Psychology Colloquia Series: Professor Lucy Cragg

This event has taken place

View all upcoming events at Kingston University.

Time: 12.00pm - 1.00pm
Price: free
Speaker(s): Dr Lucy Cragg, University of Nottingham

Click here to join this online event.

All are welcome to the Psychology Colloquia, where distinguished guest speakers present talks encompassing a diverse array of topics within the field of Psychology and beyond.

This week's speaker is Professor Lucy Cragg, University of Nottingham. Her research addresses the development of cognitive control, the set of processes that underlie the ability to control our thought and actions (also termed executive functions). These include manipulating and selecting relevant information in working memory, ignoring distractions, suppressing inappropriate response tendencies, and flexibly shifting between different tasks. She is interested in how these processes develop in typical school-age children, how they contribute to academic achievement, and why they go awry in neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD and preterm birth. She also investigates the neural mechanisms that support the development of cognitive control processes using neuroimaging techniques such as electroencephalography (EEG).

Abstract

Understanding the interaction between executive functions and mathematics is best achieved through the triangulation of multiple methodological approaches. In this talk I will present some recent work aiming to understand this relationship using correlational, experimental and learning methodologies. Firstly, I will present a replication and extension of a hierarchical model of executive functions and arithmetic (Cragg et al., 2017; Gilmore 2023) to include algebra and geometry. Secondly, I will introduce an experimental approach demonstrating the role of inhibitory control in retrieving multiplication facts. Thirdly, I will show that cognitive executive function processes and applied executive function skills may contribute differently to performing vs learning mathematics. Finally, I will summarise what we've learnt from these complementary approaches and how they feed into each other to generate new research questions.

The series is organised by Dr. Simona Cantarella (s.cantarella@kingston.ac.uk) and Dr. Goffredina Spano (g.spano@kingston.ac.uk) from the Psychology Department. If you would like more information about the event, please feel free to email either of them. 

All events in this series

Psychology Colloquia Series: Dr Matteo De Marco, 31 Jan 2024
Psychology Colloquia Series: Dr Amanda Rotella, 23 Feb 2024
Psychology Colloquia Series: Professor Lucy Cragg, 28 Feb 2024
Psychology Colloquia Series: Dr Melania Calestani, 13 March 2024
Psychology Colloquia Series: Dr Joanne Bower, 22 March 2024
Psychology Colloquia Series: Dr Jayne Morriss, 24 April 2024
Psychology Colloquia Series: Professor Marie Juanchich, 15 May 2024
Psychology Colloquia Series: Dr Anne Van Hoogmoed, 21 May 2024

For further information about this event:

Contact: Lucy Raymond (Events Officer - please email for any logistical enquiries)
Email: lucy.raymond@kingston.ac.uk