Profile
Georgia-Ann Carter
My CV
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Education:
The Voyager School
Arthur Mellows Village College
University of Kent
Radboud University Nijmegen
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Qualifications:
3 A-Levels: English Language, Biology and Chemistry – doing a mix of humanities and STEM helped me see how both can be combined in interesting ways such as Cognitive Science
BA (Hons) in English Language and Linguistics with a Year Abroad from the University of Kent – this helped me realise that I was more interested in STEM than I thought at first, and that I wanted to focus on studying language in a more sciency way
MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience with a specialisation in Language and Communication from Radboud University Nijmegen – this really helped me realise that I enjoy neuroscience, and studying how humans do all the interesting things that we can!
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Work History:
Shop Assistant in Peacocks
Library Assistant at the central library in my hometown
Research Assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Research Assistant at the University of Kent
Freelance proofreader for myself
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Current Job:
PhD researcher at the University of Edinburgh
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About Me:
I’m Georgia, a PhD researcher in cognitive neuroscience. I study how humans understand meaning in the brain by testing humans and working with computational (think computers!) models. I really like metal music, anime and scary stories!
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I grew up in Cambridgeshire, but have lived in Canterbury and the Netherlands for a few years. I lived right by the German border, in a city called Nijmegen. I now live in Edinburgh, where I am studying for a PhD. I really like music and have played the bass guitar since I was a teenager. My favourite TV show is an anime called Naruto (it has over 700 episodes)! I really like cats, but unfortunately don’t have one myself – hopefully I will one day! My pronouns are she/her.
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I am interested in how we understand meaning in language in the brain. Meaning in language is very dependent on the situation it is used in, for example when reading something like “We moved the piano”, we are likely to think about the piano being heavy, difficult to move, and not easily bendable. But when we read something like “They played the piano beautifully”, we are more likely to think about how the piano is a classical instrument and what it sounds like. All of these are characteristics of a piano, but we think about them in different amounts depending on how they are used. I am interested in how this works in the brain. I test humans using neuroimaging techniques like electroencephalography (EEG), which is when a cap is placed on your head and little electrodes measure the electrical activity coming from your brain! This gives me an idea of how quickly you understand the meaning in the sentences you are reading. This doesn’t depend on how smart you are as all of us humans generally do this in the same way. I am now learning how to use computational (think computers!) models to find out other ways that we understand meaning.
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My Typical Day:
My days are usually spent doing a couple of different tasks. Each day is a little bit different, which makes it all the more interesting! Typical tasks are reading other people’s research, thinking about experiments, and learning about new ways to run experiments.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
Set up practice experiments (using behavioural and/or EEG methods) alongside schools to get students involved in cognitive neuroscience
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Anime-loving cognitive neuroscientist
What did you want to be after you left school?
A scientist of some sort
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Oh yes, I talked a lot...
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Tool
What's your favourite food?
Pizza
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