Dr Magda Chechlacz PhD

Dr Magda Chechlacz

School of Psychology
Assistant Professor in Cognition and Ageing

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 2852
Email
m.chechlacz.1@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
School of Psychology
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Chechlacz is broadly interested in understanding how variability in the neurochemical, structural and functional organisation of the brain affect cognitive functions and relates to individual differences in human behaviour and in susceptibility to cognitive ageing and mental health problems. Her work combines cognitive assessment of attentional functions with spherical deconvolution tractography, resting state connectivity analysis, brain stimulation and genetics.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1811-3946 

Qualifications

  • MSc (Biology)
  • PhD (Biology)
  • PhD (Psychology)

Biography

Dr Chechlacz initially trained and carried out a doctorate in cellular and molecular biology (2002). After working as a biologist (Larry L. Hillblom Foundation Fellowship at the University of California, San Diego) she decided on a career change to a more human-oriented science and neuroimaging. In order to gain formal training in cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging, she completed a second doctorate in psychology at the University of Birmingham under the supervision of Glyn Humphreys (2012). From 2013 to 2016, she held a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship and EPA Cephalosporin Junior Research Fellowship, Linacre College at the University of Oxford. In 2016 Dr Chechlacz returned to the School of Psychology, University of Birmingham as a Bridge Fellow.

Postgraduate supervision

Potential doctoral as well as postdoctoral researchers interested in working with Dr Chechlacz should email her to discuss potential projects and funding opportunities. Applicants interested in areas as listed below are especially welcome:

  • visual attention
  • neuroimaging genetics
  • age-related structural and functional changes in neural networks
  • individual differences
  • diffusion imaging

Research

Dr Chechlacz’s research is broadly concerned with understanding how variability in the neurochemical, structural and functional organisation of the brain affect cognitive performance, in particularly attentional functions, as well as whether and how these individual differences predict the susceptibility to neurological disorders and the way we age. Her prior research programme funded by the British Academy examined whether variability in the organisation of the visual attention networks is associated with individual differences in attentional functions, whether structural lateralization underlies functional lateralization in the organisation of attention and whether behavioural asymmetries are causally linked to the structural asymmetries in attention networks. Her current work aims to test for associations between common genetic variants in neurotransmitter signalling and resting state connectivity within attention networks as well as examine the links between those functional genetic polymorphisms and individual differences in age-related cognitive decline in attention.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Brosnan, MB, Shalev, N, Ramduny, J, Sotiropoulos, SN & Chechlacz, M 2022, 'Right fronto-parietal networks mediate the neurocognitive benefits of enriched environments', Brain Communications, vol. 4, no. 2, fcac080. https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcac080

Ramduny, J, Bastiani, M, Huedepohl, R, Sotiropoulos, SN & Chechlacz, M 2022, 'The association between inadequate sleep and accelerated brain ageing', Neurobiology of Aging, vol. 114, pp. 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2022.02.005

Farrow, E, Chiocchetti, AG, Rogers, J, Pauli, R, Raschle, NM, Gonzalez-Madruga, K, Smaragdi, A, Martinelli, A, Kohls, G, Stadler, C, Konrad, K, Fairchild, G, Freitag, CM, Chechlacz, M & De Brito, S 2021, 'SLC25A24 gene methylation and gray matter volume in females with and without conduct disorder: an exploratory epigenetic neuroimaging study', Translational Psychiatry, vol. 11, no. 1, 492 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-021-01609-y

Shalev, N, Brosnan, MB & Chechlacz, M 2020, 'Right lateralized brain reserve offsets age-related deficits in ignoring distraction', Cerebral Cortex Communications, vol. 1, no. 1, tgaa049. https://doi.org/10.1093/texcom/tgaa049

Shalev, N, Vangkilde, S, Neville, MJ, Tunbridge, EM, Nobre, AC & Chechlacz, M 2019, 'Dissociative catecholaminergic modulation of visual attention: differential effects of Catechol-O-Methyltransferase and Dopamine Beta-Hydroxylase genes on visual attention', Neuroscience, vol. 412, pp. 175-189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.05.068

Nyffeler, T, Vanbellingen, T, Kaufmann, BC, Pflugshaupt, T, Bauer, D, Frey, J, Chechlacz, M, Bohlhalter, S, Müri, RM, Nef, T & Cazzoli, D 2019, 'Theta burst stimulation in neglect after stroke: functional outcome and response variability origins', Brain, vol. 142, no. 4, pp. 992-1008. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awz029

Shalev, N, De Wandel, L, Dockree, P, Demeyere, N & Chechlacz, M 2018, 'Beyond Time and Space: The Effect of a Lateralized Sustained Attention Task and Brain Stimulation on Spatial and Selective Attention', Cortex, pp. 131-147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2017.09.009

Chechlacz, M, Hansen, PC, Geng, JJ & Cazzoli, D 2018, 'Polarity-dependent Effects of Biparietal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on the Interplay between Target Location and Distractor Saliency in Visual Attention', Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, vol. 30, no. 6, pp. 851-866. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01242

Kaufmann, BC, Frey, J, Pflugshaupt, T, Wyss, P, Paladini, RE, Vanbellingen, T, Bohlhalter, S, Chechlacz, M, Nef, T, Müri, RM, Cazzoli, D & Nyffeler, T 2018, 'The spatial distribution of perseverations in neglect patients during a nonverbal fluency task depends on the integrity of the right putamen', Neuropsychologia. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.01.025

Cazzoli, D & Chechlacz, M 2017, 'A matter of hand: Causal links between hand dominance, structural organization of fronto-parietal attention networks, and variability in behavioural responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation', Cortex, vol. 86, pp. 230-246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2016.06.015

Nouwen, A, Chambers, A, Chechlacz, M, Higgs, S, Blissett, J, Barrett, TG & Allen, HA 2017, 'Microstructural abnormalities in white and gray matter in obese adolescents with and without type 2 diabetes', NeuroImage: Clinical, vol. 16, pp. 43-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2017.07.004

Wang, F, Peng, K, Chechlacz, M, Humphreys, GW & Sui, J 2017, 'The neural basis of independence versus interdependence orientations: a voxel-based morphometric analysis of brain volume', Psychological Science, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 519-529. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616689079

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Chechlacz, M 2018, Bilateral parietal dysfunctions and disconnections in simultanagnosia and Bálint syndrome. in The Parietal Lobe. Handbook of Clinical Neurology, vol. 151, Elsevier, pp. 249-267. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-63622-5.00012-7

Comment/debate

Farrow, E, Chiocchetti, AG, Rogers, JC, Pauli, R, Raschle, NM, Gonzalez-Madruga, K, Smaragdi, A, Martinelli, A, Kohls, G, Stadler, C, Konrad, K, Fairchild, G, Freitag, CM, Chechlacz, M & De Brito, SA 2021, 'Correction: SLC25A24 gene methylation and gray matter volume in females with and without conduct disorder: an exploratory epigenetic neuroimaging study', Translational Psychiatry, vol. 11, no. 1, 553. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-021-01643-w

Editorial

Chechlacz, M, Rotshtein, P & Hansen, PC 2018, 'Mapping functional brain organization: Rethinking lesion symptom mapping and advanced neuroimaging methods in the understanding of human cognition', Neuropsychologia. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.04.028

View all publications in research portal