School of Psychology
 

Image of Efsun Birtwistle (Annac)

Efsun Birtwistle (Annac)

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Science

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Biography

Expertise Summary

Before joining the University of Nottingham as an Assistant Professor, I completed my PhD at the Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU Munich). My research focused on understanding the interplay between visual attention, working memory, and long-term memory in adult participants, using the contextual cueing paradigm and dual-tasking experiments.

Following my PhD, I did a postdoc in the Department of Education at LMU Munich as part of an ERC project called "Learning4Kids." This project aimed to support young children's early literacy and mathematical competencies through an app-based learning intervention within the context of the home learning environment (HLE). The project followed children's academic competencies (literacy, numeracy, cognitive) through several kindergarten and school assessments, while the HLE was evaluated through family surveys, observations, and interviews.

During this time, I led a project on systematic review and meta-analysis of cognitive training interventions and initiated a new project called "TrainKids," in which I served as principal investigator. TrainKids focuses on training young children's general cognitive skills through learning apps. The aim is to support young children's executive functions (EFs) and to gain insights into the cognitive activities they engage in at home. Child assessments emphasize measuring EFs and academic skills, and the study also collects data from parents to understand the HLE, EF difficulties, and the media competency of children.

Research focus:

  • Children's learning through digital interventions
  • Cognitive training, and training through mobile games
  • Home Learning Environment and family
  • Learning and memory processes
  • Interplay of attention, working memory and long-term memory
  • Executive control processes
  • Neurocognitive aspects of cognition

Research Summary

TrainKids: Cognitive training in kindergarten and insights into cognitive activities at home :… read more

Current Research

  • TrainKids: Cognitive training in kindergarten and insights into cognitive activities at home : https://www.psy.lmu.de/ffp_en/research/ag-fischer_neu_/current-projects/trainkids/index.html
  • Learning4Kids: App-based learning for kindergarten children at home : https://www.psy.lmu.de/ffp_en/research/ag-fischer_neu_/current-projects/learning-4kids/index.html

School of Psychology

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