Lab members

I am a first year PhD student under the supervision of Professor Michael Thomas at Birkbeck, University of London, Professor Mary Rutherford at King’s College London, and Professor Emily Farran at UCL IOE, funded by a Bloomsbury Colleges Studentship. During my PhD I will be investigating how fetal and neonatal structural neuroanatomy may predict cognitive development in infancy and early childhood, in babies with Down syndrome. I will be using several MRI techniques, as well as development assessment tools, such as eye-tracking and neuropsychological assessment batteries.

My broader research interests are Developmental Cognitive Neurosciences, specially studying how early brain development or biomarkers and traumatic events can affect later cognitive abilities both in typical and atypical children. I am also interested in Research policy, and more precisely, studying how psychological findings can be translated and applied in everyday life settings and activities.

Apart from doing the PhD, I am also a volunteer for the Junior Researcher Programme (JRP) organising team, a global initiative intended for students and early career researchers in psychology and behavioural sciences. This program seeks to support six research projects which are developed during the jSchool, an annual summer school, and carried out over the following year – precisely 13 months. I am the Research Officer for the 2019-2020 cohort, and my main responsibilities include coordinating and preparing the Research Supervisors and Junior Researchers prior to and during the 13 month duration of the 2019-20 JRP Cohort of research projects, and coordinating dissemination plans for all 2019-20 JRP research teams, including the methodology papers for the partner journal, European Journal of Psychological Assessment and Conference.

Email: oojina01@mail.bbk.ac.uk

Publications

Ruggeri, K., Bojanić, L., van Bokhorst, L., Mareva, S., Ojinaga Alfageme, O., & Jarke, H. (2019). Advancing methods for psychological assessment across borders: Guidance for early career researchers designing reproducible science. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 503. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00503

Grau-Sánchez, J., Foley, M., Hlavová, R., Muukkonen, I., Ojinaga-Alfageme, O., Radukic, A., … and Hundevad, B. (2017) Exploring Musical Activities and Their Relationship to Emotional Well-Being in Elderly People across Europe: A Study Protocol. Frontiers inPsychology,8:330. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00330

Conference presentations:
Ojinaga Alfageme, O, Kolesnik, A., & Jones, E. (March 9, 2019). Investigating the Relationship of Infant Sleep Quality, Resting State EEG Responses, and Cognitive Development. Poster presented at the 3rd International Convention of Psychological Sciences, Paris, France.

Ojinaga-Alfageme, O., Foley, M., Hlavová, R., Muukkonen, I., Radukic, A., Spindler, M., … & Grau-Sánchez, J. (July 18, 2017). Exploring musical activities and their relationship to emotional well-being in elderly people across Europe: a study protocol. Poster presentation for The Neuroscience and Music – VI, Music, Sound and Health Conference, Boston, MA.

Book chapters

Ruggeri, K., Ojinaga-Alfageme, O., Benzerga, A., Berkessel, J., Hlavoá, R., Kunz, M., … & Folke, T. (2018). Chapter 2: Evidence-based policy. In Ruggeri, K. (Ed.). Behavioral Insights for Public Policy: Concepts and cases. Routledge.

Ruggeri, K., Radukić, A., Ojinaga-Alfageme, O., Zupan, Z., Verra, S., & Petrova, D. (2018). Chapter 6: Health & Healthcare. In Ruggeri, K. (Ed.). Behavioral Insights for Public Policy: Concepts and cases. Routledge.

I am in the final year of PhD studies at UCL Institute of Education, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. My studies are supervised by Professor Emily Farran and Dr Emma Sumner (formerly Professor Liz Pellicano) of the Department of Psychology and Human Development, UCL Institute of Education.

