Matthew Dye Headshot

Matthew Dye

Professor

NTID SPACE Center
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Graduate Program Director, Cognitive Science
mwddls@rit.edu
585-475-2252
Office Location
RHD-A227

Matthew Dye

Professor

NTID SPACE Center
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 director of the joint Ph.D. program in Cognitive Science at RIT, 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 sometimes 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 2025. Please email him if you are interested.***

mwddls@rit.edu
585-475-2252
Personal Links
Personal Website
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Areas of Expertise
Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience
Cognitive Neuroscience
Linguistics
Sign Language

Select Scholarship

Kartheiser, G., Cormier, K., Bell-Souder,, D., Dye, M., & Sharma, A. (2024). Neurocognitive outcomes in young adults with cochlear implants: The role of early language access and crossmodal plasticity. Hearing Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2024.109074

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

COGS-801
Cognitive Science Research Colloquium
0 Credits
The seminar will meet weekly every semester for 12 times (excluding the first and last weeks of the semester). Each week will feature a different presenter. The presenters will include speakers invited to RIT and RIT faculty members who are active in research relevant to Cognitive Science, as well as the students in the Cognitive Science PhD program when they have progressed to the level that they will have worthwhile research to present to their classmates and the program faculty.
COGS-899
Cognitive Science Dissertation Research
3 Credits
This course is to fulfill the work plan agreed by the student and the dissertation adviser. The guiding principle of the Dissertation Research course is to complete the doctoral dissertation research proposed by the doctoral candidate and approved by the candidate’s dissertation committee. The course consists of carrying out the thesis research, including collection and analysis of data, and completion and public defense of the dissertation document for partial fulfillment of the requirements of the PhD degree in Cognitive Science.
NDLS-285
Undergraduate Research: Liberal Studies
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.

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