Motor Executive Cognitive Interaction (MECI) Lab

The MECI lab studies motor and executive control as a means to understand child development, learning and special educational needs and disabilities.

The Motor Executive Cognitive Interaction (MECI) Lab examines the relationships between abilities typically associated with the pre-frontal cortex and those related to the cerebellum. Specifically, we aim to understand how higher-order abilities such as reading, mathematics and scientific reasoning are explained by the dynamic interplay between sensorimotor cognition and executive function, which facilitate our ability to predict, adapt to, and control environmental demands. Mostly, we are interested in the development of these abilities in infants, children and adolescents. We are also interested in how special educational needs and disabilities in children and adults might be explained by impairments in these systems.

• Research themes
• Lab members
• Publications
• Additional information

Research themes

Executive function; motor cognition; mathematics learning; reading; science learning and causal cognition; dyslexia.

Lab members

Director

• Dr Rebecca Gordon

Co-Director

• Professor Andy Tomie

Members

• Dr Zoe Gallant
• Dr Liory Fern-Pollak
• Dr Juhayna Taha
• Professor Eirini Flouri
• Dr Spencer Hayes
• Dr Erika Galea
• Dr James Smith-Spark, London South Bank University
• Dr Ori Ossmy, Birkbeck University
• Dr Roberto A. Ferreira Campos, Universidad de Talca, Chile
• Dr Cristina Rodriguez, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca, Chile

PhD students

• Emma Hewitt
• Deborah Hofmeyr
• Louise Livingstone
• Roisin Perry
• Yasin Arslan
• Weiya Yuan
• Yuxi Zou
• Qiuyu Du
• Tom Northrop
• Erica Ranzato
• Jasmine Cockcroft

Publications

• Gordon, R., Ferreira, R. A., Rodriguez, C., & Tolmie, A. (2024). Educational neuroscience: key processes and approaches to measurement. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1342147
• Mayall, L.A., Tolmie, A., & Farran, E.K. (2023). Influence of motor ability on daily living ability in individuals with Williams Syndrome and individuals with Down Syndrome. In R.M. Hodapp, D.J. Fidler & S. Lafranchi (Eds.) International Review of Research in Developmental Disabilities, Vol 65. pp 189-216. Cambridge, MA: Academic Press [ISBN: 978-0-443-19376-7]
• Mayall, L.A., D'Souza, H., Hill, E., Smith, A.K., Tolmie, A., & Farran, E.K. (2020). Motor difficulties in individuals with Williams syndrome and how they relate to participation in physical activity. Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Smith-Spark, J. H., & Gordon, R. (2022). Automaticity and executive abilities in developmental dyslexia: A theoretical review. Brain Sciences, 12(4), 446
• Smith-Spark, J. H., Gordon, R., & Jansari, A. S. (2022). The impact of developmental dyslexia on workplace cognition: Evidence from a virtual reality environment. In Proceedings of the 33rd European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics (pp. 1-4)
• Zhou, Y. & Tolmie, A. (2024). Associations between gross and fine motor skills, physical activity, executive function and academic achievement: Longitudinal findings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. Brain Sciences, 14(2), 121

 Additional information