Matthew Dye
Associate Dean of Research
Matthew Dye
Associate Dean of Research
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.***
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
In the News
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December 7, 2021
![researcher standing outsite next to a sign that reads Play Lab, perception, language and attention in youth lab.]()
NTID PLAY Lab initiates new research on cognitive development in infants and children
A new research lab, sponsored by NTID, will soon open to help scientists learn more about cognition, language, and perception in infants and young children.
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January 11, 2021
![professor wearing labcoat and examining a grow on a petri dish.]()
RIT Sponsored Research garners $82 million
RIT had its best year ever for sponsored research funding. For fiscal year 2020, which ended June 30, RIT received 382 new awards totaling $82 million. The record funding follows almost $58 million in research expenditures in fiscal year 2019, also a record.
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March 13, 2019
![Head-and-shoulders view of man with glasses]()
New research unlocking the secrets of how languages change
New research is helping scientists around the world understand what drives language change, especially when languages are in their infancy. The results will shed light on how the limitations of the human brain change language and provide an understanding of the complex interaction between languages and the human beings who use them.
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August 17, 2022
NTID SPaCE Center researchers to present at conference
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August 31, 2021
Bosworth and team study language development in deaf signing children
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February 29, 2020
Dye named member of NIH group
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September 26, 2019
Faculty present at research conference