Alumni and Visitors

Daniel Nettle

Visiting Professor

Daniel Nettle was a Visiting Professor at our department in the Fall Term of 2021-22 Academic Year.

Roland Adorjani

Research Intern

Roland Adorjani was a Research Intern in the Social Mind Center in Spring 2012.

Alan Leslie

Visiting Professor

Alan Leslie was a Visiting Professor at our department in the Winter Term of 2015-16 Academic Year between January and April, 2016. Currently he is at Rutgers School of Art and Sciences.

Claes von Hofsten

Visiting Professor

Claes von Hofsten was a Visiting Professor at our department in the Fall term of 2015-16 Academic Year between September and December, 2015. Currently he is working in Uppsala University.

Attila Krajcsi

Visiting Professor

Attila Krajcsi was a Visiting Professor at our department in the Winter term of 2019-20 Academic Year between January and April, 2020. Currently he is working as an Associate Professor at ELTE- Eotvos Lorand University, Hungary. His main research interest is numerical cognition and methodological issues. Currently he is mainly interested in the bases of number understanding and the development of symbolic number processing. He is also the lead developer of the automatic analysis software, CogStat (www.cogstat.org) which makes data analysis more convenient, more precise and more consistent. His personal site is here > Personal Page

Dr Nausicaa Pouscoulous

Visiting Professor

Nausicaa was Visiting Professor at our department in the Winter term of of 2016-17 Academic Year between January and April, 2017. Currently she is working in UCL.

Shahrzad Afroozeh

Research Intern

Shahrzad Afroozeh was a research Iintern in Fall 2014 at the at the Social Mind Center. Curently she is in the University of Vienna.

Clark Barrett

Visiting Professor

Clark Barrett was a visiting professor at the Department of Cognitive Science between September, 2013 and December, 2013. He is currenyly working in UCLA.

Stephen Butterfill

Visiting Professor

Stephen Butterfill was a visiting professor at the Department of Cognitive Science between September, 2012 and December, 2012. He is currently working in Warwick.

Marian Chen

Postdoctoral Fellow

Marian Chen was a postdoctoral fellow at the Cognitive Development Center between November, 2009 and May, 2012

John Dewey

Postdoctoral Fellow

John Dewey joined the SOMBY group in Budapest as a post-doc in January 2013 till the edn of 2014. Currently he is in a visiting assistnt professor at Finlandia University, USA.

Mikolaj Hernik

Postdoctoral Fellow

Mikolaj was a postdoctoral researcher at the Cognitive Development Center between 2011 and 2019. He has been studying early social cognition in infancy. Currently he is an Associate Professor at the UiT The Arctic University of Norway.

Stefano Di Piazza

Research Fellow

Stefano Di Piazza was a research fellow at CEU between January 2013 and 2014 while being a PhD student in Philisophy at the Universty of Siena.

Silviya Doneva

Research Intern

Silviya Doneva was a Research Intern in the Social Mind Center in Fall 2014.

Bálint Forgács

Postdoctoral Fellow

Balint Forgacs was a PostDoc at the Cognitive Development Center from September  2012 till November 2014. Currently he is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Université Paris DescartesLaboratoire Psychologie de la Perception.

Chris Frith

Visiting Professor

Chris Frith was a visiting professor at the Department of Cognitive Science between January and April, 2014 Winter term. He is currently working in UCL.

Krisztian Gábris

Lab Manager

Krisztian Gabris was a Lab Manager in the Social Mind Lab between 2011 and 2013.

Francesca Giardini

Postdoctoral Fellow

Francesca Giardini was a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Cognitive Science between September 2010 and September 2012. Currently she is at  Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Rome.

Veronika Herendy

Lab Manager

Veronika Herendy  was a Lab Manager in the Social Mind Lab between 2012 and 2015.

Pierre Jacob

Visiting Professor

Pierre Jacob was a visiting professor at the Department of Cognitive Science in 2013 Winter term. He is currently a member and former director of Institut Jean Nicod in Paris.

Dora Kampis

Alumna

Dora is the very first PhD alumna at the Department of Cognitive Science. She has successfully defended her PhD thesis under the supervison of Agnes Kovacs and Gergely Csibra in January, 2017. She continues her research as a Postdoc at the University of Coppenhagen.

Martin Freundlieb

Alumnus

Martin was a PhD student at the department from 2012 and has successfully defended his PhD thesis under the supervison of Natalie Sebanz and Agnes Kovacs in October, 2017. He is investigating the spontaneous visuospatial perspective-taking in humans.

