Profile

Biography

• University of York
  BSc in Psychology
• City University London
  PhD

My research focusses mainly on memory (particularly working memory) and learning, in both children and adults.

Career

• Oxford University
  Postdoctoral researcher (1982 - 1984)
  
• MRC Applied Psychology Unit
  Junior scientist (1984 - 1988)
• Lancaster University
  Lecturer (1988 - 1993)
• Bristol University
  Reader then Professor (1993-2001)
• Durham University
  Professor (2001 - 2006)
  
• University of York
  Professor (2006 - present)

Research

Overview

• Cognitive processes involved in short-term and working memory
• Role played by short-term and working memory in supporting learning during childhood, in areas including vocabulary acquisition (native and foreign) and reading
• Involvement of working memory in following instructions and place-keeping in tasks with a hierarchical structure
• Educational intervention designed to improve the learning outcomes of children with poor working memory
• Memory and executive function in children with ADHD subtypes

Research group(s)

• Adult Cognition and Neuropsychology

Grants

• Economic and Social Research Council
  Executive function in children with impairments of attention and working memory (£189k) ESRC: TP Alloway, SE Gathercole, M Place, J Elliott (2006 - 2008)
• Economic and Social Research Council
  Working memory and learning: A screening and intervention programme (£390k) Gathercole (PI) & 4 others: ESRC (2005 - 2008)
• Leverhulme Trust
  The binocular coordination of eye movements during reading (£58k) Leverhulme: S.P.Liversedge, S. E. Gathercole, J. Findlay (2005 - 2008)
• British Academy
  A working memory intervention study for children with learning difficulties (£8k). British Academy: T. P. Alloway, S. E. Gathercole, and 2 others (2005)
  
• Leverhulme Trust
  Investigating the development of working memory and children’s reading Leverhulme: S. P. Liversedge, S. E Gathercole (£52k) (2005 - 2007)
• Economic and Social Research Council
  Development of an automated working memory test battery (£45k) ESRC: T. P. Alloway, S. E. Gathercole (2003 - 2004)
• Medical Research Council
  Human memory and learning: A working memory approach (£69k) MRC: S. E. Gathercole, A. D. Baddeley, S. Della Sala, R. H. Logie, C. Jarrold (2001 - 2006)
• Medical Research Council
  Working memory and under-achievement during the early school years (£200k) MRC: S. E Gathercole, A.-M. Adams, C. Willis (2001 - 2004)
• Economic and Social Research Council
  Long-term knowledge effects in verbal short-term memory (£150k) ESRC: A. S. C. Thorn, S. E. Gathercole, C. R. Frankish (2001 - 2004)
• Wellcome Trust
  Routes through memory to the acquisition of knowledge in childhood (£300K) Wellcome Trust: S. E. Gathercole, D. Gadian, F.Vargha-Khadem, J. Golding (2000 - 2001)
• Economic and Social Research Council
  Phonological short-term memory and single-word reading (£40K) ESRC: C. Frankish, S. E. Gathercole (1999 - 2000)
• Economic and Social Research Council
  Language specialisation in short-term memory(£40k) ESRC: A. Thorn, S. E. Gathercole, C. Frankish (1998 - 1999)
• McDonnell Partnership
  Development of a new reading test (£26K) McDonnell Partnership: A. D. Baddeley & S. E. Gathercolev (1997 - 1998)
• Medical Research Council
  Language development, phonological memory and otitis media with effusion (£38k) MRC: S. E. Gathercole and 5 others (1997)
  
• Medical Research Council
  Working memory and learning disabilities (£1.1m) MRC programme: A. D. Baddeley, S. E. Gathercole (1995 - 2001)
• Medical Research Council
  Two standardised phonological short-term memory tests for children and adults (£30K) MRC: S. E. Gathercole (1995 - 1996)
• Economic and Social Research Council
  Investigating experimental analogues of natural vocabulary acquisition (£47K) ESRC: S. E. Gathercole, G. Hitch (1993 - 1995)
• Economic and Social Research Council
  Phonological memory and long-term learning in preschool children (£60k) ESRC: S. E. Gathercole (1990 - 1993)
• Medical Research Council
  Working memory and the development of reading and vocabulary in children (£47K) MRC: S. E. Gathercole (1990 - 1993)

Available PhD research projects

Memory and learning in children and adults; typical and atypical function.

Supervision

• Debbora Hall
• Pascale Engel

Publications

Selected publications

• Gathercole, S. E. (2006). Nonword repetition and word learning: The nature of the relationship. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27, 513-543.
• Conlin, J. A. & Gathercole, S. E. (i2006). Lexicality and interference in working memory in children and adults. Journal of Memory and Language.
• Gathercole, S.E., Alloway, T.P., Willis, C.S., & Adams, A.M. (2006). Working memory in children with reading disabilities. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 93, 265-281.
• Gathercole, S. E., & Alloway, T. P. (2006). Short-term and working memory impairments in neurodevelopmental disorders: Diagnosis and remedial support. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry. 47, 4-15.
• Gathercole, S. E., Tiffany, C., Briscoe, J., Thorn, A. S. C., & ALSPAC Team (2005). Developmental consequences of poor phonological short-term memory function in childhood: A longitudinal study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 46, 598-611.

Books

• Alloway, T. P. & Gathercole, S. E. (2006). Working memory in neurodevelopmental conditions. Psychology Press.

Teaching

Undergraduate

• Working Memory And Cognition In Children And Adults

Postgraduate

• Working memory in cognition in children and adults

External activities

Memberships

• Experimental Psychology Society
• British Psychological Society
• Psychonomics Society

Editorial duties

• Memory
  Editor