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Sophia Vinci-Booher

Assistant Professor of Psychology and Human Development

Sophia Vinci-Booher is an Assistant Professor of Educational Neuroscience in the Department of Psychology and Human Development. Her research aims to understand how the interplay between action and perception is related to human learning and, more specifically, how the brain mediates that relationship throughout the lifespan. She uses written communication tasks, such as handwriting and drawing, to uncover the neural mechanisms by which the action-perception process facilitates the learning of foundational literacy skills in early childhood and affects longer-term educational outcomes. She employs a variety of methods in her research program, including several MRI-based neuroimaging techniques, training paradigms, and behavioral assessments. 

Representative Publications

Vinci-Booher, S., James, K.H. (2022). The effects of handwriting on brain development. In Ye, Y., Inoue, T., Maurer, U., & McBride, C. (Eds.), Handbook of Visual-motor skills, Handwriting, and Spelling, Theory, Research, and Practice. Oxfordshire, England, UK: Routledge Taylor & Francis.

Vinci-Booher, S., Caron, B., Bullock, D., James, K.H., & Pestilli, F. (2022). Development of white matter tracts between and within the dorsal and ventral streams. Brain Structure and Function, 227(4), 1457-1477.

 Vinci-Booher, S., James, T.W., & James, K.H. (2021). Visual-motor contingency during symbol production contributes to the development of the neural systems supporting symbol perception and concurrent gains in symbol recognition. NeuroImage, 227, 117554.

Vinci-Booher, S., & James, K.H. (2020). Visual experiences of letter production contribute to the development of the neural systems supporting letter perception.  Developmental Science, 23(5), 1-17. (Cover article.)

 Merritt, E., Swain, S., Vinci-Booher, S., & James, K.H. (2020). Constraining stroke order during manual symbol learning hinders subsequent recognition in children under 4 ½ years. Frontiers in Psychology, 11.

 Vinci-Booher, S., Cheng, H., & James, K.H. (2019). An analysis of the brain systems involved with producing letters by hand. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 31(1), 138-154.

 Vinci-Booher, S., Sturgeon, J., James, T., & James, K.H. (2018). The MRItab: An MR-compatible touchscreen with video-display. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 306, 10-18.

 Zemlock, D., Vinci-Booher, S., & James, K.H. (2018). Visual-motor symbol production facilitates letter knowledge in young children. Reading and Writing, 31, 1255-1271.