The Cognitive Psychology Unit is organized as follows:

Central elements in the research activities of all programme group members are: attachment, sensitive caregiving, and prevention and intervention.

Developmental and Educational psychology is concerned with the developmental course and dynamics of cognition, self-regulation, and emotional competence, and the implications for educational and clinical practice.

Neurobiological, cognitive and behavioural measurements of normal and abnormal child development.

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Accurately recognising others’ emotions is a fundamental social skill, relevant for navigating the social world from early childhood. Children’s ability to do represents a milestone in their socioemotional development and is associated with a number of important psychosocial outcomes. Many individual…

A key challenge in neuroscience is understanding how neurons in hundreds of interconnected brain regions integrate sensory inputs with previous expectations to initiate movements and make decisions.

Animal Sciences’ contributions to the Development & Disease research theme include the mechanisms and evolution of embryonic development, the development of cognitive mechanisms, and animal models for understanding mechanisms of human disease.

Why do some children confront social challenges with confidence, whereas others experience difficulties? What is the role of child temperament and child emotional dispositions? What is the role of parenting? This project aims to shed light on the mechanisms explaining shyness and confidence in response…

In this provocative study, Shumon T. Hussain engages with the long-standing issue of French-Anglophone research conflicts in Palaeolithic archaeology.

Cognitive processes of learning with a focus on reading comprehension and the development of mathematical skills.

The research of the unit is aimed at the development of models to explain and describe the influences in social systems. Social influences are studied in three ways: from the perspective of group dynamics, from an individual-cognitive perspective, and from an economic and consumer psychological pers…

For the first time, a group of international and interdisciplinary researchers led by Karline Janmaat and her former MSc Student Chirag Chittar, have tested the several hypotheses on music simultaneously in a modern foraging society during their daily search for tubers – their staple food. They found…

When combined and used by specific people located in time and place, words can express something more than, different from, or even the opposite of their dictionary meanings.

This programme is aimed at students who have a strong interest in programming and computer science, as well as an interest in the cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence.

Unconstrained day-to-day activities are difficult to quantify and how the corresponding movements shape the brain remain unclear. Here, we recorded all touchscreen smartphone interactions at a sub-second precision and show that the unconstrained day-to-day behavior captured on the phone reflects in…

This minor focuses on the cognitive processes that influence the interaction between the brain and the mind.

In this book, Peter Akkermans provides a systematic overview of the Halaf culture of the 6 th millennium BC in the Syrian portion of the valley of the Balikh River, a tributary of the Euphrates.

Essays dedicated to Frans Wiggermann

The Supplementa series of BABESCH is designed as a platform for thematic publications, in juxtaposition to the annual and varied mix of contributions offered by the journal itself. The thematic publications will include proceedings of colloquia, collections of particular studies by one or more authors,…

Conference, Spring workshop

What exactly do psychedelics do in our brains? To investigate this, NWO has awarded a Vidi grant to Michiel van Elk. The Leiden cognitive psychologist talks about his proposal for serious research into a widespread social phenomenon. 'People describe experiences under the influence of psychedelics that…

Speech Prosody 2024 includes seven special sessions. When making a submission, authors are asked to indicate whether they want their paper to be considered for a special session. You can find descriptions of each below.

PhD defence

Can dynamic testing provide us with insight in children’s potential for learning?

This thesis describes the use of a combined approach of computational and experimental techniques to gain novel insights to understand the glycosylation reaction and its reactive intermediates.

In the search for sustainable energy solutions, the idea of artificial photosynthesis has been proposed as an approach with which to use water and sunlight to produce hydrogen.

This thesis describes the role of pollution, specifically neonicotinoid insecticides, as an actor of the ongoing biodiversity decline.

Biodiversity and trade: mitigating the impacts of non-food biomass global supply chains.

Yearly, the LIBC organizes a public event to share scientific research in the field of brain & cognition

The Institute of Psychology is responsible for innovative and interdisciplinary research and education within psychology and related disciplines.

In her book Between Smiles and Grimaces, Mariska Kret shows us what differences there are between humans and animals, and more importantly, what similarities.

There seem to be genes that influence how our brains develop over time. A large international consortium has discovered this with an extensive study. The results of the study were recently published in Nature Neuroscience.

Psychologists Fenna Poletiek and Erik de Kwaadsteniet have received a grant from the FNV trade union to research people’s attitude to work if they receive a basic income. How do they plan to find answers?

The orbits of 27 stars orbiting closely around the black hole at the center of our Milky Way are very chaotic. As a result, researchers cannot predict with confidence where they will be in about 462 years. ‘That is astonishingly short,’ says astronomer Simon Portegies Zwart who collaborated on the r…

When hobby divers revisited a nearly 400-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Texel, they discovered more than 1,000 objects in wooden boxes. Eight years later, postdoc Janet Dickinson used recovered books to compile a profile of the mysterious owner.

On the 26th of January, Alex Reuneker successfully defended a doctoral thesis. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Alex on this achievement!

Is EEG theta\beta ratio predictive towards the negative effects of stress on cognitive performance in individuals suffering from performance anxiety? Can we improve resilience to performance anxiety by using a theta\beta ratio neurofeedback intervention?