I have a broad background in both neuroscience and developmental psychology and my research broadly investigates the relation between the developing brain and changes in behavior. More specifically, my research is focused on how changes in brain function and structure relate to typical and atypical development of learning and decision-making. To approach these questions, I use computational models, social network analyses, and methods form experimental economics. Computational models are used to quantify behavior and the complex processes underlying learning and decision-making. The parameters from these models support spanning the bridge between developmental theories and neurobiology, and enable to identify more specific processes that underlie developmental change. Using these techniques I have investigated the neurocognitive development of risky & intertemporal choice ,  basic learning mechanisms , social decision-making, and social learning.  {for more info and CV}

Currently I am an Associate Professor at the Developmental Psychology Department of the  University of Amsterdam & Director of the Connected Minds Lab,  Adjunct Research Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development Center for Adaptive Rationality, and Faculty at the Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research

Lucas studies how people learn from others:  when are people influenced by others, and how do people use information from their social environment to change their behavior? To answer those questions, he uses knowledge from biology, behavioral economics, and psychology. After his PhD in Biology at the University of Groningen in 2014, Lucas started working at the Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics in Nottingham (UK). In 2016 he started at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, and he joined the Connected Minds Lab at the University of Amsterdam in 2018. 

Postdocs

I am a PhD candidate in the Connected Minds Lab, and my project will focus on how adolescents search for and select information in a social network, and how neuro-cognitive development might influence information selection and decision making. Prior to my PhD, I completed my MSc in child development where I specialized in developmental psychopathology. During my master, I conducted research on two topics: (1) emotion processing in infancy, and (2) effects of adolescent and child personality on parenting and delinquency. 

Mihua investigates how the hierarchical structure of skills and knowledge shapes social learning and cultural evolution. She combines computational modelling with behavioural experiments to study how people adapt their social learning strategies when learning is constrained by prerequisite traits. Her work aims to explain why people often rely on strategies other than success-based learning, and how these strategies influence the spread and accumulation of knowledge in groups. By integrating theory, experiments, and large-scale simulations, she contributes to a new, empirically grounded framework for understanding human social learning

PhDs

Hello, this is Vi! I am PhD candidate and scientific programmer at the Connected Minds lab, and my background is in Neuroeconomics and Computational neuroscience. I am interested in the relationship between emotions and reinforcement learning, and the implications of this relationship beyond science into policy and therapeutic settings. I study these dynamics in the context of social media and development.

Outside the lab, you can find me learning to apply force-free RL to train dogs, walking unnecessarily long distances, playing the flute or making memes.

Social learning is crucial for knowledge acquisition and cultural evolution, but its effectiveness is influenced by the structured nature of learning foundational and advanced skills, as well as the environmental context in which learning occurs. In my PhD project, I use mathematical and agent-based modeling techniques to explore how learning structures and environmental factors shape the success of social learning.

Hey, I’m Daniel, a PhD student at the Connected Minds Lab with a background in decision and data science. My research focuses on understanding how social information on social media influences young people. In particular, I am interested in how adolescents form and update their beliefs and attitudes when consuming news and information on these platforms, especially the content of comments on news posts and how these shape attitudes.

Beyond that, you’ll find me trying to learn a new sport, endlessly exploring new electronic music, and reading sports news and checking live stats in between.

Hi, I am Kevin! At the CoDe Lab in Leiden, I am a PhD candidate, co-supervised by the Connected Minds lab. I have a background in Cognitive Neuroscience and Computer Science and am interested in how adolescents update their beliefs in response to (mis)information and in how behavior and social dynamics could be investigated with computational methods. I study these topics by making use of social media data in the context of adolescents’ development. In my spare time, you can find me practicing endurance sports, playing video games, and reading.

Hey there! I am Kyriaki, a PhD candidate at the Connected Minds Lab and the CoDe Lab, with a background in social sciences and philosophy. I am interested in how social influence online shapes susceptibility to misinformation, particularly how linguistic persuasive cues affect adolescents’ veracity judgements in a digital world increasingly filled with fake news and AI-generated content. My work focuses on identifying these linguistic mechanisms and developing interventions to help young people become more resilient to them. Outside the lab, you will find me planning my next travel escape, exploring new food, playing guitar, or trying not to fall off climbing walls.

(Inter)national Collaborations

Lab Managers