Dr Ilona Roth

Senior Lecturer in Psychology

Profile

I am a Senior Lecturer in Psychology in the Department of Life, Health and Chemical Sciences, Science Faculty.

I  studied Psychology, Philosophy and Physiology at Oxford University, and completed a D.Phil. thesis on Visual Selective Attention in the Department of Experimental Psychology.

I originally joined the Open University as a member of the Psychology Discipline, Faculty of Social Sciences, and moved to the Science Faculty in 2005. I am a chartered member and associate fellow of the British Psychological Society.

Qualifications

B.A. (Oxon.) in Psychology, Physiology and Philosophy

M.A., D.Phil (Oxon.) for a thesis entitled ‘The Effects of Irrelevant Information on the Processing of Visual Stimuli’

Teaching Interests

During my years at the Open University I have contributed written and multi-media material to a wide range of psychology courses, including Introductory, Cognitive, Social and Biological Psychology, and have authored several textbooks widely used outside the OU, including most recently 'The Autism Spectrum in the 21st Century: Exploring Psychology, Biology and Practice'.

I chaired the production and presentation of the course DSE202 Introduction to Psychology and made extensive contributions to its successor, DSE212 Exploring Psychology.  In 2007 I started work on an online course module on the autism spectrum, chairing first the production team, and since 2009, the module presentation. SK124, Understanding the Autism Spectrum, has attracted over 1100 students in each of its three presentations so far, and has received excellent feedback from students. I chair the exam boards for DXR222, a residential psychology project module, and for SDK228. The Science of the Mind: investigating mental health'. I also work on the module team for SD329 'Signals and Perception'.

Research Interests

A key theme in my research is the atypical cognitive and socio-cognitive functioning that occurs in neuropsychiatric conditions, notably autism  and dementia.  The research aims are: to enhance insights into the psychological profiles and neuropsychological substrates of these conditions, and the way these vary between individuals and between sub-groups; to shed light on the experience of affected individuals and on implications for their well-being.

Two attributes of mind, awareness and imagination, have been central to recent work. My studies of poetic talent in autism, funded by the British Academy, explored the capacity for self-awareness and imaginative self-expression in able individuals on the autism spectrum. 

A key focus of current research is one of the least well understood characteristics of autism- the phenomenon of unusual or circumscribed special interests. In a joint project with my colleague Dr.Rosa Hoekstra, we are exploring special interests in people with autism and their families, with the aim of devising systematic measures of this area of functioning, and elucidating implications for the cognitive phenotype in autism.

Current Research

 I have recently been co-investigator in the 3 year ESRC-funded 'MIDAS' project- ‘ A comprehensive profile of awareness in early stage dementia’- in collaboration with a research team including Linda Clare and Bob Woods (Bangor University), Robin Morris (Institute of Psychiatry) and Ivana Marková (University of Hull).

A current research project, joint with Dr. Rosa Hoekstra and funded by the OU Biomedical Research Network, explores unusual and circumscribed interests in people on the autism spectrum and their families.

Also in collaboration with Dr. Hoekstra, I have developed a new online research facility- the Biomedical Online Research Network (BORN).