Dr. Katie Overy

Biography

Katie Overy graduated from the University of Edinburgh Faculty of Music in 1995 and continued her studies in the psychology of music under Eric Clarke at the University of Sheffield. Her doctoral research examined the difficulties dyslexic children face with musical timing and the potential for rhythm-based music lessons to support language and literacy skills. During her doctoral studies, Katie spent nine months at the Zoltan Kodály Pedagogical Institute of Music in Hungary, focusing on music education. She subsequently worked as a postdoctoral researcher with Gottfried Schlaug at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, learning fMRI techniques and collaborating on neuroimaging studies of musical processing. In 2004, she returned to the University of Edinburgh to establish the interdisciplinary Music Human Social Development Research Group. Her research interests lie in musical learning and the psychology of music, particularly how musical experience can support individuals with diagnoses such as dyslexia, aphasia, autism, and dementia. She has advised on several PhD theses and has been recognized as a Higher Education Outstanding Research Supervisor. Katie's work has been published widely, including co-editing special issues related to the musical and rhythmic brain, and her research continues to explore the interplay of music with cognitive processes.

Research Interests

Experience