Anne Castles is a

cognitive scientist Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary, scientific study of the mind and its processes. It examines the nature, the tasks, and the functions of cognition (in a broad sense). Mental faculties of concern to cognitive scientists include percep ...

of reading and language, with a particular focus on reading development and developmental dyslexia.

Early life

Castles was born in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, Australia and attended

St Clare's College, Canberra St Clare's College is a Catholic school in the south Canberra suburb of Griffith, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, catering for girls from grades 7 to 12. The college was established in 1965. St Clare's had an enrolment of approximate ...

, finishing in 1982. She later moved to Sydney.

Education

Castles completed her honours degree in psychology at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

in 1987 and her PhD thesis at

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...

in 1993.

Max Coltheart Max Coltheart (born 16 April 1939) is an Australian cognitive scientist who specialises in cognitive neuropsychology and cognitive neuropsychiatry. Coltheart was born in Frankston, Victoria and grew up in Brisbane, Canberra and Bega. He commenc ...

acknowledged her contribution to his own studies in learning to read and developmental dyslexia.

Research

Castles then commenced teaching and research at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

in the Department of Psychology. Returning to Macquarie University in 2007, she took up a CORE research appointment at MACCS, and in 2010, she was appointed Scientific Director of the Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science and then became Head of the Department of Cognitive Science. Castles is a member of the Council of Learning Difficulties Australia, Fellow of the Academy of Social Science in Australia (FASSA), and Chair of the Steering Committee of the NSW Centre for Effective Reading. Castles research over more than 20 years has looked into the nature, causes, and treatment of different types of reading difficulties, as well as the process of normal reading development. She has published over 100 articles and several books. She is also a Fellow of the

Royal Society of New South Wales The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. The Governor of New South Wales is the vice-regal patron of the Society. It is the oldest learned society in the Southern Hemisphere. The Society traces its ...

(FRSN). Castles has been critical of the Arrowsmith Program, which has been incorporated in public and private schools in Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, and is claimed to help students with

learning disabilities Learning disability, learning disorder, or learning difficulty (British English) is a condition in the brain that causes difficulties comprehending or processing information and can be caused by several different factors. Given the "difficulty ...

by using research in

neuroplasticity Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity or just plasticity, is the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through neurogenesis, growth and reorganization. Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to reorganize and rewir ...

theories. Castles has stated that there is "a clear lack of independent research to support the program's claims", and no study has been published in a

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

journal on the Arrowsmith program. Castles is on the

editorial board The editorial board is a group of editors, writers, and other people who are charged with implementing a publication's approach to editorials and other opinion pieces. The editorials published normally represent the views or goals of the publicat ...

of the

academic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...

, ''

Scientific Studies of Reading Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'', and has produced the ''Free Reading Assessment Tests'' for teachers. She has also provided extensive discussion in the media on the issue of

dyslexia Dyslexia (), previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, wri ...

in school children's learning.Ability to read and spell 'inherited' ''The Age'' 20 September 2006
/ref>

Works

* Castles, A., & Nation, K. (Eds.). (2008). ''Orthographic Processes in Reading.'' Special issue of the Journal of Research in Reading. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing * Friedmann, N., & Castles, A. (2013). Reading impairments: Dyslexias in Hebrew. In G. Khan (Ed.), ''Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics''. Boston: Brill Academic. * Castles, A. & Nation, K. (2006). How does orthographic learning happen? In Andrews, S. (Ed.), ''From inkmarks to ideas: Challenges and controversies about word recognition and reading'' (pp. 151–179). London, UK: Psychology Press. * Castles, A., Davis, C. & Forster, K.I. (2003). Word recognition development in children: Insights from masked priming. In Kinoshita. S. & Lupker, S. (Eds.), ''Masked priming: State of the Art'' (pp. 345–360). London, UK: Psychology Press. * Coltheart, M. Bates, A. and Castles, A. (1994). Cognitive neuropsychology and rehabilitation. In Humphreys, G.W. & Riddoch, M.J. (Eds.), ''Cognitive Neuropsychology and Cognitive Rehabilitation''. London: Lawrence Erlbaum.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Castles, Anne Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Australian women scientists Academic staff of Macquarie University Dyslexia researchers Australian National University alumni Macquarie University alumni Women cognitive scientists Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia Fellows of the Royal Society of New South Wales People educated at St Clare's College, Canberra