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Psychology Research Institute Psychology Research Institute
Developmental Psychology

Developmental Psychology

Programme group Developmental Psychology

The developmental psychology programme studies typical and a-typical cognitive development across the life-span: from infancy to senescence.

Typical and a-typical development

The study of typical development focusses on learning, decision-making, cognitive control, and capacities required at school, e.g. second language acquisition, whereas the study of a-typical development investigates addiction, ADHD, mild to borderline intellectual disability, anxiety, and learning disabilities (dyslexia and math anxiety). The study of a-typical development addresses underlying mechanisms, optimal ways of assessment, as well as interventions.

Social, affective, and motivational modulations

In both research lines, we study social, affective, and motivational modulations of cognitive development. We have a strong focus on:

  1. the relation between cognitive development and brain maturation;
  2. theoretical, computational, and statistical modeling of (neuro-)cognitive development; and
  3. a combination of fundamental research with practice-oriented work. 

The developmental psychology research programmme has been funded by several NWO innovative research schemes (VENI-VIDI-VICI), EU grants. The research programme has also received financial supperort from the research priority area Yield, which focusses on the bio-ecology of human development, and from the NWO's Nationale Wetenschap Agenda.