Dr Alexander Jones

Broadly, Dr Jones' research interests include attention, action, and multisensory integration, and using cognitive neuroscience techniques to investigate how the brain and behaviour relate. Focus has been on exploring how we select and attend to information which is constantly bombarding our senses. In particular how we process and attend to the sense of touch and how the neural oscillations entrain to rhythmic stimuli. Of interest has also been to explore how we process sensory information which is a consequence of our own actions (action prediction). Moreover, how do we perceive other peoples' actions (action observation), and whether this is different for experts and non-experts

Key research areas and methods include electroencephalography (EEG), event related potentials (ERPs), transcranical alternating current stimulation (tACS) and behavioural measures (e.g., response times and error rates).

Lab website

www.jones-silas-lab.com 

Research output

Journal articles

Korko M., Coulson M., Jones A., de Mornay Davies P. (2021). Types of interference and their resolution in monolingual word production,
Acta Psychologica, Volume 214, 103251,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103251.

Jones, A., Silas, J., Todd, J., Stewart, A., Acree, M., Coulson, M., & Mehling, W. E. (2020). Exploring the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness in youth aged 7–17 years. Journal of Clinical Psychology. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jclp.23067

Jones, A., & Ward, E. V. (2019). Rhythmic temporal structure at encoding enhances recognition memory. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 31(10), 1549-1562.

Silas, J., Tipple, A., & Jones, A. (2019). Event-related alpha desynchronization in touch–Comparing attention and perception. Neuroscience letters, 705, 131-137.

Jones, A. (2019). Temporal expectancies and rhythmic cueing in touch: The influence of spatial attention. Cognition, 182, 140-150.

Karlinski, M., Jones, A., & Forster, B. (2019). Electrophysiological evidence for changes in attentional orienting and selection in functional somatic symptoms. Clinical Neurophysiology. doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2018.09.027

Mehling, W. E., Acree, M., Stewart, A., Silas, J., & Jones, A. (2018). The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, Version 2 (MAIA-2). PLOS ONE, 13(12), e0208034. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208034

Jones, A., Yarrow, K. & Silas, J. (2018). Are alpha oscillations generated by the somatosensory cortex involved in tactile attention? A registered report using transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS). Cortex, Registered report: In Principle Accepted. DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/P7AME

Jones, A,. Hsu Y-F., Granjon, L. and Waszak F. (2017) Temporal expectancies driven by self- and externally generated rhythms, NeuroImage, 156, 352-362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.05.042

Singh, N., Huyck, C., Gandhi, V., Jones, A. (2017). 'Neuron-Based Control Mechanisms for a Robotic Arm and Hand'. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Science Index 122, International Journal of Computer, Electrical, Automation, Control and Information Engineering, 11(2), 175 - 183.

Hadar, A. A., Rowe, P., Di Costa, S., Jones, A., & Yarrow, K. (2016). Motor-evoked potentials reveal a motor-cortical readout of evidence accumulation for sensorimotor decisions. Psychophysiology. http://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.12737

Forster, B., Tziraki, M., & Jones, A. (2016). The attentive homunculus: ERP evidence for somatotopic allocation of attention in tactile search. Neuropsychologia, 84, 158-166.

Jones, A. (2015). Independent effects of bottom-up temporal expectancy and top-down spatial attention. An audiovisual study using rhythmic cueing. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience. 8:96. doi: 10.3389/fnint.2014.00096

Jones, A. and Forster B. (2015). Body in Mind. Frontiers in Psychology. 6:56. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00056

Jones, A. & Forster, B. (2014). Neural correlates of endogenous attention exogenous attention and inhibition of return in touch. European Journal of Neuroscience, 40, pp. 2389–2398. doi:10.1111/ejn.12583

Article selected for a virtual issue on 'Attention' in European Journal of Neuroscience (Edited By: Jean-Marc Fritschy and Martin Sarter, ISSN: 1460-9568).

Jones A., Hughes G., Waszak F. (2013). The interaction between attention and motor prediction. An ERP study. NeuroImage 83, 533–541. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.07.004

Jones A., & Forster, B. (2013).Lost in vision: ERP correlates of exogenous tactile attention when engaging in a visual task, Neuropsychologia, 51, 675-685. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.01.010

Jones, A. &  Forster, B (2013). Independent effects of endogenous and exogenous attention in touch. Somatosensory and Motor Research, 30(4), 161-166. DOI: 10.3109/08990220.2013.779243

Jones, A., & Forster, B. (2012) Reflexive attention in touch: An investigation of event related potentials and behavioural responses. Biological Psychology, 89, 313-32. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2011.11.004 

Conference presentations, abstracts and proceedings

Lindner E., Darriba A., Yang Q., Jones A., Waszak F., Desantis A. The temporal dynamics of action-effect prediction: An EEG study. Presented at 3^rd Gottingen Meeting of the German Neuroscience Society. March 2019

Jones, A. & Ward, E. V. Rhythmic encoding improves recognition memory. Poster presented at the 25^th Annual Cognitive Neuroscience Conference (CNS), San Francisco USA, March, 2019

Silas J., Leniz I., Chinellato E., Forster B., and Jones A.. Successful classification of attentional tasks by power modulations in the alpha frequency band. Poster presented at the 25^th Annual Cognitive Neuroscience Conference (CNS), San Francisco USA, March, 2019

