Janette Atkinson

{{Infobox scientist

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| name = Janette Atkinson

| honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FBA|FMedSci}}

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| nationality = British

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| alma_mater = University of Bristol
University of Cambridge

| thesis_title = A study of perceptual analysis using stabilized images

| thesis_url = http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.448331

| thesis_year = 1970

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| spouse = {{marriage|Oliver Braddick|1979}}

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Janette Atkinson, {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|FBA|FMedSci}} is a British psychologist and academic, specialising in the human development of vision and visual cognition. She was Professor of Psychology at University College London from 1993: she is now emeritus professor. She was also co-director of the Visual Development Unit at the Department of Psychology, University College London and the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford. She frequently collaborated with her husband Oliver Braddick.{{Cite web |title=Janette Atkinson |url=https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/people/janette-atkinson |access-date=2024-03-30 |website=www.psy.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}

Early life and education

Atkinson studied psychology at the University of Bristol, graduating with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in 1965.{{cite web|title=Atkinson Braddick Celebration|url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/vdu/abc/about.html|website=University College London|access-date=1 November 2017|year=2010}} She went on to undertake postgraduate studies at the University of Cambridge, and she completed her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1970. Her doctoral thesis was titled "A study of perceptual analysis using stabilized images".{{cite thesis|last1=Janette|first1=Atkinson|title=A study of perceptual analysis using stabilized images|url=http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.448331|website=E-Thesis Online Service|publisher=The British Library Board|access-date=1 November 2017|year=1970|type=Ph.D }}

Academic career

From 1971 to 1972, Atkinson was research associate with the Institute for Behavioral Genetics at the University of Colorado Boulder.{{cite web|last1=Hasani|first1=Ilire|last2=Hoffmann|first2=Robert|title=Academy of Europe|url=http://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Atkinson_Janette|website=Academy of Europe|access-date=1 November 2017}} In 1972, she was a research associate in the Department of Psychology of Johns Hopkins University, Maryland. She then returned to the University of Cambridge where she was a Senior Research Associate from 1972 to 1983. During this time, she established the Visual Development Unit at the University of Cambridge.{{cite web|title=Professor Janette Atkinson|url=https://www.britac.ac.uk/users/professor-janette-atkinson|website=British Academy|access-date=1 November 2017}}{{cite web|title=Prof Jan Atkinson|url=https://iris.ucl.ac.uk/iris/browse/profile?upi=JATKI15|website=Institutional Research Information Service|publisher=University College London|access-date=1 November 2017}}{{cite web|title=Visual Development Unit|url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/vdu/about.htm|website=University College London|access-date=1 November 2017}} From 1983 to 1993, she was classified as MRC External Scientific Staff of the Department of Experimental Psychology, Cambridge.

In 1993, Atkinson moved to University College London (UCL) where she had been appointed Professor of Psychology. The Visual Development Unit moved with her from Cambridge. A second Visual Development Unit was created at the University of Oxford in 2003. She was Co-Director of both units with her husband Oliver Braddick.{{cite web|title=Visual Development Unit – Unit Members|url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/vdu/oldvdu.htm|website=University College London|access-date=1 November 2017}} Having retired from full-time academia, she was appointed Emeritus Professor by UCL.

Personal life

In 1979, Atkinson married Oliver Braddick, a fellow developmental psychologist; he died in 2022.{{cite news | url=https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/news/in-memoriam-oliver-ol-braddick | title=In Memoriam: Oliver "Ol" Braddick — Department of Experimental Psychology }} They have four children: two sons and two daughters.'BRADDICK, Prof. Oliver John', Who's Who 2017, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016; online edn, Nov 2016 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U41926 accessed 1 Nov 2017]

Honours

In 2002, Atkinson was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci).{{cite web|title=Professor Janette Atkinson|url=https://acmedsci.ac.uk/fellows/fellows-directory/ordinary-fellows/professor-janette-atkinson|website=The Academy of Medical Sciences|access-date=1 November 2017}} In 2008, she was elected a Member of Academia Europaea. In 2009, she, along with Oliver Braddick, won the Kurt Koffka Medal.{{cite web | url=https://www.uni-giessen.de/fbz/fb06/psychologie/postertag-koffka/KKM/KKM/view | title=Kurt-Koffka-Medaille }} In 2015, she was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences. In 2016, she was awarded the Davida Teller Award by the Vision Sciences Society.{{cite web|title=2016 Davida Teller Award – Janette Atkinson|url=http://www.visionsciences.org/2016-davida-teller/|website=Vision Sciences Society|access-date=1 November 2017}}

Selected works

{{cite journal |last1=Atkinson |first1=Jannette |last2=King |first2=John |last3=Braddick |first3=Oliver |last4=Nokes |first4=Louise |last5=Anker |first5=Shirley |last6=Braddick |first6=Fleur |title=A specific deficit of dorsal stream function in Williams' syndrome |journal=NeuroReport |date=May 1997 |volume=8 |issue=8 |pages=1919–1922 |doi=10.1097/00001756-199705260-00025|pmid=9223077 |s2cid=30762407 }}
{{cite book |last1=Atkinson |first1=Janette |title=The Developing Visual Brain |date=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0198522973}}
{{cite book |last1=Atkinson |first1=Janette |last2=Braddick |first2=Oliver |title=From Action to Cognition |chapter=Visual and visuocognitive development in children born very prematurely |series=Progress in Brain Research |year=2007 |volume=164 |pages=123–49 |doi=10.1016/S0079-6123(07)64007-2 |pmid=17920429|isbn=9780444530165 }}
{{cite book |last1=Atkinson |first1=Janette |last2=Braddick |first2=Oliver |title=Gene Expression to Neurobiology and Behavior: Human Brain Development and Developmental Disorders |chapter=From genes to brain development to phenotypic behavior |series=Progress in Brain Research |year=2011 |volume=189 |pages=261–83 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-444-53884-0.00029-4 |pmid=21489394|isbn=9780444538840 }}
{{cite journal |last1=Atkinson |first1=Janette |last2=Braddick |first2=Oliver |title=Visual attention in the first years: typical development and developmental disorders |journal=Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology |date=July 2012 |volume=54 |issue=7 |pages=589–595 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-8749.2012.04294.x|pmid=22568833 |s2cid=20917298 |doi-access=free }}