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.
In the past year 2019-2020, we conducted fascinating studies on topics such as Hebrew and Arabic literacy, bilingualism, numerical cognition, attention, memory, socioemotional processes, learning strategies, and others. Here are a few highlights: