Daniel Ansari

Daniel Ansari
Born	(1975-12-26) December 26, 1975
Education	Sussex University, Oxford University, University College London
Known for	Children’s cognitive and neural development
Awards	Boyd McCandless Early Career Award Transforming Education through Neuroscience Award Marion Welchman International Award Fellow Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Fellow, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (2026)
Scientific career
Fields	Cognitive neuroscience, Developmental psychology, Educational psychology
Workplaces	Dartmouth College University of Western Ontario

Daniel Ansari (born December 26, 1975) is a German-Canadian cognitive neuroscientist and professor specializing in children's cognitive and neural development, with emphasis on numerical and mathematical skills and understanding. He is a Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning at Western University, Canada. He was a member of the college of the Royal Society of Canada from 2014 to 2017. He is also a Fellow in the Child and Brain Development Program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Ansari received the Boyd McCandless Early Career Award from the American Psychological Association. He was an Advanced Research Fellow of the Klaus J. Jacobs Foundation from 2018 to 2020.

Ansari has authored or co-authored over 150 journal articles and has over 27,000 citations on Google Scholar with a h-index of 87.

Education

In 1999 Ansari completed his B.A. (Hons) in Psychology from the School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences at the University of Sussex.

He earned a Ph.D. from the Neurocognitive Development Unit at the Institute of Child Health, University College London, completed between 1999 and 2003.

During his doctoral studies, he became increasingly interested in neuroscience. He interrupted his PhD for a year to study for an MSc in neuroscience at the University of Oxford.

In 2003, Ansari became an assistant professor of education at Dartmouth College in the education department.

Career

From July 2010 to July 2014, he served as an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology Institute at Western University. From July 2014 to July 2018, he served as a professor.

Since July 2018, he has been serving as a Professor jointly appointed in the Department of Psychology and the Faculty of Education.

Within the international scholarly community, Ansari has held leadership roles in two learned societies devoted to his field. He served as Secretary (2012–2013), President-Elect (2013–2015), President (2014–2016), and Past-President (2016–2018) of the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society. He later chaired the Mathematical Cognition and Learning Society (2020–2021), after serving as Chair-Elect (2019–2020) and as a member of its governing board (2015–2019).

Numerical Cognition Laboratory

For the past 20 years, Ansari has directed The Numerical Cognition Laboratory, a research group focused on understanding numerical processing, mathematical abilities, and the challenges some children face in early numeracy and math. The lab employs behavioral and brain imaging methods to investigate the cognitive and neural mechanisms involved in numerical cognition. The laboratory's work increasingly includes large-scale, cross-national, and registered-report studies on topics such as math anxiety and place-value understanding, alongside its behavioural and neuroimaging research on developmental dyscalculia.

Grants and funded research

Ansari has held continuous, externally funded research support since the early 2000s from Canadian, European, and international funding bodies. Selected current and recent grants include:

• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Insight Grant, "Using visual-spatial models to facilitate conceptual understanding of fraction arithmetic across operation and fraction types" (2024–2028), Principal Investigator.
• Jacobs Foundation, Research Grant, "Learning Variability Network Exchange (LEVANTE): A pilot project" (2024–2027), Principal Investigator.
• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Discovery Operating Grant renewal, "Neurocognitive trajectories of number development" (2023–2028), Principal Investigator.
• Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF), BrainsCAN: Brain Health for Life ($66,000,000; 2016–2023), one of ten Co-Investigators.
• National Research Foundation, Government of Singapore, Science of Learning Visiting Investigatorship Grant (S$4,496,604; 2017–2022), Visiting Investigator and Principal Investigator.
• Brain Canada, Platform Support Grant ($1,000,000 per year; 2015–2018), one of ten Co-Investigators.
• E.W.R. Steacie Fellowship, NSERC ($125,000 per year; 2015–2017).
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), five-year Operating Grant renewal (2014–2019), Principal Investigator.

Awards and fellowships

In 2011, Ansari was honored with the Boyd McCandless Early Career Award by the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 7: Developmental Psychology.

In 2012, he was the recipient of the Transforming Education through Neuroscience Award from IMBES and L&B.

He was the president of the International Mind Brain and Education Society from 2016-2018.

In 2018, Ansari received the Marion Welchman International Award from the British Dyslexia Association.

'In 2019, Ansari became Fellow in the Child and Brain Development Program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR). From 2018 to 2020 Ansari was a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.

In 2020, his contributions to developmental cognitive neuroscience were further recognized with a Tier I Canada Research Chair. He earned the Jacobs Foundation Advanced Research Fellowship, spanning from 2018 to 2020.

In 2015, Ansari also received the NSERC E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship.

In 2022, Ansari was designated as a LEAP Fellow by MIT Solve.

More recently, Ansari was named International Francqui Professor by the Fondation Francqui–Stichting, Belgium, for 2025–2027, and received both the Pickering Award for Outstanding Contribution to Developmental Psychology in Canada and a Fellowship of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) in 2026.

