Brian Butterworth

Background

Brian Butterworth was born on January 3, 1944, in London, England, United Kingdom. He is a son of Harry Butterworth and Cissie Butterworth.

Education

In 1966 Brian Butterworth received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Merton College, Oxford. In 1972 he obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of London.

Career

From 1978 to 1983 Brian Butterworth was an editor-in-chief of LinguisticsIn 1983 became co-founder and joint editor of Language and Cognitive Processes. In 1993 he was a founder and editor of Mathematical Cognition, a journal. He held visiting positions at numerous institutions, including Melbourne University, Padua University, Trieste University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the Max Planck Institute at Mijmegen. He taught at Cambridge University for eight years.

His research interests lie in the domains of cognitive psychology, the ‎neuropsychology of numbers and arithmetic, neural network models of reading and arithmetic ‎and reading and acquired dyslexia in English, Japanese and Chinese.‎

Professor Butterworth is interested in how the brain processes numerical information. His research ‎employs many different approaches from many different disciplines. These include fMRI, ‎functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy, TMS, twin studies, studies of Australian aboriginal ‎learners, studies of both typically and atypically developing learners (including those with ‎dyscalculia, Turner Syndrome and Williams Syndrome), and patterns of dissociation in ‎neurological patients, as well as normally competent adults. ‎

He also builds neural network models of adult competence and is working on developing ‎methods for helping people who have difficulty with arithmetic, including those with congenital ‎learning difficulties (such as dyscalculia).‎

Achievements

• Brian Butterworth is best known as the author of The Mathematical Brain. This book was a bestseller and translated into Italian, Japanese, Swedish, and Chinese languages.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Educational Neuroscience

    (Educational Neuroscience presents a series of readings fr...)

    2013
  • What Counts: How Every Brain is Hardwired for Math

    (Though he admits to not being particularly good at math, ...)

    1999
  • Dyscalculia Guidance: Helping Pupils with Specific Learning Difficulties in Maths

    (Based on current knowledge of the condition, Dyscalculia ...)

    2004
  • Dyscalculia: from Science to Education

    (Dyscalculia is caused by developmental differences in the...)

    2018
  • Marked for Life: A Critical Assessment at Universities 1971
  • Language Production Volume 2: Development, Writing and Other Language Processes 1984
  • Explanations for Language Universals 1984

Membership

Brian Butterworth is a member of the Experimental Psychology Society, the British Neuropsychology Society, the British Association for the Advancement of Science (now the British Science Association), the British Psychological Society.

Interests

• family holidays, skiing, mountain walking, history, archaeology, and anthropology of numbers

Connections

Brian Butterworth is married Diana Laurillard. They have two children: Amy, Anna.

Father:

Harry Butterworth

Mother:

Cissie Butterworth

Spouse:

Diana Laurillard

Daughter:

Amy Butterworth

Daughter:

Anna Butterworth

References

• Contemporary Authors
  2000