COORDINATOR
Stephen Loew completed his Science Degree and also his Honours Degree at the University of New England, Australia. He attained his PhD (Biomedical) at the same university in 2014. Following his research attachment in the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Oviedo in 2013, he has collaborated with that university’s ADIR Group, with whom he has also co-authored some papers. Since 2019 he has been a research partner of the Laboratory of Applied Research in Neuroscience of Vision in Nova Lima, Brazil, and because of his research contributions he was then awarded a ‘Visiting Professor to Brazil’ scholarship in 2023, funded by the Brazilian Government for the purpose of giving lectures in an invited teaching and research attachment at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Stephen is currently a Research Associate of University of New England, Australia.
His key research interests include the under-recognised high prevalence of visual sensory-perception anomalies and the overlap of associated symptoms with ADHD and reading disorders, as well as the potential effects of excessive levels of fluorescent and LED lighting upon literacy and learning in the general population. His research in these areas has been widely published in a number of peer-reviewed journals and has also been presented at several international conferences. He has also conducted research projects investigating biophysical and genetic factors in visual stress, its role in declining rates of student literacy and numeracy, and if the unnatural proportion of blue-light emitted by increasingly brighter lighting and visual media in today’s classrooms and elsewhere may have exacerbated these still unresolved dilemmas. Thus, Stephen is always interested in international collaborations or research attachments in order to expand upon this direction of investigation.
In recent years, there has been a growing amount of converging evidence indicating that anomalies in visual sensory-processing are frequently present in individuals with reading and writing difficulties, and also in many cases of attentional disorders. Consequently, there is a need for greater consideration of the role of visual factors in learning disabilities research, and this is discussed in the present symposium.
The symposium will explore the findings of five investigations of reading and learning difficulties, with the opening presentation reporting the results of a joint Brazilian-Australian eye-tracking study. The study compared the changes in oculomotor function and reading-efficiency in a group diagnosed with ADHD to a group diagnosed with Developmental Dyslexia when reading text with reduced background contrast and brightness.
The second presentation examines novel findings gleaned from an earlier study investigating levels of reading discomfort under typical and filtered classroom lighting, in a group proficient-reading PhD students at the University of Oviedo, Spain.
The third presentation also reports on recent research at the University of Oviedo concerning Reading Disorders and Learning Disabilities.
The fourth presentation explores the possibility that abnormal lipid-metabolism and low cholesterol levels can disturb optimal visual sensory-perception, which may inevitably lead to reading and writing difficulties for many affected individuals. This hypothesis is then supported by presenting the results of a genetics study which was conducted at the University of New England, Australia.
The closing presentation reports on the high prevalence of reading discomfort and visual stress in Nursing-degree university students, and the implications of this for healthcare.