Catherine O'Hanlon

Dr O'Hanlon completed her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology at the University of Essex in May 2006. She was appointed Lecturer in Psychology at Newcastle University in August 2006, where she worked for five years, at first within the Division of Psychology (2006-2007), then within the Institute of Neuroscience (2007-2011). Catherine joined the Psychology Department at Aberystwyth University in March 2012.

Dr O'Hanlon's research interests are in learning and development in toddlers and children with and without developmental disorders, particularly in the domains of language and social cognition. Catherine also has expertise and clinical training in autism spectrum disorder. Her most recent research has focused on young children's attention to colour, development of colour concepts and acquisition of colour words. This work is currently being followed up, in collaboration with postgraduate students, with young people on the autism spectrum. The long-term aim of this project is to develop novel teaching materials and strategies for children with ASD, using 'preferred colours'.

Catherine has extensive experience teaching developmental psychology, child language development, quantitative research methods and statistics.