Laterality (handedness and cerebral lateralization)

Individual differences in neurological organization are of key importance to neurological, psychiatric, and neuropsychological research and practice; cerebral lateralization is one such individual difference. Cerebral lateralization is a major focus of our research activities. It is measured either directly using brain imaging by means of the functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound or indirectly by means of handedness, a behavioural variable used as an index for the cerebral organization of cognitive abilities, especially with regards to language lateralization. Below are some examples of our work on cerebral and behavioural lateralization.

Learning difficulties in mathematics

Our research lies at the intersection between cognitive psychology and mathematics education. The main aim is to prevent and/or alleviate students’ Mathematical Learning Difficulties (MLD). We have proposed a fourfold MLD model (Karagiannakis, Baccaglini-Frank & Papadatos, 2014) that intertwines the main MLD hypotheses, allowing to outline students’ mathematical learning profiles. We use this to design didactical material for one-on-one remedial interventions or whole-class activities.  Finally, we study the interactions between the students with difficulties, the teacher, and their peers, using theoretical tools from the field of mathematics education.

read more…

• Karagiannakis, G., Baccaglini-Frank, A., & Papadatos, Y. (2014). Mathematical learning difficulties subtypes classification. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8:57, doi:10.3389/fnhum.2014.00057.

• Karagiannakis, G., & Coreman, A. (2014). Focused intervention based on a classification MLD model. In S. Chinn (Ed.), The Routledge International Handbook of Dyscalculia and Mathematical Learning Difficulties (pp. 265-276). London: Routledge.

• Karagiannakis, G., & Baccaglini-Frank, A. (2014). The DeDiMa Battery: A Tool for Identifying Students’ Mathematical Learning Profiles. Health Psychology Review, 2(4), doi: 10.5114/hpr.2014.46329.

• Karagiannagis, G., Baccaglini-Frank, A., & Roussos, P. (submitted). Detecting difficulties in Mathematics through a fourfold model (working title). Journal for Reasearch in Mathematics Education.

Cognition and emotion

A wealth of research evidence shows that emotion and mood modifies and influences the quality of cognitive processing and thus performance on cognitive tasks. In the Research Centre of Psychophysiology and Education, we are interested in the neural effects of such interactions between cognition and emotion. For example, we are collaborating with BioIatriki and Dr. Nikolaos Andreadis in a project using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studying  the neural effects of induced negative mood (as opposed to naturally occurring negative mood) on autobiographical memory retrieval. Moreover, we are studying the effects of mood induction on language laterality using functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound.

Assessment of Special Education Settings

The research program entitled “Evaluation of Special Education settings – Development of an online platform for the monitoring and evaluation of Special Education settings” took place under the NSRF framework and was funded through the Greek Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs. For the purposes of the program a combined quantitative and qualitative approach was undertaken in order to evaluate all Special Education settings (special school units, mainstream school units and diagnostic centers) throughout Greece. You can find the deliverables of the program here, here, here, here, here and here.

Bullying

The research program entitled «Designing evidence-based strategies and actions to face bullying by considering socio-ethnic diversities in school populations and evaluating their effects (DAPHNE III)” was EU funded. Five countries participated: Cyprus (University of Cyprus), the UK (University of Manchester), the Netherlands (University of Groningen), Belgium (University of Antwerp), and Greece (University of Athens). The aim of the program was to implement and evaluate the dynamic model for preventing bullying in schools in these 5 different countries. You can find more information about the findings of this programme below:

Meta-analysis

Science is overrun by the amount of published studies. There are about 23,750 active peer-reviwed journals publishing over 1,350,000 articles per year. Notably, using “handedness” (the name of just one of the numerous field within neuropsychology) in PsychInfo as a search term for article keywords retrieves 4,526 results (Dec 2014). This vast quantity of studies, makes it taxing for scientists to distil the knowledge carried out by the results. This process is more tedious when findings are confusing and conflicting. Literature reviews could never hope to handle such an abundance of data. Meta-analysis, by contrast, is a statistical method allowing for the integration and summarizing of the findings from a body of research in a clear, objective way. Meta-analysis further allows for the investigation of the presence of publication bias, whereby negative results remain unpublished and their absence inadvertently skews the true effect size. Importantly, meta-analysis allows for the assessment of any systematic variation among the results of different studies and, moreover, for the investigation of the sources of any such variance. In the Research Centre of Psychophysiology and Education we have used meta-analysis to intergrade and summarize data from the vast field of handedness. Below are examples are such work.