BSc (Honours) Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Advisor: Dr. Aaron J. Newman. Thesis: The effects of age on second language acquisition in French: an ERP study
Funding History
2024
CIHR Project Grant, $688,500 (5 years)
2022
New Frontiers in Research Fund Special Call, $237,970 (2 years)
2021
Children's Health Research Institute Internal Research Grant, $10,000 (1 year)
2021
Molly Towell Perinatal Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, $60,000 (2 years)
2021
BrainsCAN Tier I Postdoctoral Fellowship, $150,000 (2 years)
2020
BrainsCAN Postdoctoral Collaborative Research Grant, $5,000 (1 year)
Wang, J., Nichols, E.S., Mueller, M.E., de Vrijer, B., Eagleson, R., McKenzie, C.A., de Ribaupierre, S., & Duerden, E.G. (2022). Semi-automatic segmentation of the fetal brain from Magnetic Resonance Imaging.Frontiers in Neuroscience: Brain Imaging Methods (Special Issue - Imaging the Developing Connectome of Perinatal Brain), 16:1027084.
Master, R., Nichols, E.S., Eagleson, R., Duerden, E., & de Ribaupierre, S. Infant Communication Outcomes Relate to Language Network Connectivity in Utero.
Leachman, C., Nichols, E.S., Al-Saoud, S., & Duerden. Anxiety in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Behavioural Phenotypes and Environmental Factors.
Al-Saoud, S., Nichols, E.S., Brossard-Racine, M., Wild, C.J., Norton, L., & Duerden, E.G. A Transdiagnostic Examination of Cognitive Heterogeneity in Children and Adolescents with Neurodevelopmental Disorders.
Gao, D., Liang, X., Qi, T., Nichols, E.S., Bai, Z., Xu, C., Cai, M., & Liu, L. Assimilation and Accommodation of Letter-Sound Integration on the Superior Temporal Gyrus from an Evolutionary Perspective.
Kuenzel, E., Hennessy A, Choi E., Nichols, E.S., Duerden, E.G. Response inhibition in neurodiverse children and the association with excessive screen time use.
Liang, X., Cai, M., Jing, G., Nichols, E.S., Zhang, C., Gao, D., & Liu, L. Dynamic cycle between idea generation and evaluation during creative storytelling: Dual process of spontaneous and deliberate thinking.
Peer-Reviewed Talks
Nichols, E.S., Huang, E.G., Wang, J., Mueller, M.E., Goldberg, E., de Vrijer, B., Eagleson, R., McKenzie, C.A., de Ribaupierre, S., & Duerden, E.G. (2021). Hippocampal development from the third trimester to age three. Fetal and Perinatal Physiological Society 47th Annual Meeting, Italy, October, 2021.
Nichols, E.S., McKinlay, S., Russell, M.L., & Joanisse, M.F. (2016). Effects of proficiency and age of acquisition on grammatical gender processing in second language speakers. Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science 26th Annual Meeting, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. June, 2016.
Joanisse, M.F., Welcome, S., & Nichols, E.S. (2015). Gray- and White-Matter Correlates of Individual Differences in Reading and Second Language Learning. Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science 25th Annual Meeting, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. June, 2015.
Nichols, E.S. & Joanisse, & M.F. (2015). The other side of the tracts: structural connectivity in second language speakers. Western Interdisciplinary Student Symposium on Language Research, London, Ontario, Canada. March, 2015.
Joanisse, M.F. & Nichols, E.S. (2013). Lexical processing in second language learners: What do we know? Talk presented at the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, Hong Kong, China. July, 2013.
Newman, A.J., Tremblay, A., & Nichols, E.S. (2010). Dissociating age of acquisition from fluency: Linear mixed-effects modeling of proficiency and N400 amplitude in native speakers and bilinguals. Talk presented at the Neurobiology of Language Conference, San Diego, CA. November, 2010.
Nichols, E.S., Marchand, Y., & Newman, A.J. (2010). Effects of proficiency on morphological priming in second language French learners: An ERP study. Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science 20th Annual Meeting, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. June, 2010.
Invited Talks
Nichols, E.S. (2021). Representational dissimilarity of first and second languages in the bilingual brain. Brain Space Initiative, TReNDS Centre, Atlanta, Georgia. October 2021.
Nichols, E.S. & Joanisse, M.F. (2013). Neural correlates of second language acquisition: Proficiency and age of acquisition in Mandarin-English bilinguals. Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China. July, 2013.
Peer-Reviewed Posters
Montenegro, J.T.P., Seguin, D., Nichols, E.S., & Duerden, E.G. (2023). Early Joint Attention Behaviors in Infants at High Familial Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder: Association with Brain Development. International Society of Autism Research Annual Meeting, Stockholm, Sweden. May 2023.
Correa, S., Nichols, E.S., Mueller, M.E., de Vrijer, B., Eagleson, R., McKenzie, C.A., de Ribaupierre, S., & Duerden, E.G. (2022). Subcortical function and structure features in fetal memory systems. Neuroscience, San Diego, USA. November 2022.
Nichols, E.S., Mueller, M.E., de Vrijer, B., Eagleson, R., McKenzie, C.A., de Ribaupierre, S., & Duerden, E.G. (2022). Pandemic-related maternal stress and the association with fetal thalamic volumes. Flux Symposium, Paris, France. September 2022.
Nichols, E.S., DeKraker, J., Duerden, E.G. & Khan, A.R., (2022). Automated segmentation and unfolding of the neonatal hippocampus. (2022). Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Glasgow, UK. June 2022.
