Lucy Palmer | Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development

PhD Student

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4512-705X

Supervisors

Prof Denis Mareschal (Birkbeck, University of London)

Prof. Iroise Dumontheil (University of Melbourne)

Research Interests

My research broadly explores how executive function skills, specifically inhibitory control (one’s ability to suppress a prepotent response), plays a role in science and maths learning. More specifically, I use functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to explore the shared neural correlates of inhibitory control and counterintuitive reasoning in maths and science, using representational similarity analysis. My research also investigates how this relationship changes across childhood, adolescence and adulthood.

Teaching Positions

Graduate Teaching Assistant
Birkbeck, University of London
2021 - present

Introduction to Matlab programming (MSc Cognition and Computation), 2021
Research Methods 2 (Advanced statistics; BSc Psychology), 2021
Perception and Attention (BSc Psychology), 2023, 2024, 2025,
Social Psychology (BSc Psychology), 2022, 2023
Introduction to Python programming (MSc Cognition and Computation), 2022
Psychology of Individual Differences (BSc, Psychology), 2024, 2025
Advanced Quantitative Statistics (MSc Psychology), 2022/2023
R for Reproducible Psychological Research (BSc Psychology)
- - Guest Lecture in R Markdown: 2022
  - Co-ran module: 2023, 2024
Neuroimaging methods (MSc Educational Neuroscience)
- - Guest lecture and MRI demonstrations: 2022, 2023, 2024
Postgraduate research skills (PhD students)
- - Guest lecture, 2024
Research Methods 1 (BSc students) resources, 2025

Education

PhD Psychology
Birkbeck, University of London | Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development
2021-present

MSc Brain Imaging and Cognitive Neuroscience - Distinction
University of Birmingham | Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology
2020-2021

MSc Research project: ‘Associations between Intrinsic Connectivity Networks and Trait Impulsivity in a healthy Japanese community sample’
Supervisors: Dr. Stephane De Brito and Dr. Stephen Mayhew (CHBH, University of Birmingham)

BSc Neuroscience - First Class
University of Bristol | School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience
2014-2017

Publications

Palmer L.R.J., Mareschal, D., & Dumontheil, I. (under review). Similarity of the neural correlates of inhibitory control and maths and science counterintuitive reasoning in adulthood. ZDM Mathematics Education.

Palmer L.R.J., Mareschal, D., & Dumontheil, I. (2025). Shared neural correlates of interference control and response inhibition in adolescence and young adulthood. Neuropsycholgia; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109166

Palmer L.R.J., Mareschal, D., & Dumontheil, I. (2025). Neural associations between inhibitory control and counterintuitive reasoning in science and maths in primary school children. J Cogn Neurosci; 37 (5): 915–940. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_02303

Thomas, M.S.C., Howard-Jones, P., Dudman-Jones, J., Palmer, L.R.J., Bowen, A.E.J. and Perry, R.C. (2024), Evidence, Policy, Education, and Neuroscience—The State of Play in the UK. Mind, Brain, and Education. https://doi.org/10.1111/mbe.12423

Bowen, A.E.J., Palmer, L.R.J., Perry, R.C., Thomas, M.S.C., Tolmie, A., Borst, G. and Van Herwegen, J. (2024), Evaluating What Works in the Classroom: Best Practice and Future Opportunities. Mind, Brain, and Education, 18: 474-484. https://doi.org/10.1111/mbe.12430Bowen,

A. E. J.*, Palmer, L.R.J.*, Perry, R.*, Thomas, M., (in press). Overview and synthesis of Science of Learning landscape: Bridging interdisciplinary divides. In Scaling System-Wide Education Change in Learning - Convergence of Learning Sciences, Science of Learning, and Science of Systems. Springer Nature Singapore Ltd.