Innovative research into the difficulties some people have in processing numbers has been given a prestigious funding boost.
Dr Rebecca Bull, a psychology lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, has been awarded a distinguished Leverhulme Research Fellowship for her studies in this area.
The award means Dr Bull can set aside teaching for a year to concentrate fully on her research which will explore whether people who struggle with maths and arithmetic view numerical information in a different way and if they have difficulty retrieving the information from long term memory.
The participants in this project include children who are struggling to learn basic arithmetic as well as deaf children and adults. By adulthood, many deaf people lag behind their hearing counterparts when it comes to mathematical ability, and this research aims to pinpoint when and why these difficulties with numerical processing begin.
Dr Bull said: “The research draws on my ongoing work examining the role of cognitive skills, such as memory and attention, in the development of children’s arithmetic. I am delighted to receive this Fellowship as it provides me with the opportunity to extend my earlier research interests into an area where there is currently limited study.”
Dr Bull’s research will also involve collaboration with Professor Marc Marschark, from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf in New York. He is also is an honorary staff member with the University of Aberdeen’s School of Psychology.
Dr Bull added: “Professor Marschark is a world authority on the study of deafness and deaf education and I very much look forward to sharing ideas and developing plans for future studies on the topic.”