Full list of awards and honours:

• 2026 – Fellow, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS)
• 2026 – Pickering Award for Outstanding Contribution to Developmental Psychology in Canada
• 2025–2027 – International Francqui Professor, Fondation Francqui–Stichting, Belgium
• 2025 – Fellow, Child & Brain Development Program, CIFAR, renewal
• 2024 – Graduate Excellence in Teaching Award, Faculty of Education, Western University
• 2022 – Graduate Excellence in Teaching Award, Faculty of Education, Western University
• 2022 – LEAP Fellow, MIT Solve
• 2020 – Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience & Learning (Tier I)
• 2019 – Fellow, Child & Brain Development Program, CIFAR
• 2018 – Marion Welchman International Award, British Dyslexia Association
• 2018 – Jacobs Foundation Advanced Research Fellowship (2018–2020)
• 2015 – Fellow, Association for Psychological Science (APS)
• 2015 – Postdoctoral Supervisor of the Year Award, Western University
• 2015 – E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship, NSERC, Canada
• 2014 – Member, College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, Royal Society of Canada
• 2014 – Marie Curie Visiting Professor, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, UK
• 2012 – Transforming Education through Neuroscience Award, IMBES & Learning and the Brain
• 2012 – Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience (Tier II), renewal
• 2011 – Faculty Scholar Award, University of Western Ontario
• 2011 – Boyd McCandless Early Career Award, American Psychological Association, Division 7 (Developmental Psychology)
• 2009 – Early Research Contributions Award, Society for Research in Child Development
• 2008 – Western University Student Council Teaching Honour Roll Award of Excellence
• 2008 – Research Award of the German Association for Dyslexia and Dyscalculia
• 2008 – NeuroImage: Systems Neuroscience Editors' Choice Award (jointly with A. Berkowitz)
• 2008 – Early Researcher Award, Ontario Ministry for Research and Innovation
• 2007 – Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience (Tier II)
• 2005 – Junior Faculty Fellowship, Dartmouth College
• 2005 – Schloessmann Award, Max Planck Society, Germany
• 2005 – Rockefeller Center Scholar, Rockefeller Center, Dartmouth College
• 2002 – Bogue Research Fellowship, University College London
• 2001 – Runner-up, Wellcome Trust/New Scientist New Millennial Essay Competition
• 2000 – Medical Research Council (UK), one-year Master's Studentship
• 1999 – Williams Syndrome Foundation (UK), three-year PhD Studentship

Editorial service

Ansari has held a long series of editorial roles across journals in psychology, neuroscience, and education.

Current standing roles:

• Section Editor, Open Mind (2024–present)
• Associate Editor, Cognition (2023–present)
• Associate Editor, Journal of Educational Psychology (2020–present)

Past standing roles:

• Registered Reports Editor, Developmental Science (2018–2023)
• Rapid Internal Review Editor, Developmental Science (2016–2023)
• Associate Editor, Frontiers for Young Minds (2013–2023)
• Associate Editor, Developmental Science (2009–2017)
• Academic Editor, PLOS One (2013–2014)
• Associate Editor, Mind, Brain, and Education (2011–2015)

Editorial board memberships include: Psychological Science in the Public Interest (2019–present), Neuropsychologia (2011–present), Trends in Neuroscience and Education (2011–present), Cognition (2011–2023), Cognitive Development (2014–2020), and Child Development Perspectives (2011–2015).

Guest and ad hoc editorial roles have included Guest Action Editor for eLife and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) (both 2019), and co-editor of special issues in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, the International Journal of Mathematics Education, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, and Mind, Brain, and Education.

Professional and advisory service

Ansari has served on numerous grant review panels and scientific committees internationally, including standing membership on the European Research Council's Starting Grant Panel (SH4) (2026–), the Tri-Agency Interdisciplinary Peer Review Committee, Canada (2024–), the College of Reviewers of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (from 2017), and the College of Expert Reviewers of the European Science Foundation (from 2018). He was also a member of the Consolidator Grant Panel (SH4) of the European Research Council (2015–2019) and of NSERC's Discovery Grant evaluation group (2013–2016).

His external advisory and governance roles include membership of the Math Advisory Panel at the Center for Reinventing Public Education, Arizona State University (2024–2026); chairing the Psychology & Cognitive Sciences subpanel for Slovakia's national research evaluation body (2026–); membership of the Duolingo Math Advisory Panel (2022–2024); the Professional Advisory Board of the U.S. National Center for Learning Disabilities (2020–2024); the Research Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Ambassadors Community at CIFAR (2019–present); the Advisory Board of the Centre of Research and Development in Learning at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (2018–present); and the Advisory Panel of Deans for Impact (2019–present). He has been an expert advisor to the educational resource Understood.org since 2016.

Within Western University, Ansari has served on numerous internal committees, including the Honorary Degrees Committee (2017–2019), the Brain & Mind Institute Director Search Committee (2018), several Canada Research Chair and faculty search committees, and, at the departmental level, multiple terms on the Department of Psychology's Appointments Committee, Promotion and Tenure Committee, and Workload and Resource Planning Committee. He was Director of the Centre for the Science of Learning, Faculty of Education, from 2019.

