Silke Göbel
Professor

Profile

Biography

• J.W. Goethe Universität
  Diplom-Psychologin
• Oxford University
  DPhil

Graduated in Psychology from the J.W. Goethe Universität, Frankfurt a.M., Germany; then moved to Oxford, UK; after completing her Ph.D. there in 2002 she stayed on as a Junior Research Fellow in Psychology for three years; then came to the University of York. She leads the Numerical Cognition Lab at the University of York.

Since 2019 she has been a Visiting Professor at the Institute for Special Needs Education at the University of Oslo, Norway. She is also an associated researcher at the Centre for Research on Equality in Education at the University of Oslo.

Since 2022 she is a Co-director of the ESRC Centre for Early Mathematics Learning at Loughborough University.

Current research interests: Numerical Cognition

• Development of number processing and arithmetic
• Foundations of proficiency with rational numbers
• Numbers and space
• Cross-cultural differences in number processing and counting
• Number processing and arithmetic in dyslexia/dyscalculia
• Cognitive Neuroscience: Parietal Lobe Functions

Departmental roles

• Director of the MSc Course in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
• Admissions for the MSc Course in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

Research

Overview

Her research focuses on numerical and mathematical processing in typical and atypical development, the interactions between representations of number and space, developmental dyscalculia and the influence of language on number processing and arithmetic, using a range of approaches and methods including longitudinal and training studies as well as EEG, fMRI and eye-tracking.

She leads the Numerical Cognition Lab at the University of York.

Grants

ESRC Research Grant

Principal Investigator, Boundary conditions of conceptual spaces, Open Research Area Call 7, Economic and Social Research Council, £347 287 (2023-2026)

Principal Investigator, Foundations of understanding fractions and decimal numbers, Economic and Social Research Council, £454 317 (2022-2025)

Principal Investigator, Three-hundred-and-twenty-eight and 328: cross-format number integration and its relationship to mathematics performance, Economic and Social Research Council, £465 950 (2017-2020)

Collaborators

• Martin Fischer , Potsdam, Germany
• Hans-Christoph Nuerk,  Tuebingen, Germany
• Karin Landerl, Graz, Austria
• André Knops, Paris, France

Available PhD research projects

I would be particularly interested to hear from postgraduates interested in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and mathematical development.

Supervision

• Ewan Murray
• Eleanor Redfern
• Oliver Harrison (Loughborough)

Publications

Selected publications

• Göbel, S.M., Terry, R., Klein, E., Hymers, M., & Kaufmann, L. (2022). Impaired arithmetic fact retrieval in an adult with developmental dyscalculia: Evidence from behavioral and functional brain imaging data. Brain Sciences 12, 735.
• Banfi, C., Clayton, F. J., Steiner, A. F., Finke, S., Landerl, K., & Göbel, S.M. (2022). Transcoding counts: Longitudinal contribution of number writing to arithmetic in different languages. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 223, 105482.
• Göbel, S. M., McCrink, K., Fischer, M.H., & Shaki, S. (2018). Observation of directional storybook reading influences young children’s counting direction. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 166, 49-66.
• Göbel, S. M., Watson, S.E., Lervåg, A., & Hulme, C. (2014). Children’s arithmetic development: it is number knowledge, not the approximate number sense, that counts. Psychological Science 25(3), 789-798.
• Göbel, S.M., Shaki, S., & Fischer, M. H. (2011). The Cultural Number Line: A Review of Cultural and Linguistic Influences on the Development of Number Processing. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 42(4), 543-565.

Textbook

Gilmore, C., Göbel, S.M., & Inglis, M. (2018). An Introduction to Mathematical Cognition. International Texts in Developmental Psychology. Hove: Routledge

Full publications list

See York Research Database or Google Scholar. 

Teaching

Undergraduate

• Third year Advanced Module: The Psychology of Number, Developmental Disorders and Mathematics Anxiety

Postgraduate

• MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience: seminars in Principles of Cognitive Neuroscience
• MSc in Development, Disorders and Clinical Practice/ Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience: seminars in Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Developmental Educational Neuroscience