Welcome to the Cognition in Development (CoDe) Lab
The CoDe Lab is based at Leiden University in the Netherlands and led by Dr. Ili Ma. We are broadly interested in the computational cognitive processes that underlie the development of learning and decision-making. Our research aims to understand how adolescents gather information from their environment to shape their beliefs about the world and about others. We are especially interested in how this process relates to adolescents’ susceptibility to misinformation and disinformation.
We use behavioral experiments and computational modelling of behavior, when applicable these are combined with neuroimaging (i.e., fMRI), or physiological measures. For example, we use (Bayesian) computational models where the decision-maker builds a belief over the state of the world and combines that belief with their utility functions. This approach allows for a rich understanding of the cognitive processes of interest and quantification of latent variables that are not directly observable from behavior, such as beliefs and uncertainty.
Our research further extends to how learning and decision-making are affected by psychopathology and adversity. This includes ADHD, Autism, social exclusion, anxiety, and scarcity.
Our work is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and the Dutch Research Council (NWO), and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Our community and lab culture
Open science is important for the quality and efficiency of research. Our data and code are freely available on Github, OSF, or upon request. Visit the publications page to access these resources.
The CoDe lab strongly values having an open, collaborative community. We organize regular lab meetings as well as weekly one-on-one meetings with the PI. We are members of the CHANGE research platform. CHANGE aims to inspire an open, interdisciplinary and collaborative research community. For example by organizing regular interdisciplinary meetings to share methodological expertise, and by extending an open invitation to students in the involved labs to join lab meetings held by other member PI’s. All involved PI’s are committed to provide a supportive environment that fosters the growth of our students and encourages interdisciplinary developmental research. More info can be found in our position paper.