Pavel Voinov

Alumnus

Pavel was a PhD student at the department from 2011 and has successfully defended his PhD thesis under the supervision of Natalie Sebanz and Gunther Knoblich in May, 2017. Currently he investigates social cognition and coordination abilities in chimpanzees at the Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University

Gábor Bródy

Alumnus

Gábor was a PhD student at the department from 2014 and has successfully defended his PhD thesis under the supervison of Gergely Csibra and Ágnes Melinda Kovács in 2020. Currently he is at Harvard. His main reserach area is infant social cognition.

Denis Tatone

Alumnus

Denis was a PhD student at the department from 2011 and has successfully defended his PhD thesis under the supervison of Gergely Csibra and Dan Sperber in September, 2017. He worked as a postdoctoral resercher at the department till 2023 December. His research interests focuses on the development of distributional fairness and how children's socio-moral expectations are influenced by the application of different relational schemata. Currently, he is working on infants' understanding of giving events and how action interpretation drives object preference. He is also interested in the developmental and evolutionary basis of coalitionary thinking and social signaling.

Thomas wolf

Alumnus

Thomas was a PhD student at the department from 2014 and has successfully defended his PhD thesis under the supervison of Gunther Knoblich adn Natalie Sebanz in 2019. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the CEU Social Mind Center.

Eszter Szabó

Alumna

Eszter was a PhD student at the department from 2013 and has successfully defended her PhD thesis under the supervison of Ágnes Melinda Kovács and Gergely Csibra in 2019. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the CEU Cognitive Development Center.

Nazli Altinok

Alumna

Nazlı was a PhD student at the department from 2013. She has successfully defended her thesis titled "This is how we do it: Interpreting sub-efficient means actions of group members in infancy and childhood" in June 2020, under the supervision of György Gergely, Ildikó Király, and Mikołaj Hernik. She works on social learning, group cognition, and action understanding with infants and children.

Rubeena Shamsudheen

Alumna

Rubeena was a PhD student at the department from 2011. She has successfully defended her PhD thesis under the supervison of Gergely Csibra and György Gergely in 2020. She has been working on the various topics of infant social congition.

Sára Jellinek

Alumna

Sára was a PhD student at the department from 2012. She has successfully defended her PhD thesis under the supervison of József Fiser and Máté Lengyel. Her main research area is statistical learning.

Helena Miton

Alumna

Helena was a PhD student at the department from 2015. She has successfully defended her PhD thesis under the supervison of Christophe Heintz and Dan Sperber in 2020. Her main research area is `Cognition and Culture`. Currently she is a Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow (Omidyar Fellow, ASU-SFI Center Fellow) at the Sante Fe Institute, US.

József Arató

Alumnus

József was a PhD student at the department from 2012 and has successfully defended his PhD thesis under the supervison of József Fiser and Gergely Csibra in 2019. He is currently a postdoctoral reseracher at the University of Vienna.

Ádám Boncz

Alumnus

Ádám was a PhD student at the department from 2012 and has successfully defended his PhD thesis under the supervison of Gunther Knoblich and Thalia Wheatley in 2019. Currently he is a researcher at the MTA (Hungarian Academy of Science).

Johannes Mahr

Alumnus

Johannes was a PhD student at the department from 2013 and has successfully defended his PhD thesis under the supervison of Gergely Csibra and Dan Sperber in 2019. Johannes is currently a Mind, Brain, and Behavior Postdoctoral Fellow at the Departments of Psychology and Philosophy at Harvard University. He primarily works in affiliation with the Schacter Memory Lab where he investigates the role of episodic memory in human communication and the structure and function of episodic simulation.

Luke McEllin

Alumnus

Luke was a PhD student at the department from 2013 and has successfully defended his PhD thesis under the supervison of Gunther Knoblich and Natalie Sebanz in 2018. Currently he is a postdoctoral researcher at the Social Mind Center at CEU.

Laura Schmitz

Alumna

Laura was a PhD student at the department from 2013 and has successfully defended her PhD thesis under the supervison of Natalie Sebanz and Gunther Knoblich in February, 2018. She is investigating how non-verbal communication can support coordination.

April Karlinsky

Research Intern

April Karlinsky was a Research Intern at the Social Mind Center in Fall 2013.

Peter Keller

Visiting Professor

Peter Keller was a visiting professor at the Department of Cognitve Science in 2016/17 Fall term. He returned to the University of Western Sydney and deals with Human Interaction Through Music.