Ansari has also conducted external tenure and promotion reviews for more than 30 universities worldwide, including University College London, the University of British Columbia, Rutgers University, the University of California campuses at Berkeley, Irvine, and San Diego, and the National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan.

Teaching

Ansari has taught graduate and undergraduate courses on the development of numerical and mathematical cognition and on the relationship between neuroscience, mind, and education. His courses include Development of the Mathematical Brain (Dartmouth College and University of Western Ontario, 2003–present) and Mind, Brain and Education (University of Western Ontario, 2007–present), alongside earlier courses at Dartmouth College such as Learning and Education Across Cultures, Introduction to Education, and Human Development and Education. He has supervised numerous graduate students to completion of their MSc and PhD degrees at Western University.

Selected publications

• Holloway, Ian D.; Ansari, Daniel (1 May 2009). "Mapping numerical magnitudes onto symbols: The numerical distance effect and individual differences in children's mathematics achievement". Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 103 (1): 17–29. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2008.04.001. ISSN 0022-0965. PMID 18513738.
• Ansari, Daniel (April 2008). "Effects of development and enculturation on number representation in the brain". Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 9 (4): 278–291. doi:10.1038/nrn2334. ISSN 1471-0048. PMID 18334999. S2CID 15766398.
• De Smedt, Bert; Noël, Marie-Pascale; Gilmore, Camilla; Ansari, Daniel (1 June 2013). "How do symbolic and non-symbolic numerical magnitude processing skills relate to individual differences in children's mathematical skills? A review of evidence from brain and behavior". Trends in Neuroscience and Education. 2 (2): 48–55. doi:10.1016/j.tine.2013.06.001. ISSN 2211-9493. S2CID 4833449.
• Ansari, Daniel; Coch, Donna (April 2006). "Bridges over troubled waters: education and cognitive neuroscience". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 10 (4): 146–151. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2006.02.007. hdl:10818/33665. PMID 16530462. S2CID 8328331.
• Thomas, Michael S. C.; Annaz, Dagmara; Ansari, Daniel; Scerif, Gaia; Jarrold, Chris; Karmiloff-Smith, Annette (April 2009). "Using Developmental Trajectories to Understand Developmental Disorders". Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 52 (2): 336–358. doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2009/07-0144). ISSN 1092-4388. PMID 19252129.
• Price, Gavin R.; Holloway, Ian; Räsänen, Pekka; Vesterinen, Manu; Ansari, Daniel (December 2007). "Impaired parietal magnitude processing in developmental dyscalculia". Current Biology. 17 (24): R1042–R1043. Bibcode:2007CBio...17R1042P. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2007.10.013. PMID 18088583.
• Grabner, Roland H.; Ansari, Daniel; Koschutnig, Karl; Reishofer, Gernot; Ebner, Franz; Neuper, Christa (January 2009). "To retrieve or to calculate? Left angular gyrus mediates the retrieval of arithmetic facts during problem solving". Neuropsychologia. 47 (2): 604–608. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.10.013. PMID 19007800. S2CID 11149677.
• Ansari, Daniel; Garcia, Nicolas; Lucas, Elizabeth; Hamon, Kathleen; Dhital, Bibek (7 November 2005). "Neural correlates of symbolic number processing in children and adults". NeuroReport. 16 (16): 1769–1773. doi:10.1097/01.wnr.0000183905.23396.f1. ISSN 0959-4965. PMID 16237324. S2CID 42503588.
• Lyons, Ian M.; Price, Gavin R.; Vaessen, Anniek; Blomert, Leo; Ansari, Daniel (September 2014). "Numerical predictors of arithmetic success in grades 1–6". Developmental Science. 17 (5): 714–726. doi:10.1111/desc.12152. ISSN 1363-755X. PMID 24581004.
• Grabner, Roland H.; Ansari, Daniel; Reishofer, Gernot; Stern, Elsbeth; Ebner, Franz; Neuper, Christa (1 November 2007). "Individual differences in mathematical competence predict parietal brain activation during mental calculation". NeuroImage. 38 (2): 346–356. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.07.041. ISSN 1053-8119. PMID 17851092. S2CID 18960661.
• Lau, N. T. T.; Hawes, Z.; Tremblay, P.; Ansari, D. (2022). "Disentangling the individual and contextual effects of math anxiety: A global perspective". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 119 (7): e2115855119.
• Lau, N. T. T.; Ansari, D.; Sokolowski, H. M. (2024). "Unraveling the interplay between math anxiety and math achievement". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 28 (10): 937–947.
• McNeil, N. M.; Jordan, N. C.; Viegut, A. A.; Ansari, D. (2025). "What the science of learning teaches us about arithmetic fluency". Psychological Science in the Public Interest. 26 (1): 10–57.
• Qu, C.; Ansari, D. (2026). "The structure beneath the symbols: How children develop an understanding of place value". Current Directions in Psychological Science: 1–7.

A complete list of 164 journal articles is available via Ansari's Google Scholar profile and laboratory website.

References

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