News
2026 International Mind, Brain and Education (IMBES) Conference, San Diego CA
September 4, 2026. Delivered a talk, titled "Why the Sensorimotor System Doesn’t Just Support but Enables Mathematical Cognition" as part of the symposium "Cognitive Offloading and Mathematical Thinking During Development " in the IMBES 2026 Conference, in San Diego CA. Many thanks to Dr. Dana Miller-Cotto for organizing and chairing the symposium, and to Dr. Eric Wilkey (discussant) and Dr. Iroise Dumontheil (co-presenter) for their presentations. Link to the slides.
My PhD students Christofer Lumban and Mona Anchan presented their work (based on Mona's dissertation work) in IMBES 2026, titled "EEG Differences in Arithmetic Processing in Bilingual and Monolingual Adults."-- Link to the poster
2026 Alabama Advanced Imaging Consortium Talk
July 31, 2026. Presented a talk, titled "Rising Algorithms, Fading Theory: The Cost of Data-Driven Research " in the 2026 AAIC meeting . Link to slides.
2026 TED University Lecture, Ankara, Turkiye
July 3, 2026. Delivered an invited lecture, titled "The Cost of Growing Up in the Digital Age: The Effects of Imbalanced Technology Use on Cognitive and Psychological Development" for the College of Education, TED University, Ankara. Many thanks to Dean Kürşat Çağıltay for the invitation and hosting me. Link to slides
2026 UA URCA Presentation by Undergraduate Student
April 14, 2026. My undergraduate honors thesis advisee, Hanna Allen her poster, titled "Social Co-Presence and Its Impact on Perceived Effort During Task Performance" in the Undergraduate Research and Creativity Conference. Congrats to Hanna for her presentation and graduation! Link to the poster.
2025 Alabama Advanced Imaging Consortium Poster Presentation
July 18, 2025. My student Reyhan Shorbi presented her work, titled "Decoding Visual Categories: From EEG Signals to Cognitive State Classification. Link to the poster.
2025 Matematikvizyon Eğitimde Yenilikçi Yaklaşımlar ve Matematik Öğretimi Sempozyumu, Muş, Türkiye
June 19, 2025. Delivered an invited talk titled "Matematiksel Bilişin Temelleri" (Foundations of Mathematical Cognition) for the Matematikvizyon mathematics learning conference, Alparslan Üniversitesi, Muş, Turkiye. Many thanks to Dr. Yılmaz Mutlu for inviting and hosting me.
Educational Neuroscience Lecture, TED University, Ankara, Turkiye
June 12, 2025. Delivered an invited lecture, titled "Why do we need educational neuroscience and why now?" for the College of Education, TED University, Ankara. Many thanks to Dean Kürşat Çağıltay for the invitation and hosting me. Link to slides
2024 II. Matematik Öğrenme Güçlüğü Kongresi, Ankara Üniversitesi, Türkiye
September 20, 2024. Delivered an online keynote speech titled "The Relationship Between Understanding Numerical Magnitudes and Embodied Abilities and Systems" for the Mathematics Learning Difficulties Conference, Ankara, Turkiye. Link to the slides.
2024 Alabama Advanced Imaging Consortium Talk
July 19, 2024. Presented a talk, titled "Why I believe machine learning in cognitive neuroscience is not a fad" in the 2024 AAIC meeting. Link to slides.
2024 Mathematical Cognition and Learning Society Conference, Washington DC
June 6, 2024. Served as a discussant for the symposium, titled "Embodied Learning in Mathematics: Nurturing Cognitive Development through Motor Skills, Finger-Based Strategies, and Bodily Actions" for the MCLS 2024 Conference, in Washington DC. Many thanks to Dr.Venera Gashaj for organizing and chairing the symposium. Link to the symposium proposal. Group photo from the meeting:
My PhD student Reyhan Shorbi presented her work with me and Dr. Macarena Suarez-Pellicioni, titled "Structural brain correlates of subtraction and multiplication performance and their interaction with age in children" Link to the poster
2024 Center for Educational Neuroscience, University College London
March 21, 2024. Delivered an online invited talk for the Center for Educational Neuroscience, UCL, titled "Going beyond the cognitivist framing in understanding bodily foundations of mathematical cognition." Many thanks to Yasin Arslan for the invitation and for hosting me. Link to slides.
2024 UA Center for Youth Development and Intervention Talk
March 1, 2024. Delivered an invited talk for UA CYDI, titled "Neural and Evolutionary Foundations of Mathematical Cognition." Thanks to Dr. Susan White for the invitation.
Türk Tıp Dünyası - Yapay Zekanın Bilişsel Sinirbilimde Kullanımı (in Turkish)
October 20, 2023. Invited talk in Istanbul on the use of artificial intelligence in cognitive neuroscience.
