Dr Sophie Sowden-Carvalho BSc, MSc, PhD, AFHEA

Dr Sophie Sowden-Carvalho

School of Psychology
Assistant Professor in Psychology

Contact details

Email
s.l.sowden@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@Sophie_Sowden
View my research portal
Address
School of Psychology
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Sophie Sowden-Carvalho is an experimental psychologist and co-director of the U21 Autism Research Network. She is interested in social communication and neurodiversity, with a focus on autism, and takes a cross-cultural approach to her research.

Visit her lab website.

Qualifications

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, University of Birmingham, 2022
  • PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, 2018
  • MSc in Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry, King’s College London, 2014
  • BSc in Psychology (Hons), University of Surrey, 2013

Biography

Dr Sophie Sowden-Carvalho completed her Bachelor’s degree (in Psychology) at the University of Surrey, followed by her Master’s and doctoral studies at the Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, King’s College London. She then moved to the University of Birmingham as a postdoctoral research fellow in 2018 prior to taking up the role of Assistant Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Birmingham in 2021.

Teaching

  • Lifespan Psychology A: Introduction to Developmental Psychology (Module lead)
  • Neurodiversity (Module contributor)

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Sowden-Carvalho has expertise in experimental measures of social and motor functioning, including emotion production and perception, theory of mind, imitation, empathy and prosocial and group decision-making. She investigates the underpinnings of social communication, with a particular focus on autism.

She is also the director of the U21 Autism Research Network, investigating autism-related language and research preferences, camouflaging and mental health in autistic people around the globe.

Please get in touch via email to discuss availability for supervision before applying for doctoral study with Dr Sowden-Carvalho.

Research

Sophie’s primary research interests are in social communication and neurodiversity, with a particular focus on autism. Some of her most recent research concerns autistic and non-autistic communication, from understanding the impact of synchrony at the level of experience, behaviour and language, to prosocial decision behaviour. Sophie is a co-director of the U21 Autism Research Network. This network brings together autism researchers from multiple universities across the globe with the aim of making society and research more inclusive for autistic individuals.

Other activities

Dr Sowden-Carvalho is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy with membership to the following societies:

  • Experimental Psychology Society
  • British Neuroscience Association
  • European Society for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 

Publications

Highlight publications

Keating, CT, Hickman, L, Leung, J, Monk, R, Montgomery, A, Heath, H & Sowden, S 2022, 'Autism-related language preferences of English-speaking individuals across the globe: A mixed methods investigation', Autism Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2864

Keating, CT, Hickman, L, Geelhand, P, Takahashi, T, Leung, J, Schuster, B, Rybicki, A, Girolamo, TM, Clin, E, Papastamou, F, Belenger, M, Eigsti, I-M, Cook, JL, Kosaka, H, Osu, R, Okamoto, Y & Sowden, S 2021, 'Global perspectives on autism acceptance, camouflaging behaviours and mental health in autism spectrum disorder: A registered report protocol', PLoS ONE, vol. 16, no. 12, e0261774. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261774

Sowden, S, Schuster, BA, Keating, CT, Fraser, DS & Cook, JL 2021, 'The role of movement kinematics in facial emotion expression production and recognition', Emotion, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 1041-1061. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000835

Sowden, S, Khemka, D & Catmur, C 2021, 'Regulating mirroring of emotions a social-specific mechanism?', Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218211049780

Keating, CT, Sowden, S & Cook, JL 2021, 'Comparing internal representations of facial expression kinematics between autistic and non‐autistic adults', Autism Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2642

Recent publications

Article

Merken, F, Niblett, E, Sowden-Carvalho, S, Deliens, G & Geelhand, P 2026, 'Communication preferences of French-speaking autistic and non-autistic adults across social contexts', Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, vol. 135, 202943. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.reia.2026.202943

Keating, CT, Sowden-Carvalho, S, O'Donoghue, H & Cook, JL 2026, 'Mismatching expressions: Spatiotemporal and kinematic differences in autistic and non-autistic facial expressions', Autism Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.70157

Cuve, HCJ, Sowden-Carvalho, S & Cook, JL 2026, 'Spatiotemporal dynamics and substates underlie emotional signalling in facial movements', Scientific Reports, vol. 16, no. 1, 15686. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-46726-0

Khudiakova, V, Levy, X, Sowden-Carvalho, S & Surtees, ADR 2025, 'A qualitative exploration of autistic people's experiences of camouflaging across different social contexts', Autism in Adulthood. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2024.0288