Nichols, E.S., Khan, A.R., & Duerden, E.G. (2022). Hippocampal subfield development in preterm and term-born neonates. (2022). Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Glasgow, UK. June 2022.
Nichols, E.S., Van Dyken, P., Kai, J., Kuehn, T., Correa, S., Mueller, M.E., Al-Saoud, S., Ubhi, T., Papadopoulos, A., Christiaans, E., de Ribaupierre, S., Duerden, E.G., & Khan, A.R. (2022). Funcmasker-flex: an automated BIDS-App for brain segmentation of fetal functional MRI data. Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Glasgow, UK. June 2022.
Nichols, E.S., Al-Saoud, S., Kuurstra, A., Wade, T., de Vrijer, B., Eagleson, R., McKenzie, C.A., de Ribaupierre S., & Duerden E.G. (2022). T2* placental magnetic resonance imaging at 3T: association with gestational age. Canadian National Perinatal Research Meeting. May 2022.
Nichols, E.S., Correa, S., Mueller, M.E., Thorburn, R., Goldberg, E., de Vrijer, B., Eagleson, R., McKenzie, C.A., de Ribaupierre, S., & Duerden, E.G. (2021). Segmentation of the fetal brain in functional magnetic resonance images. Canadian National Perinatal Research Meeting. February 2021.
Nichols, E.S., Correa, S., Thorburn, R., Goldberg, E., de Vrijer, B., Eagleson, R., McKenzie, C.A., de Ribaupierre, S., & Duerden, E.G. (2020). Fetal brain masking: evaluating the generalizability of an automated toolbox. Perinatal, Preterm and Paediatric Image Analysis. October 2020.
Sternin, A., Nichols, E.S., Grahn, J.A., Owen, A.M. (2018). Fine tuning cognitive assessment in the elderly using an online test battery. Promoting Health Brain Aging and Preventing Dementia, Banff, Canada. June 2018.
Nichols, E.S., Joanisse, M.F., Gao, Y., & Liu, L. (2017). Individual differences in age of acquisition predict fine-grained white matter microstructure in bilinguals. Society for the Neurobiology of Language, Baltimore, USA. November, 2017.
Nichols, E.S., Joanisse, M.F., Gao, Y., & Liu, L. (2017). Multivariate analyses reveal distributed and overlapping neural representations of bilinguals' first and second languages. Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, USA. March, 2017.
Nichols, E.S.. & Grahn, J.A. (2015). ERP marker of audiovisual integration in musicians and non-musicians. Society for Music Cognition and Perception, Nashville, USA. August, 2015.
Nichols, E.S. & Joanisse, M.F. (2014). Proficiency and age of acquisition predict brain activation and white matter connectivity in Mandarin-English bilinguals. Ninth International Conference on the Mental Lexicon, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada. September, 2014.
Nichols, E.S., Joanisse, M.F., & Farmer, T. A.. (2014). The downstream consequences of form-to-expectation mismatch. Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing 2014 Annual Meeting, Edinburgh, UK. September, 2014.
Nichols, E.S. & Joanisse, M.F. (2014). Proficiency and age of acquisition predict brain activation and white matter connectivity in Mandarin-English bilinguals. Society for the Neurobiology of Language 2014 Annual Meeting, Amsterdam, Netherlands. August, 2014.
Nichols, E.S. & Joanisse, M.F. (2013). Proficiency and age of acquisition independently modulate brain activity in Mandarin-English bilinguals. The Psychonomic Society 2013 Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada. November, 2013.
Nichols, E.S. & Joanisse, M.F. (2013). Neural correlates of second language acquisition: Proficiency and age of acquisition in Mandarin-English bilinguals. Canada-Israel Symposium on Brain Plasticity, Learning, and Education, London, Canada. June, 2013.
Nichols, E.S. & Joanisse, M.F. (2013). Do age of acquisition and proficiency independently modulate brain activation in second language speakers? Lake Ontario Visionary Establishment 42nd annual meeting, Niagara Falls, Canada. February, 2013.
Newman, A.J., Tremblay, A., & Nichols, E.S. (2010). Dissociating age of acquisition from proficiency: On the use of linear mixed-effects modeling of ERP data in native speakers and bilinguals. Donostia Workshop on Neurobilingualism, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain. October, 2010.
Teaching Assistant: Statistics for Psychology, Research Methods in Psychology, Child Development, Introduction to Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario.
Technical consultant to Dr. Joel Dickinson, Department of Psychology, Laurentian University.
2010
Lab Demonstrator for lab class Research Methods in Cognitive Neuroscience, taught by Dr. Aaron J. Newman. Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University.
2010
Research Assistant to Dr. Tracy Taylor-Helmick, Memory and Attention lab, Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University.
2009-11
Research Assistant to Dr. Aaron J. Newman, NeuroCognitive Imaging Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University.
Co-supervisor of psychology undergraduate honours thesis student, University of Western Ontario
2014
Mentor and tutor of the London Brain Bee winner, in preparation for the National Brain Bee
2014
Volunteer for the 2014 London Brain Bee, University of Western Ontario
2013-14
Co-supervisor of two psychology undergraduate honours thesis students, University of Western Ontario
2013
Women in Science discussion group, co-founder and coordinator, Department of Psychology and the Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario.
2012-13
Psychology Graduate Student Association, Representative, University of Western Ontario
2012
Graduate Teaching Assistants Union Scholarships Evaluation Committee, Graduate Student Member, University of Western Ontario
2011
Psychology Graduate Affairs Committee, Graduate Student Representative, University of Western Ontario