Orly Rubinsten PhD

Under the supervision of Prof. Avishai Henik and in collaboration with him, my work combines neruo-cognitive and educational thinking and methodologies in order to unravel the cognitive and neuro-functional mechanisms that underlie mathematic and reading abilities.

My PhD thesis, under the supervision of Prof. Avishai Henik, dealt with the mutual influence of both semantics and orthography on word processing and the brain areas that are involved in processing orthographic and semantic information.

During the 4 years of my PhD work (1998-2003) I was also interested in the typical and atypical trajectories of number development. I focused my research on a subset of the population (3% to 5%) who manifest severe impairments in the development of core numeracy skills (such as understanding of magnitude and counting), known as Developmental Dyscalculia (DD). I studied the role of decoding (i.e., associating quantities with written numbers), understanding magnitude automatically, retrieval from memory, manipulating quantities and reading in inducing DD. I aim to understand the extent to which developmental numerical deficits are the consequence of deficits in other cognitive abilities, such as attention, spatial working memory, and linguistic, and the extent to which they can be a primary deficit.

Together with Prof. Henik, we were hoping to elucidate how specific cognitive functions interact with development to promote difficulties with mathematics. This information may allow the development of sound intervention guidelines and, potentially, new interventions based on targeting etiological mechanisms.

In the year of 2005 I started my post doctorate fellowship in the Neuroscience and Mental Health Department at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada.

email: orlyr@bgu.ac.il

Publications from Prof. Henik's lab

Books

  • Henik, A., Rubinsten, O., & Anaki, D. (Eds.). (2005). Word Norms in Hebrew. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
  • Rubinsten, O. (in press). Developmental dyscalculia: Cognitive, neuropsychological, developmental and educational aspects. A textbook for the Israeli Open University.

Chapters in books

  • Rubinsten, O., Anaki, D, & Henik, A. Drori, S., Faran, Y. (2005). Free association norms in the Hebrew language. In A. Henik, O. Rubinsten, & D. Anaki, (Eds.). Word Norms in Hebrew. (pp. 17-34)., Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Articles in scientific journals

  • Cohen Kadosh, R., Henik, A., Rubinsten, O. (2007). The Effect of Orientation on Number Word Processing. Acta Psychologica.
  • Rubinsten, O., & Henik, A. (2006). Double dissociation of functions in developmental dyslexia and dyscalculia. Journal of Educational Psychology. 98, 854-867.
  • Rubinsten, O., & Henik, A. (2005). Automatic activation of internal magnitude: A study of developmental dyscalculia. Neuropsychology, 19, 641-648.
  • Cohen Kadosh, R., Henik, A., Rubinsten, O., Mohr, H., Dori, H., Van de Ven, V., Zorzi, M., Hendler, T., Goebel, R., & Linden, D. (2005). Are numbers special? The comparison systems of the human brain investigated by fMRI. Neuropsychologia, 43, 1238-1248.
  • Rubinsten, O., Henik, A., Berger, A., & Shahar-Shalev, S. (2002). The development of internal representations of magnitude and their association with Arabic numerals. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 81, 74-92.
  • Rubinsten, O., & Henik, A (2002). Is an ant larger than a lion? Acta Psychologica, 111, 141-154.

Articles in Preparation

  • Rubinsten, O. & Tannock, R. Selective effect of Methylphenidate on spatial processing in ADHD children with co-morbid dyscalculia or mathematical difficulties.
  • Rubinsten, O. & Tannock, R. & Ansari D. Co-morbidity in children and adolescents with mathematical learning disabilities.
  • Rubinsten, O. & Henik, A. Heterogeneity within Mathematical learning disabilities: From common simple deficits to multiple developmental pathways.
  • Bloch-David, Y., Henik, A., & Rubinsten, O. The influence of input modality on the numerical distance effect.
  • Rubinsten, O., & Henik, A. Familiarity of words in dyslexia.
  • Rubinsten, O., & Henik, A. The mutual influence of semantic and orthographic neighbors on reading a word (submitted once and now in preparation).
  • Ashkenazi, S. Rubinsten, O. Goldfarb, L. & Henik, A. Automatic activation of magnitude (one year) after magnitude association training.

Non-refereed Publications

  • Rubinsten, O. & Henik, A. (in press). Complicated arithmetic. Scientific American, Israel.
  • Rubinsten O. (2007). Interventions for Students with Developmental Dyscalculia. Orbit: 37(1), 20-23).
  • Rubinsten, O. (2005). Learning strategies for university students with mathematical learning disabilities. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
  • Rubinsten, O. (2004). Learning strategies for university students with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.

Media Presentations

  • "Parents" (translation from Hebrew) (August, 2004). Interview for article on mathematical learning disabilities.