Jones, A. & Ward, E. V. Rhythmic encoding improves recognition memory. Presentation at British Association for Cognitive Neuroscience (BACN), Glasgow, 6-7 Sept. 2018

Silas J. and Jones A.: Individual peak alpha frequency in touch – cognitive and methodological implications. Presentation at British Association for Cognitive Neuroscience (BACN), Glasgow, 6-7 Sept. 2018

Jones A. & Silas. J. Individual peak alpha frequency in touch – cognitive and methodological implications Poster presented at the 24^th Annual Cognitive Neuroscience Conference (CNS), Boston USA, March, 2018

Jones A.Temporal and spatial attention in touch. Presentation at 1^st Conference of Timing Research Forum, Strasbourg, France (23-25^th October, 2017)

Bezrukova, E., Zaleshin, M., Naletova, N., Ryabinin, A., Butterworth, B., Jones, A., Kovas, Y., Karolis, V. Training cognitive processes underlying mental arithmetic: an EEG study. Poster presented at the Annual ‘Aspects of Neuroscience’ conference, Warsaw, Poland 24-26^th Nov. 2017.

Calvo-Merino, B., Forster, B., Jones A., & Gillmeister H. (2017). The sensory homunculus feels beyond our body: from emotion to aesthetics. Presentation at the annual meeting of British Association for Cognitive Neuroscience (BACN), September 2017, Plymouth, UK

Forster, B., Karlinski, M., & Jones, A. (2017) Preparatory processes to touch are reduced in individuals reporting high somatic symptoms. Presentation at the annual meeting of British Association for Cognitive Neuroscience (BACN), September 2017, Plymouth, UK

Jones, A. and Forster. B. (2017). Alpha oscillations during exogenous and endogenous attention in touch. Poster presented at the 24^th Annual Cognitive Neuroscience Conference (CNS), San Francisco USA, March, 2017

Calvo-Merino, Jones, A., Haggard, P. and Forster. B. (2017). Embodiment and expertise effects on aesthetics judgments. Poster presented at the 24^th Annual Cognitive Neuroscience Conference (CNS), San Francisco, USA, March, 2017

Forster, B., Karlinski, M. and Jones, A. (2017). Somatic symptoms and exogenous attention: an ERP study investigating modality specificity. Poster presented at the 24^th Annual Cognitive Neuroscience Conference (CNS), San Francisco, USA, March, 2017

Jones, A. Hsu, Y-F., Granjon, L. & Waszak, F. (2016). Temporal expectancies driven by self- and externally generated rhythms. 23^rd Annual Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, April, New York City, USA.

Klein, R., D'Entremont, G., Jones, A. and Lawrence, M. (2016). Exploring the neural signature of multimodal IOR, presented at the 46^th Annual Society for Neuroscience Conference, San Diego, USA, November 2016.

d'Entremont, G. R., Jones, A., Lawrence, M. A., & Klein, R. M. (2016). Investigating the neural signature of multi-modal inhibition of return. Journal of Exercise, Movement, and Sport, 48(1), 9.

Forster B & Jones A (2015). Neural correlates of endogenous and exogenous attention in touch: evidence for independent and interdependent mechanisms. Front. Hum. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00142

Yarrow, K., Hadar, A., Rowe, P., Di Costa, S., & Jones, A. (2015). Motor-evoked potentials reveal a motor-cortical readout of evidence accumulation for sensorimotor decisions. Journal of vision, 15(12), 49-49. (Published conference abstract)

Jones, A. Forster, B. (2015). ERP correlates of tactile search: The N140cc. 22^rd Annual Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, April, San Francisco, USA.

Calvo-Merino, B., Jones, A., Gillmeister, H. & Forster, B. (2014). Embodied aesthetics is organized in a somatotopic manner: direct evidence from somatosensory ERPs. Congress of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (IAEA), New York City, August 22-24, 2014. (Spoken presentation by Dr. Beatriz Calvo-Merino):

Jones, A., Hughes, G., & Waszak, F. (2013) The interaction between attention and action expectation. An ERP study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, S . p. 115. ISSN 0898-929X

Calvo-Merino, B., Jones, A., Gillmeister, H., Tziraki, M., & Forster, B. (2012, August). The influence of experience on aesthetic processing: insight from ballet dancers watching dance postures. In COGNITIVE PROCESSING (Vol. 13, pp. S28-S28). TIERGARTENSTRASSE 17, D-69121 HEIDELBERG, GERMANY: SPRINGER HEIDELBERG.

Jones, A. (2011). Neural correlates of automatic attention in touch: event related potential and behavioural measures. Presentation given at the 38th Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, 28-30 April

Jones, A., & Forster, B. (2010). Neural correlates of automatic attention in touch: event related potential and behavioural measures. Psychophysiology 47: S53 (Conference proceedings)

Jones, A. & Forster, B. (2010). Exogenous tactile attention in detection and discrimination task: ERPs and behavioural measures. Poster presented at the 17^th Annual Cognitive Neuroscience Society Meeting, Montreal, Canada.

Research supervision

Dr Jones welcomes enquiries regarding PhD and internship applications related to his research field. 

EEG participation

If you are interested in being a participant in EEG research at Middlesex University then please contact Dr Jones