This week we have Cliona, the neuroscience phd. Cliona is a phd student who is combining neuroscience and virtual reality to study autism and joint attention.

Joint attention is the ability to focus on the same thing with a peer. This can be an object, a person, or an event, and it begins to develop during the first months of life. It is especially important for communication and language learning, and for people who have autism, they have difficulty developing this. In Cliona’s research, patients with autism are required to interact with a virtual human in order to complete a puzzle only using their eye gaze, exercising their joint attention.

Cliona is also the co-founder of Black in Neuroscience, an organization that highlights and empowers black academics in neuroscience, and provides resources.

It was a pleasure to speak with Cliona about her research, the best and most frustrating things about her job, and the advice she’d give to young women and girls who are interested in neuroscience.