Ivana Konvalinka

Postdoctoral Fellow

Ivana Konvalinka was a PostDoc at the Social Mind Center between 2013 and 2014. Currently she is a Researcher at the Section for Cognitive Systems at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Compute)

Szilvia Linnert

Research Assistant

Szilvia Linnert was a research assistant at the Cognitive Development Center between September 2012 and  August 2013. She is currently at Lancaster University.

Laurence T. Maloney

Visiting Professor

Laurence T. Maloney was a visiting professor at the Department of Cognitive Science between September, 2014 and December, 2014. He is currently working in NYU.

Eugenio Parise

Postdoctoral Fellow

Eugenio Parise was a postdoctoral fellow of the Cognitive Development Center between 2009 and 2013. He is currently at Lancaster Universy.

Lou Safra

Research Intern

Lou Safra was a Research Intern in Spring 2013 at the Social Mind Center.  She is now at LNC.

Dana Samson

Visiting Professor

Dana Samson was a visiting professor at the Department of Cognitive Science between January and April,  2015. She is currently working in UCL.

Judit Varga

Research Intern

Judit Varga was a Research Intern at the Social Mind Center in Fall 2013. 

Jun Yin

Postdoctoral Fellow

Jun Yin was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Cognitivie Development Center between 2013 and 2015.

Constantin Rothkopf

Visiting Professor

Constantin Rothkopf was a Visiting Professor at our department in the Fall term of 2017-18 Academic Year between September and December, 2017. Currently he is working at Technische Universität Darmstadt. His main research areas are the neural coding of visual processes and computational models of cognition.


Jesse Snedeker

Visiting Professor

Jesse was a Visiting Professor at our deparment in the Fall term of 2022-23 Academic Year between September and December, 2022.
Jesse is working with language and congition in broad, as member of the Department of Psychology of Harvard Univesity.






Mathieu Charbonneau 

Postdoctoral reseracher

Mathieu Charbonneau completed his Ph.D. in philosophy in 2013 at the Université de Montréal. He was working at the department as a post-doctoral researcher at the Social Mind Center in the OSCAR group (cognition & culture) till 2021. His research concerns the use of novel technologies as cognitive augmentations, both at the level of individuals and collectives of individuals. He is also working on philosophical issues relating to technological change and the interface between technological and biological evolution.

Personal webpage


Jennifer Ang

Alumna

Jennifer was a PhD student at the department from 2016 and has successfully defended her PhD thesis under the supervison of Natalie Sebanz and Gunther Knoblich in 2021. She is investigating the planning for a Joint Task Distribution.




Gábor Lengyel

Alumnus

Gábor was a PhD student at the department from 2014 and has successfully defended his PhD thesis under the supervison of József Fiser and Máté Lengyel in 2022. He is currently working at the Ralf Haefner's lab, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester.


Otávio Mattos

Alumnus

Otávio was a PhD student at the department from 2015 and has successfully defended his PhD thesis under the supervison of Gergely Csibra and Ágnes Melinda Kovács  in 2022. He continues his research as a Postdoc in Norway.


Paula Fischer

Alumna

Paula was a PhD student at the department from 2015 and has successfully defended her PhD thesis under the supervison of Ernő Téglás and Ágnes Melinda Kovács  in 2022.




Francesca Bonalumi

Alumna

Francesca was a PhD student at the department from 2015 and has successfully defended her PhD thesis under the supervison of Christophe Heintz and Gergely Csibra in 2022. She continues her work with Christophe Heintz at CEU Department of Cognitve Science in Vienna.




Simily Sabu

Alumna

Simily was a PhD student at the department from 2015 and has successfully defended her PhD thesis under the supervison of Gunther Knoblich and Natalie Sebanz in 2022.




Oana Stanciu

Alumna

Oana was a PhD student at the department from 2014 and has successfully defended her PhD thesis under the supervison of József Fiser and Máté Lengyel in 2022. She continues her research as a Postdoc with Azzurra Ruggeri at the CEU Department of Cognitve Science in Vienna with topics of computational cognitive science.



Georgina Török

Alumna

Georgina was a PhD student at the department from 2015 and has successfully defended her PhD thesis under the supervison of Natalie Sebanz and Gergely Csibra in 2021. She is investigating joint action and social cognition. Her dissertation title is `Co-efficiency - An empirical investigation of the principle of rational joint action`. She was working as a Postdoctoral Researcher at TU München, before that in Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Yale University. Currently she is a visiting assistant professor in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.



