity recognition in autism. Presentation given at the Psychology Department Seminar Series, University of New South Wales, Sydney.
  • Brock, J., & Yau, S. (2012, May). MEG studies of autism and typical development. Presentation given at the MEG Group Meeting, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
  • Caruana, N., & Brock, J. (2012, April). Autistic traits and eye-movements during reading. Poster session presented at the 39th Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference (EPC), Sydney.
  • de Lissa, P., Brock, J., & McArthur, G. (2012, April). Investigating saccade-programming and shifts of attention on a Posner cueing task with saccade-related potentials. Poster session presented at the 39th Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference (EPC), Sydney.
  • Brock, J., Lodhia, V., Reid, M., Bzishvili, S., Hautus, M., & Johnson, B. (2012, February). Neuromagnetic responses to illusory pitch stimuli in children with autism. Invited paper presented at the BioAutism Meeting, Brisbane.
  • Sukenik, N., Friedmann, N., & Brock, J. (2012, January). Individual differences in autistic children's reading of sentences with homographs. Presentation given at the Brain Plasticity Symposium, Inauguration of the Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
  • Brock, J., Reid, M., Bzishvili, S., Hautus, M. & Johnson, B. (2011, December). Atypical brain responses to illusory auditory pitch in children with autism Paper presented at the Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Sydney.
  • Caruana, N. & Brock, J. (2011, December). Autistic traits and eye-movements during reading. Paper presented at the Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Sydney.
  • Lodhia, V., Brock, J., Johnson, B.W., Hamm, J., & Hautus, M.J. (2011, December). An investigation of perceptual processing in autistic spectrum disorder using mis-tuned harmonics Paper presented at the Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Sydney.
  • Ng, T., Sowman, P., Brock, J., & Johnson, B. (2011, December). Temporal dynamics of motor coordination in a bimanual load lifting task. Paper presented at the Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Sydney.
  • Parviz, M., Johnson, M., Johnson, B.W., & Brock, J. (2011, December). Using language models and latent semantic analysis to characterize the N400m neural response. Paper presented at the Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Sydney.
  • Yau, S.H., & Brock, J. (2011, December). Neuromagnetic responses to speech and nonspeech sounds and autism. Paper presented at the Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Sydney.
  • Brock, J. (2011, November). Biomarkers of autism spectrum disorders Presentation given at the ARC Centre for Cognition and its Disorders Annual Workshop, Sydney.
  • Johnson, B.W., McArthur, G., Reid, M., Brock, J., & Crain, S. (2011, June). A robust index of lateralized brain function in typically and atypically developing children Paper presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Quebec.
  • Brock, J., Johnson, B., Reid, M., Bzishvili, S., & Witton, C. (2011, June). An MEG study of dichotic pitch in children with autism spectrum disorder. Paper presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Quebec.
  • Wilson, E., Brock, J., & Palermo, R. (2011, May). Visual scanning strategies and facial identity recognition in autism spectrum disorder. Presentation given at the 10th International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), San Diego, USA.
  • Lodhia, V., Neiumdeniya, C., Hamm, J., Johnson, B., Brock, J., & Hautus, M.J. (2011, May). Bottom up or top-down? An investigation of perceptual processing in ASD using dichotic pitch. Paper presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research, San Diego.
  • Brock, J., Johnson, B., Reid, M., Bzishvili, S., Hautus, M. & Witton, C. (2011, April). Segregation of auditory objects in children with autism. Paper presented at the Experimental Psychology Society Meeting, Oxford.
  • Brock, J., Johnson, B.W., &Tesan, G. (2011, April). Medial frontal contributions to the N400m sentence context effect. Paper presented at the British Neuroscience Association Meeting, Harrogate, U.K..
  • Brock, J. & De Lissa, P. (2011, February). What can eye-movements reveal about cognition and its disorders? Presentation given at the ARC Centre for Cognition and its Disorders Inaugural Workshop, Sydney.
  • Ng, T., Sowman, P., Brock, J., & Johnson, B. (2011, January). Premovement brain activity in a bimanual load lifting task. Paper presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Quebec.
  • Brock, J., Johnson, B.W., Bzishvili, S., & Reid, M. (2010, November). Investigating auditory cortical responses in autism with magnetoencephalograpy. Poster session presented at the A Brain Research meeting: The emerging neuroscience of autism spectrum disorders. Etiologic insights; Treatment Opportunities, San Deigo, CA, USA.
  • Ng, T., Sowman, P., Brock, J. & Johnson, B.W. (2010, September). An EEG/MEG study of anticipatory postural adjustment in a bimanual load-lifting task. Poster session presented at the 9th Conference of the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science, Sydney, Australia.
  • Brock, J., Johnson, B.W., Sowman, P., Calacouris, S., & Heck, P. (2010, April). A magnetoencephalography study of oscillatory brain responses to spoken words. Paper presented at the EPC10 Australian Experimental Psychology Conference, Melbourne, Australia.
  • Brock, J. & Johnson, B.W (2009, April). A MEG study of sentence context effects in auditory word processing. Paper presented at the EPC09 Australian Experimental Psychology Conference, Wollongong, Australia.
  • Brock, J., Norbury, C. F., Einav, S., & Nation, K. (2008, May). Do individuals with autism process words in context? Evidence from language-mediated eye-movements. Paper presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research, London, UK..
  • Norbury, C. F., Brock, J., Cragg, L., Einav, S., Griffiths, H., & Nation, K. (2008, May). Visual fixation patterns are associated with communicative competence. Paper presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research, London, UK..
  • Brock, J. & Nation, K. (2007, January). Contextual suppression in spoken language comprehension: evidence from eye-tracking. Paper presented at the Experimental Psychology Society Meeting, London, UK.
  • Brock, J., Norbury, C., Einav, S. & Nation, K. (2006, September). Comprehension in context: language-mediated eye-movements in autism. Paper presented at the British Psychological Society Meeting - Developmental Section, London, UK.
  • Brock, J., Norbury, C., Einav, S., & Nation, K. (2006, May). Language-mediated eye-movements in autism and typical development. Paper presented at the Belgian Association for Psychological Science, Liege, Belgium.
  • Brock, J. (2006, May). Autism and language impairment: using eye-tracking to investigate comprehension. Paper presented at the Scottish Autism Research Group Seminar Series, Edinburgh, UK.
  • Brock, J., Jarrold, C., Farran, E.K., & Laws, G. (2006, January). The relationship between vocabulary knowledge, age, and non-verbal ability: Evidence for contrasting profiles in Williams syndrome and Down syndrome. Paper presented at the Experimental Psychology Society Meeting, London, UK.
  • Brock, J., Kinsey, K. & Nation, K. (2005, May). Investigating linguistic processing in autism using language-mediated eye-movements. Paper presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research, Boston, USA.
  • Brock, J. & Jarrold, C. (2004, January). Causes of short-term memory difficulties in Down syndrome. Paper presented at the Experimental Psychology Society Meeting, London, UK.
  • Brock, J., Cairns, P. & Jarrold, C. (2003, April). Determinants of verbal short-term memory performance in Down syndrome. Paper presented at the International Research Conference on Cognition and Behavior in Down Syndrome, Denver, USA.