Matthew Dye Headshot

Matthew Dye

Associate Dean of Research

Office of the Associate Dean for Research
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Graduate Program Director, Cognitive Science

585-475-2252
Office Location

Matthew Dye

Associate Dean of Research

Office of the Associate Dean for Research
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Graduate Program Director, Cognitive Science

Education

B.Sc. (Hons.), Manchester Polytechnic (United Kingdom); M.Sc., University of Stirling (United Kingdom); Ph.D. University of Southampton (United Kingdom)

Bio

Appointments

Dr. Matt Dye is associate dean for reserach at NTID, interim director of the joint Ph.D. program in Cognitive Science, director of the NTID SPACE research center, and a professor in the Department of Liberal Studies at RIT/NTID. He also has an extended appointment with the Department of Psychology at RIT and an adjunct appointment with the Department of Neuroscience at URMC

Education

Moving to the United States from the UK, Dye completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at The University of Rochester (2002-2009). His Ph.D. in Psychology was awarded in 2001 by the University of Southampton, where he conducted psycholinguistic research on British Sign Language.

Research

Since moving to the U.S., Dye’s work has focused on whether being born deaf means that you see better. His lab conducts research on brain reorganization in the face of altered sensory input, asking what happens to the brain areas and neural pathways associated with visual and multi-sensory processing when auditory input is missing. Most of his research looks at selective visual attention in deaf individuals, asking whether their greater reliance upon visual information in their environment means that their perceptual and cognitive systems are better able to select and process visual information. Dye is also interested in the relationship between vision and language, with a recent project asking how using a sign language alters visual attention and in what ways sign language structure is shaped by properties of the human visual system. His research program has been funded by the National Science Foundation and by NIH.

Teaching

Dye sometines teaches courses in the undergraduate program in Psychology at RIT. He was also director of a summer school hosted by Stockholm University, and is a co-PI and training coordinator for the Rochester Postdoctoral Partnership.

*** Dr. Dye is accepting applications for the Ph.D. in Cognitive Science to start fall 2024. Please email him if you are interested.***

585-475-2252

Areas of Expertise

Select Scholarship

Dye, M.W.G., & Terhune-Cotter, B. (2023). Development of visual sustained selective attention and response inhibition in deaf children. Memory & Cognition. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-022-01330-1

Hirshorn, E.A., Dye, M.W.G., Hauser, P., Supalla, T., & Bavelier, D. (2022).  Reading in deaf individuals: Examining the role of the visual word form area. In A. Newman, & G. Grossi (Eds), Changing Brains: Essays on Neuroplasticity in Honor of Helen Neville. Routledge.

Caselli, N.K., Occhino, C., Artacho, B., Savakis, A.E. & Dye, M.W.G. (2022). Perceptual optimization of language: Evidence from American Sign Language. Cognition, 224, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105040.

Dye, M.W.G. & Terhune-Cotter, B. (2021). Sustained visual attention in deaf children: A deafcentric perspective. In C. Enns, J. Henner, & L. McQuarrie (Eds), Discussing Bilingualism in Deaf Children: Essays in Honor of Robert Hoffmeister (pp. 60-72). Routledge.

Rodger, H., Lao, J., Stoll, C., Pascalis, O., Dye, M., & Caldara, R. (2021). The recognition of facial expressions of emotion in deaf and hearing individuals. Heliyon, 7(5), e07018.

Terhune-Cotter, B., Conway, C.M., & Dye, M.W.G. (2021). Visual sequence repetition learning is not impaired in signing DHH children. Journal of Deaf Studies & Deaf Education, 26(3), 322-335. 

Morgan, G., & Dye, M.W.G. (2020). Executive functions and access to language: The importance of inter-subjectivity. In M. Marschark & H. Knoors (Eds), The Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies in Learning and Cognition (pp. 268-284). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Dye, M.W.G. & Thompson, R. (2020). The perception and production of language in the visual modality: Implications for sign language development. In G. Morgan (Ed.), Understanding Deafness, Language and Cognitive Development: Essays in Honour of Bencie Woll (pp. 133-157). John Benjamins Publishing Co.

Stoll, C., Rodger, H., Lao, J., Richoz, A.-R., Pascalis, O., Dye, M., & Caldara, R. (2019). Quantifying facial expression intensity and signal use in deaf signers. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 24(4), 346-355.

Stoll, C. & Dye, M.W.G. (2019). Sign language experience redistributes attentional resources to the inferior visual field. Cognition, 191, 103957.

Currently Teaching

NDLS-285
1 - 4 Credits
This course is a faculty-directed student research project at the undergraduate level. The research will entail an in-depth study in the discipline that could be considered of an original nature. Enrollment in this course requires permission from the Department Chair and completion of the NTID Undergraduate Research Contract.