James Strachan

Postdoctortal researcher

James completed his BSc in Psychology in 2012, then a MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience in 2013, and finally his PhD in Psychology in 2016 on the topic of incidental social learning from gaze cues, all at the University of York. His broader research interests lie in social cognition and how we adapt to and learn about others in our environment. He has been working as a postdoctoral researcher in the SOMBY lab. 

Research Area: Joint Action


John Stins

Visiting Professor

John Stins was a Visiting Professor at our department in the Fall term of 2020-21 Academic Year between September and December, 2020. Currently he is working at Department of Human Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

His professional website is https://research.vu.nl/en/persons/john-stins 

He studies how cognition, emotion, personality, and psychopathology impact the organization of movement, with an emphasis on regulating balance.


Elizaveta Vorobyova

Alumna

Liza was a PhD student at the department from 2014. She has successfully defended her PhD thesis under the supervison of György Gergely and Ernő Téglás in 2021. Her main research area is Infant Social Cognition. Currently she is a visiting researcher at CDC.


Mia Karabegovic

Alumna

Mia was a PhD student at the department from 2014. She has successfully defended her PhD thesis under the supervison of Christophe Heintz and Dan Sperber in 2021. Her main research area is Behavioural Economics. Currently she is a postdoc in Paris at the Institute Jean Nicod.





Ieva lukosiunaite

Alumna

Ieva was a PhD student at the department from 2018. She has successfully defended her PhD thesis under the supervison of Natalie Sebanz and Ágnes Melinda Kovács in 2023. She continues her research as a Senior Research Associate in the School of Psychology within the Faculty of Social Science, University of East Anglia, Great Britain.

Revencu Barbu-Alexandru

Alumnus

Barbu was a PhD student at the department from 2017. He has successfully defended his PhD thesis under the supervison of Gergely Csibra and Dan Sperber in 2023. He continues his research in Paris.



Nima Moussavifard

Alumnus

Nima was a PhD student at the department from 2016. He has successfully defended his PhD thesis under the supervison of Gergely Csibra and Dan Sperber in 2023. He continues as a research/teaching fellow at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.


Keric Vjeran

Alumnus

Vjeran was a PhD student at the department from 2017. He has successfully defended his PhD thesis under the supervison of Gunther Knoblih and Natalie Sebanz in 2023. 

Marcell Székely

Alumnus

Marcell was a PhD student at the department from 2018. He has successfully defended his PhD thesis under the supervison of Gunther Knoblih and John Michael in 2023. ! Currently he has a postdoctoral fellowship at University of Milan. 




Atsuko Tominaga

Alumna

Atsuko was a PhD student at the department from 2017. She has successfully defended her PhD thesis under the supervison of Natalie Sebanz and Gunther Knoblih in 2023. 



Dóra Fogd

Alumna

Dóra was a PhD student at the department from 2016. She has successfully defended her PhD thesis under the supervison of Ágnes Melinda Kovács, Natalie Sebanz and Ernő Téglás in 2023. 


Shaheed Azaad

Shaheed was a Postdoctoral Researcher, studying the processes that underpin affordance perception for the dyad at the SOMBY lab. Shaheed completed his BSc(Hons) in 2015, and then his PhD in Psychology in 2019, both at the University of Melbourne. His thesis explored the processes responsible for object-based compatibility effects, as well as the social modulation of spontaneously perceived affordances.






Mateusz Wozniak

Mateusz was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the SOMBY lab till 2024. Mateusz completed his MA in Applied Psychology and PhD in Psychology at Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland (both with specialization in neuroscience). During his master and PhD studies he also completed research internships at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany (2010) and at the Donders Institute in Nijmegen, Netherlands (2012). He worked as a visiting PhD student and EEG lab manager at Central European University in Budapest in the Social Mind and Body Group (2013-2017). After finishing his PhD, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Cognition & Philosophy Lab (led by prof. Jakob Hohwy) at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Since 2019 he has been working as a postdoctoral researcher at Central European University in Budapest and Vienna. His research interests focus on the self and identity, especially body as a part of it and the potential of technology to extend the concepts of body and self. Currently he is investigating psychological and neurocognitive mechanisms of identification with a virtual body (avatar) as an example of plasticity of the self. He is also running projects investigating disorders of the self (depersonalization disorder) and how they relate to digital media use, self-consciousness, and cultural evolution of social identity. Currently he is a postdoc at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia -IIT at the Social Cognition in Human-Robot Interaction Group.https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mateusz-Wozniak-6


Tibor Tauzin

Tibor was a postdoctoral researcher at the Cognitive Development Center between 2017 and 2022. He has been studying social contingency, mentalization and communication in infancy. Currently he is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vienna.