Donders Centre for Cognition

Research institute

The Donders Centre for Cognition (DCC) is one of the six research centres of the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour and is embedded within the Faculty of Social Sciences of Radboud University. The DCC’s mission is to advance the science of cognition, in humans and artificial agents, using behavioural, theoretical, and computational approaches. In our work on human cognition, we study brain and behaviour in health and disease, and across the lifespan, aiming to discover functional and neural mechanisms. In our work on Artificial Intelligence (AI), our goals are to develop (brain-inspired) AI and to advance understanding of AI principles. We are a diverse team of scientists who conduct fundamental and interdisciplinary research, translate our findings to address societal challenges, and develop neurotechnology beyond current frontiers. We seek to build on a unique strength of the DCC: the integration of research on natural and artificial cognition.

Find a staff member

Stephanie Forkel

ERC Consolidator Grant of €2 million to map how language emerges in the human brain

Stephanie Forkel has been awarded a prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant worth €2 million to transform our understanding of how language arises from the complex interplay of neural systems in the human brain.

Onderzoeker Lieke van Lieshout

Veni grant for research into curiosity, an important motivator for learning

Lieke van Lieshout has received a prestigious NWO Veni grant for her research into curiosity. She will use this grant to gain a better understanding of how we remain curious and how this can improve learning.

Research projects

Omlijning van een hoofd met brein, die meerdere talen leert

Multiple routes to memory for a second language

People differ in how and how well they learn a second language. This project bridges memory and language research by investigating how individual and situational factors influence memory processes underlying second-language acquisition.

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Seeing and thinking: Interplay between externally and internally generated neural representations

By using neuroimaging methods, behavioral experiments, and a bicycle simulator, the researchers will reveal how the brain combines seeing and visual thinking.

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ELSA lab

In this ELSA lab, we study the technological, legal, and clinical-ethical aspects of AI technology that is certified to be used responsibly.

Events

Donders Institute Open Day

Donders Day 2026

Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour

The Donders Centre for Cognition is embedded within the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour. 

Donders Institute logo

Visit the Donders Institute website

Visit the Donders Institute website

Contact information