Bioinfocongress 2023
October 28, 2023. Invited talk, titled "Use of Machine Learning Methods in Cognitive Neuroscience", for an online conference organized by Bioinforange, a Turkish graduate student organization in biological sciences.
Interview for the Dana Career Network in Neuroscience & Society
September 13, 2023. Interview about pursuing careers in educational neuroscience (for NeuroxCareers; https://neuroxcareers.org/)
"Decoding EEG Data Using Machine Learning"
June 16, 2023. Invited talk for the Sabancı University Computer Science Seminar, Istanbul, Turkey. Link to slides
Slides from the talk:
Berlin Workshop on Ecological Psychology, Berlin Technical University, Germany
June 9, 2023. Delivered a talk, titled "Moving Ahead with Embodied Cognitive Neuroscience," at Berlin Technical University, Germany. Link to the slides
Keynote Speech for the 2023 Brain Awareness Week, American University - Cairo
March 12-13, 2023. Delivered a keynote speech, titled "Brain, Body, and Learning: Insights from Neuroscience for Learning and Teaching," at the American University, Cairo, Egypt. Many thanks to Dr. Heba EL-Deghaidy for the invitation and for hosting me. Link to the slides--Link to the conference program
UA URCA Presentations by Undergraduate Students
April 13, 2023. Two of my students, Julia Leskow and Raegan Windham presented their posters in the Undergraduate Research and Creativity Conference. Congrats to Julia for winning the best presentation award!
"Science of Learning" - NPR WHYY - The Pulse
Feb 20, 2021.
Interview segment (15:20-23:00) on how neuroscience informs learning and education, on an episode of the show focusing on science of learning.
https://whyy.org/episodes/the-science-of-schooling/
International EJER Congress
July 20, 2021. Education in the Digital Age with Innovative Examples / Yenilikçi Örneklerle Dijital Çağda Eğitim
Invited panel talk on educational neuroscience.
Beyin ve Sinirbilim Araştırmalarının Öğrenme ve Eğitime Etkileri
Dijital Öğretmenler
May 10, 2021. Virtual seminar on educational neuroscience for Digital Teachers, a nation-wide professional training program for teachers in Turkey.
"Putting a finger on where we can situate fingers in numerical cognition models"
Mathematical Cognition and Learning Society Conference
September 10, 2020. Virtual symposium presentation for the 2020 MCLS Conference (virtual) External link
"Educational Neuroscience: Fundamental Theories and Findings" (in Turkish)
İnönü University
April 15, 2020. Virtual seminar for the Professional Development Colloquium Series.
"The new educational neuroscience undergrad program at the University of Alabama"
Education Talk Radio
Jan 10, 2019. Interview about the new educational neuroscience undergraduate major. (external link)
"State's first educational neuroscience major"
WBRC - Fox 6 News
Dec 4, 2018
Segment from Fox 6 News featuring the new educational neuroscience undergraduate major, with a brief interview.
"University of Alabama will offer state’s first educational neuroscience program"
Tuscaloosa News
Nov 26, 2018
Article & interview on the new Undergraduate Educational Neuroscience Program.
"UA to Launch State’s First Educational Neuroscience Program"
UA - News
Nov 1, 2018
Interview about the new educational neuroscience undergraduate major.
"What is educational neuroscience & why now?"
College of Education, Middle East Technical University
June 4, 2018
Public talk on educational neuroscience at the Middle East Technical University, Ankara
"This Many: Unlocking the Relationship Between Math Ability and Fingers"
Neuroscience News
March 25, 2018
Article featuring Dr. Soylu's research on the relation between fingers and mathematics learning.
"Researcher unlocking relationship between early math ability, fingers"
Medical Xpress
March 23, 2018
Article featuring Dr. Soylu's research on the relation between fingers and mathematics learning.
"UA researcher unlocking relationship between math ability, fingers"
UA Research Magazine
March 22, 2018
Article featuring Dr. Soylu's research on the relation between fingers and mathematics learning.
Web version: www.ua.edu/news/2018/03/this-many/
"A Deeper Look into Learning"
UA Educator
Dec 19, 2016
Interview with Dr. Soylu & other program faculty about the educational neuroscience PhD concentration & research.
Web version: www.ua.edu/news/2016/12/a-deeper-look-into-learning/
"Neuroscientist to Discuss Brain Development at UA ALLELE Lecture"
UA News Center
Feb 17, 2017
Brief interview about a talk by Dr. Michael Anderson and his research on the evolution of brain and cognition.
www.ua.edu/news/2017/02/neuroscientist-to-discuss-brain-development-at-ua-allele-lecture/
Firat Soylu to speak at annual graduate student symposium"
The Crimson White
April 17, 2014
News piece on Dr. Soylu's keynote speech for the sixth UA ESPRMC annual graduate student symposium.
