Tanya Evans

Research Assistant Professor

  • Ph.D., Georgetown University, 2013
  • B.S., Lehigh University, 2003

I am fundamentally interested in how children’s brains develop to acquire the skills necessary for success in the classroom, how this acquisition goes awry in those with learning difficulties, and what can be done to successfully remediate these skills in struggling students. As a developmental cognitive neuroscientist, my research employs neuroscience methodology to examine how individual differences relate to brain architecture and function, with the overarching goal of leveraging this knowledge to inform educational practice.

ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2021 ACADEMIC YEAR (applications due Dec 1).
Interested applicants may find program information on the EP-ADS doctoral program site and fellowship information on the VEST fellowship site. 

Select Publications

Earle, F.S., Del Tufo, S.N., Evans, T.M., Lum, J.A.G., Cutting, L.E.*, Ullman, M.T.* (2020). Domain-general learning and memory substrates of reading acquisition. Mind, Brain and Education. *equal contributions doi: 10.1111/mbe.12234

Jirout, J., LoCasale-Crouch, J., Turnbull, K., Gu, Y., Cubides, M., Garzione, S., Evans, T.M., Weltman, A., Kranz, S. (2019). How lifestyle factors affect cognitive and executive function and the ability to learn in children. Nutrients, 11(8), 1953. doi: 10.3390/nu11081953

Krafnick, A.J. & Evans, T.M. (2019). Neurobiological sex differences in developmental dyslexia. Frontiers in Psychology, 219(3), 1041–1054. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02669

Skeide, M.A., Evans, T.M., Mei, E.Z., Abrams, D.A., & Menon, V. (2018). Neural signatures of co-occurring reading and mathematical deficits. Developmental Science, e12680. doi: 10.1111/desc.12680

Battista, C.*, Evans, T.M.*, Ngoon, T.J., Chen, T., Chen, L., Kochalka, J., & Menon, V. (2018). Mechanisms of interactive specialization and emergence of functional brain circuits supporting cognitive development in children. Nature Partner Journals: Science of Learning, 3(1). doi: 10.1038/s41539-017-0017-2 *equal contributions

Chen, L., Bai, S.R., Battista, C., Qin, S., Chen, T., Evans, T.M., & Menon, V. (2018). Positive attitude towards math supports early academic success: behavioral evidence and neurocognitive mechanisms, Developmental Psychology. doi: 10.1177/0956797617735528

Evans, T.M., Flowers, D.L., Luetje, M.M., Napoliello, E., & Eden, G.F. (2016). Functional neuroanatomy of arithmetic and word reading and its relationship to age. NeuroImage, 143, 304–315. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.08.048

Evans, T.M., & Ullman, M.T. (2016). An extension of the procedural deficit hypothesis from developmental language disorders to mathematical disability. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1318. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01318

Jolles, D.*, Ashkenazi, S.*, Kochalka, J., Evans, T.M., Richardson, J., Rosenberg-Lee, M., Zhao, H., Supekar S., Chen, T., & Menon, V. (2016). Parietal hyper-connectivity, aberrant brain organization, and circuit-based biomarkers in children with mathematical disabilities. Developmental Science, 19(4), 613–631. doi: 10.1111/desc.12399 *equal contributions

Evans, T.M., Kochalka, J., Ngoon, T.J., Wu, S.S., Qin, S., Battista, C., & Menon, V. (2015). Brain structural integrity and intrinsic functional connectivity forecast 6 year longitudinal growth in children’s numerical abilities. The Journal of Neuroscience: The Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 35(33), 11743–11750.  doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0216-15.2015

Evans, T.M., Flowers, D.L., Napoliello, E.M., Olulade, O.A., & Eden, G.F. (2014). The functional anatomy of single-digit arithmetic in children with developmental dyslexia. NeuroImage, 101, 644–652. Academic Press. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.07.028

Evans, T.M., Flowers, D.L., Napoliello, E.M., & Eden, G.F. (2014). Sex-specific gray matter volume differences in females with developmental dyslexia. Brain Structure & Function, 219(3), 1041–1054. doi: 10.1007/s00429-013-0552-4