After a general overview on the discipline, the different methods of studying neuro-cognitive development in young children will be addressed (such as measures of brain activity, looking measures, the use of marker tasks etc). The main focus of the course will be on the early development of perception and action. From these areas, a number of current research topics, such as the development of vision, orienting and attention, face perception, and the development of action perception and action production, will be chosen and discussed intensively. Other topics include the early development of memory and executive functioning.
 

Neurobiological aspects. The course will provide an overview on the early development of the brain with several aspects of the pre- and postnatal brain development being treated in more detail. Special attention will be paid to the recent attempts to link changes in performance in cognitive tasks to brain development.
 

Functional aspects. Basic experimental paradigms that investigate the cognitive development of perception and action will be discussed. Research on deviant functioning and atypical development also plays an important role within the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience as it can shed light on the neural basis of normal cognition. In this course, attention will be paid especially to autism, dyslexia, and Williams syndrome.
 

Theoretical aspects. Different models of neurological and psychological development will be discussed. Furthermore, an important part of the course will be discussing contrasting theoretical explanations of findings on early neuropsychological and perceptual, social and cognitive development and their implications for the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience.

Additional aspects. The students will be given the opportunity to gain some hands-on experience with baby research. During the course, there will be a visit to the Baby & Child Research Center and a series of practical sessions on working with video, eye-tracking, and EEG data from infants.