Dr Ana Pesquita

Supervisor Details

Contact Details

Dr Ana Pesquita

Aston Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment, Aston UniversityLink opens in a new window

Scientific Background

Research Interests

I am a cognitive neuroscientist interested in a simple but fundamental idea: that minds are not passive receivers of information but bring forth their worlds through action. Cognition is something bodies do. My earlier work explored this in adults, studying how we perceive other people, integrate information across the senses, and use prediction to make sense of experience. But if knowing is rooted in acting, then the deepest questions lead backwards, to the point where a body first learns what it can do. So my focus has moved to infancy, where the loop between action and understanding is being built. At the Aston IHN Baby Lab, I study how infants learn through their own exploration. Every gaze shift and every seemingly aimless movement is a small experiment, and we ask how the developing brain learns from these self-generated experiences. Infant OPM-MEG has been hailed as one of the most exciting recent developments in neuroimaging (Turk-Browne & Aslin, 2024, Trends in Neurosciences), offering unprecedented resolution in an infant-friendly functional neuroimaging method. To date, only a few labs worldwide can record OPM-MEG in infants, and Aston is now one of them. My research is supported by the Vice-Chancellor's Prize Fellowship at Aston University.

Research Groups

Aston Institute of Health and NeurodevelopmentLink opens in a new window

Supervision Style

In three words or phrases: Supportive, collaborative, guiding towards independence.

Provision of Training

I take a hands-on role in your training at first, working alongside you, and hand over responsibility as your independence and confidence grow.

Progression Monitoring and Management

We will agree goals together and review them in regular meetings; I like to be kept up to date, but through conversation rather than surveillance. If something is not progressing as hoped, we will always discuss a plan of action together, since problems in research are normal and solving them is part of the training.

Communication

I am easy to reach and my door is genuinely open; I would much rather you ask a question early than struggle alone for a week. I am happy to discuss anything affecting your work or wellbeing, and while I sometimes work at odd hours, I never expect the same of you and care that you protect your work-life balance.

Meetings

PhD Students can expect scheduled meetings with me at least once per week. These meetings will be a mixture of face-to-face and via video chat or telephone. I am usually contactable for an instant response on every working day.

Work Patterns

Certain tasks in my lab need to occur at set times, and students need to be able to commit to a rota/timetable shared with other members of the team.

Notice Period for Feedback

I need at least 1 week's notice to provide feedback on written work of up to 5,000 words.

MIBTP Project Details

Primary supervisor for:

Why infants out-learn AI: the neural mechanisms of curiosity-driven learning

See the PhD Opportunities section to see if this project is currently open for applications via MIBTP.

Please Note: The main page lists projects via BBSRC Research Theme(s) quoted and then relevant Topic(s).

Why infants out-learn AI: the neural mechanisms of curiosity-driven learning

Secondary Supervisor(s): Dr Caroline Witton, Professor Aniko Ekárt, Dr Mark Elliott

University of Registration: Aston University

BBSRC Research Themes:

Understanding the Rules of Life (Neuroscience and Behaviour)

Project Outline

A NeuroAI PhD project combining infant neuroimaging, gaze and movement analysis, and artificial learning models to uncover the mechanisms of natural intelligence.

The Big Question: How does intelligence begin? Infants explore relentlessly: every shift of gaze and every seemingly aimless movement is a self-generated experiment that teaches the brain about its body and its world. Long dismissed as noise, this restless exploration is, we propose, the engine of development, and part of why infants learn more from less experience than the most powerful artificial intelligence (AI) systems. This project aims to uncover the neural and behavioural mechanisms by which self-generated exploration drives learning in the developing brain.

The Approach: You will measure where infants look and how they move as they explore, using eye tracking, motion capture and pose estimation. With OPM magnetoencephalography (OPM-MEG), a novel infant-friendly functional neuroimaging technique, you will examine how the brain learns from its own looking and acting. You will then build computational models, based on reinforcement learning and curiosity-driven exploration, as formal theories of where a curious infant should look and act next to learn most efficiently. You will test their predictions against infant behaviour and brain data, and shape which questions the project pursues next. Together, these strands will reveal how curiosity shapes what infants explore, and how exploration builds a learning brain.

Interests and skills: You should be excited to work quantitatively; strong candidates may come from experimental or computational backgrounds, and we will train you in the other.

What You Will Gain: You will join one of the few groups worldwide recording infant OPM-MEG, mentored by a team spanning neuroscience, movement analysis and AI. The skills you gain open careers in neuroscience, NeuroAI and technology.

Enquiries before applying are warmly encouraged: a.pesquita@aston.ac.uk