I am interested in the proposed link between vision and motor control, and my current research investigates whether visual tracking abilities and the predictive control of eye movements are impaired in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), and whether this relates to their motor difficulties. Working with children aged 5-15, I am in the process of profiling typical and atypical development of oculomotor control as well as assessing motor skills across a range of domains (fine and gross motor, balance etc.). I am interested in how we can encourage children’s development of visuomotor skills for use in everyday life (at school, in the home). In particular, those with DCD struggle with skills that most children find easy (such as throwing and catching). Therefore, based on the findings of my first study, the next step in my PhD is to think about the root of these difficulties and how they can be overcome in everyday life.
 
My previous work in the lab has included a cross-sectional study looking at the development of mathematical ability in children with cerebral palsy.

Publications

(Critten, V., Campbell, E., Farran, E., & Messer, D. (2018). Visual perception, visual-spatial cognition and mathematics: Associations and predictions in children with cerebral palsy. Research in developmental disabilities, 80, 180-191).

I am currently completing the final year of my PhD under the supervision of Professor Emily Farran of the University of Surrey, and Professor Andrew Tolmie, at the Department of Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education, UCL. In my research, I work with individuals with Williams Syndrome (a rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorder), individuals with Down Syndrome and typically developing children.
 
My previous research investigated motor abilities in WS, finding a significant delay in motor ability, with individuals with WS aged 12-50 performing to a similar level to a typically developing 4-5-year-old on a range of fine and gross motor tasks. I also found that this poor motor ability is related to poor small scale spatial ability in this group.
 
My current research will be exploring motor ability further by looking at the potential effect of anxiety on motor ability, and whether poor motor ability is impacting daily living ability in individuals with WS and individuals with DS.
 
My research is funded by the ESRC and by the Williams Syndrome Foundation, UK.

Contact

Email: leighanne.mayall.14@ucl.ac.uk

I am a research assistant working on the BLOCS project. This study investigates the relationship between block construction skills, spatial skills, and maths skills in children, and whether a child’s spatial and maths skills can be improved by a Lego intervention. My roles are varied but include data collection, designing materials, and liaising with participating schools. Prior to beginning my post as a research assistant, I completed a Psychology BSc. degree at the University of Surrey. As a part of my degree, I spent a placement year working in the CogDev Lab.

I am an Undergraduate Psychology student at the University of Surrey, currently on a placement year in the CoGDev Lab. Under supervision of Dr Katie Gilligan-Lee my position as an honorary research assistant includes supporting a variety of different research projects. At all dissimilar stages of research this placement is an incredible opportunity to test my current skills and knowledge, as well as prepare me for my final year.

I am extremely excited for the year ahead of me, with the current projects already giving me a great insight of what a research role would be like. Namely the Children's perceptions of Scientist and Fragile X projects have greatly influenced my opinion and motivation to peruse a career in research.

I am an undergraduate student at the University of Bath, currently undertaking a placement year in the CoGDev Lab under the supervision of Dr Katie Gilligan-Lee. My position as an honorary research assistant involves supporting multiple ongoing research projects within the lab. The role has been an incredible opportunity to contextualise, apply and advance skills I have learnt from my studies, helping me prepare for my final year dissertation and giving me fantastic insight into what a career in research entails. 

I am a BSc Psychology student at the University of Surrey and I am currently completing my placement as a research assistant in the CoGDeV Lab, under the supervision of Dr Emily Farran. I am really looking forward to being involved with the different projects throughout the year, challenge myself within my work and learn as much as possible.

This placement will be excellent experience and preparation for not only going into my final year of my degree, but also for my career aspirations of becoming a Clinical Psychologist, with hopes to specialise in Autism and ADHD. I am really excited and grateful to work within such a great lab and with such great people.

I am a BSc Psychology student at the University of Surrey, completing my placement year as a research assistant in the CoGDeV lab. I will be working on a range of projects, primarily the BLOCS study investigating the effects of Lego on children’s mathematical and spatial abilities. I am very excited for this opportunity where I will have the chance to experience research first hand, from in-person testing to statistics and coding. This placement is a great way to prepare for the final year of my degree and has helped me to discover my specific interest in developmental psychology.