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 learning and decision-making processes in 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, interdisciplinary, and collaborative community. We organize weekly lab meetings and welcome joint meetings with other labs. The CoDe lab is a member of the CHANGE research platform (also see our position paper).