Basic Research

Our interdisciplinary, multi-lingual team is conducting fascinating studies, investigating the normal and abnormal learning processes, in both Hebrew and Arabic. Among our domains of inquiry are:

Literacy and numeracy skills development in both healthy populations and individuals with learning difficulties; Subtypes of literacy and numeracy difficulties, including: Accuracy and rate deficits, developmental dyscalculia (DD), math anxiety.

A comprehensive study of the Arabic language:

• Phonological and Morphological awareness and their role in early reading and spelling acquisition
• The Diglossia Phenomenon in Arabic and its effect on literacy skills
• Linguistic influence and meta-cognitive abilities of Arabic native speakers

Attention and Memory:  The study of neurocognitive mechanisms underlying attention in humans, in both healthy populations and individuals with learning difficulties. We use a variety of techniques to study attention, including behavioral tasks and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) methods. We explore:

• Cognitive inconsistency in developmental dyscalculia
• Improvement of arithmetic abilities and cognitive control, using brain stimulation and emotional stimuli.
• ‘Mind wandering tendency’

An intensive study of Bilingualism:

• Differences between individuals in language learning and processing, with a specific focus on second language.
• Translation of knowledge on highly proficient bilingual performance towards the question of foreign language learning.
• Interaction between the orthographic and phonological aspects of the different languages used by multilinguals in reading.
• Multilingualism in the context of both spoken and signed languages.

The influence of socio-Emotional aspects, literacy environment and instructional factors on learning abilities and academic success:

• The effect of family involvement on student’s achievements.
• Teachers’ transmission of values and its effect on value internalization and social behavior of students.
• Social, emotional, and metacognitive risks and protective factors among typical and at-risk students (with ADHD and/or LD, emotional disabilities, hearing or visual impairment)

Intervention tools: Generating early identification tools and interventions for at-risk kindergarten and elementary-school children, both behavioral and brain-based.