Rush, P, Keating, C, Lugtmeijer, S, Allmark, E, Davis, A, Beejadhur, A, Tarling, A, Todd, K, Hannon, S, Iddles, A, Vichare, C, Gachomba, MJM, Lockwood, P, Apps, M & Sowden-Carvalho, S 2025, 'Autistic and non-autistic prosocial decision-making: The impact of recipient neurotype', Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, vol. 128, 202710 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.reia.2025.202710

Keating, CT, Hickman, L, Geelhand, P, Takahashi, T, Leung, J, Monk, R, Schuster, B, Rybicki, A, Girolamo, TM, Clin, E, Papastamou, F, Belenger, M, Eigsti, I-M, Cook, JL, Kosaka, H, Osu, R, Okamoto, Y, Sowden-Carvalho, S & Dey, A (ed.) 2024, 'Cross-cultural variation in experiences of acceptance, camouflaging and mental health difficulties in autism: A registered report', PLOS One, vol. 19, no. 3, e0299824. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0299824

Schuster, B, Sowden-Carvalho, S, Rybicki, A, Fraser, DS, Press, C, Hickman, L, Holland, P & Cook, JL 2024, 'Disruption of dopamine D2/D3 system function impairs the human ability to understand the mental states of other people', PLoS Biology, vol. 22, no. 6, e3002652. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002652

Hickman, LJ, Sowden-Carvalho, SL, Fraser, DS, Schuster, BA, Rybicki, AJ, Galea, JM & Cook, JL 2024, 'Dopaminergic manipulations affect the modulation and meta-modulation of movement speed: Evidence from two pharmacological interventions', Behavioural Brain Research, vol. 474, 115213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2024.115213

Keating, CT, Fraser, DS, Sowden, S & Cook, JL 2022, 'Differences Between Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults in the Recognition of Anger from Facial Motion Remain after Controlling for Alexithymia', Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 1855-1871. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05083-9

Rybicki, AJ, Sowden, SL, Schuster, B & Cook, JL 2022, 'Dopaminergic challenge dissociates learning from primary versus secondary sources of information', eLife, vol. 11, e74893. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.74893

Schuster, BA, Sowden, S, Rybicki, AJ, Fraser, DS, Press, C, Holland, P & Cook, JL 2022, 'Dopaminergic modulation of dynamic emotion perception', The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 42, no. 21, pp. 4394-4400. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2364-21.2022

Schuster, BA, Fraser, DS, van den Bosch, JJF, Sowden, S, Gordon, AS, Huh, D & Cook, JL 2021, 'Kinematics and observer-animator kinematic similarity predict mental state attribution from Heider–Simmel style animations', Scientific Reports, vol. 11, no. 1, 18266. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97660-2

Letter

Tafla, TL, Teixeira, MCTV, Woodcock, KA & Sowden-Carvalho, S 2024, 'Autism spectrum disorder diagnosis across cultures: Are diagnoses equivalent?', Neurodiversity, vol. 2, 27546330241226811. https://doi.org/10.1177/27546330241226811

Preprint

Keating, CT, Hickman, L, Leung, J, Monk, R, Montgomery, A, Heath, H & Sowden, S 2022 'Autism-related language preferences across the globe: a mixed methods investigation' PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/859x3

Review article

Khudiakova, V, Russell, E, Sowden-Carvalho, S & Surtees, ADR 2024, 'A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Mental Health Outcomes Associated with Camouflaging in Autistic People', Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, vol. 118, 102492. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2024.102492

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

Autism; Social communication; Language preferences; Social cognition; Dyadic and group interactions

Languages and other information

English and Portuguese

Media experience

Neuroscience News: Dopamine Involved in Recognizing Emotions

Understanding Emotional Expression Through Facial Movement Dynamics

“Autistic Person” or “Person with Autism”?

Science Daily: New research shows emotional expressions work differently in autism

Expertise

Autism best practice recommendations

Policy experience

Work on English autism-related language preferences (Keating et al., 2023) cited within:

-       NHS South London and Maudsley Autism Strategy 2024-2029 (PDF, 17.32MB)

-       Parliamentary inquiry into support for autistic children and young people in schools in Western Australia (PDF, 323KB)

-       Portuguese parliament document on mental health of autistic people (PDF, 5.23MB)

Work on French autism-related language preferences (Geelhand et al., 2023) cited within:

-       Haute Autorité de Santébest practice recommendations from the French High Authority for Health regarding the care and life paths of autistic individuals (PDF, 5.36MB)