ABOUT
I am a T32 postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Brain Plasticty and Recovery, Georgetown University (Principal Investigator: Dr. Elissa Newport), and in the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, Children's National Health System. My current work focuses on children who have had a brain injury from a stroke at birth, called a perinatal stroke. Many children with perinatal stroke show cognitive impairments, requiring individualized educational plans as they go through school. My research focuses on visual-spatial abilities, for example, mentally determining whether two puzzle pieces will fit together or how they will look from another angle. These skills are critical for success in the STEM disciplines. However, little research has been done to determine precisely how spatial abilities are affected after stroke and what might be done to improve these skills. I am studying how spatial skills and their supporting brain systems differ between stroke survivors and typically developing children.
In 2015 I earned my PhD in Cognitive Science from Johns Hopkins University, advised by Dr. Barbara Landau (Language and Cognition Lab) and Dr. Soojin Park (Visual Cognitive Neuroscience Lab). My dissertation used behavioral methods and functional MRI to study the spatial navigation impairment in Williams syndrome, a genetic disorder.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
My research is focused on understanding how the mind makes sense of the spatial world around us. I have approached this question using three primary methods. First, through studies of young typically developing children, we can uncover the mechanisms of cognition that are present early in life, and learn how these processes change and develop over time. Second, studies of atypical development (e.g., Williams syndrome, perinatal stroke) can shed light on the consequences that atypical spatial knowledge has for subsequent spatial learning. Lastly, I use functional MRI as a method for exploring the development of the neural mechanisms that support different aspects of spatial cognition and visual-spatial ability.
Email: katrina.ferrara@gmail.com
Click here to download a copy of my CV.
I am a T32 postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Brain Plasticty and Recovery, Georgetown University (Principal Investigator: Dr. Elissa Newport), and in the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, Children's National Health System. My current work focuses on children who have had a brain injury from a stroke at birth, called a perinatal stroke. Many children with perinatal stroke show cognitive impairments, requiring individualized educational plans as they go through school. My research focuses on visual-spatial abilities, for example, mentally determining whether two puzzle pieces will fit together or how they will look from another angle. These skills are critical for success in the STEM disciplines. However, little research has been done to determine precisely how spatial abilities are affected after stroke and what might be done to improve these skills. I am studying how spatial skills and their supporting brain systems differ between stroke survivors and typically developing children.
In 2015 I earned my PhD in Cognitive Science from Johns Hopkins University, advised by Dr. Barbara Landau (Language and Cognition Lab) and Dr. Soojin Park (Visual Cognitive Neuroscience Lab). My dissertation used behavioral methods and functional MRI to study the spatial navigation impairment in Williams syndrome, a genetic disorder.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
My research is focused on understanding how the mind makes sense of the spatial world around us. I have approached this question using three primary methods. First, through studies of young typically developing children, we can uncover the mechanisms of cognition that are present early in life, and learn how these processes change and develop over time. Second, studies of atypical development (e.g., Williams syndrome, perinatal stroke) can shed light on the consequences that atypical spatial knowledge has for subsequent spatial learning. Lastly, I use functional MRI as a method for exploring the development of the neural mechanisms that support different aspects of spatial cognition and visual-spatial ability.
Email: katrina.ferrara@gmail.com
Click here to download a copy of my CV.