Key details
Dr Karolina Janacsek
Associate Professor of Psychology
Dr Karolina Janacsek is a Associate Professor of Psychology in the School of Human Sciences. Karolina obtained her PhD in Experimental and Clinical Neuroscience and her Diploma in Psychology from the University of Szeged, Hungary. She received further training in state-of-the-art neuroscience techniques and analysis methods at University College London (UK), Georgetown University (Washington DC, USA) and Georg-August University (Goettingen, Germany).
Karolina has contributed to teaching psychology and neuroscience at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The taught courses covered a wide range of topics from cognitive psychology and neuroscience of learning to developmental psychology and research methods.
Karolina has supervised BSc, MSc as well as PhD students, and has involved them in various research projects, including experimental psychology and EEG studies in the lab, developmental studies conducted on the field (in schools) and clinical studies conducted in medical centres and hospitals. She believes that these projects provide students with a valuable opportunity for learning research methods and scientific rigour, as well as practical skills as they interact with typically and atypically developing children and various patient groups. Karolina attaches great importance to mentoring - her students have successfully participated in scientific championships and at national and international scientific conferences, and have co-authored scientific journal publications.
Karolina is currently available for PhD supervision for students with a strong interest in her research areas.
Posts held previously:
- 2018-19, Visiting Research Fellow, University College London
- 2015-19, Research Fellow/Lecturer, Hungarian Academy of Sciences & Eotvos Lorand University
- 2015, Visiting Research Fellow, Georg-August University of Goettingen
- 2013, Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow, Georgetown University
- 2012-14, Lecturer, Eotvos Lorand University
Responsibilities within the university
- Associate Professor of Psychology
- Module leader and course instructor on BSc Hons Psychology and BSc Hons Psychology with Counselling programmes
- Supervisor of BSc and MSc dissertations
- Library Services Representative for the School of Human Sciences
Recognition
Karolina regularly reviews grant applications for funding bodies such as the European Research Council (Programmes: International Training Networks, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships, Future and Emerging Technologies), National Science Foundation (USA), and Research Foundation Flanders (Belgium).
Karolina also reviews articles for a number of journals including but not limited to Cortex, Brain Structure and Function, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Frontiers in Psychology, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, and PLoS ONE.
Karolina is a member of the Psychonomic Society (Status: FELLOW), Society for Neuroscience (SfN), Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) and Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS).
Research / Scholarly interests
Karolina specialises in human learning and memory, with a particular interest in procedural memory that underlies the acquisition of motor (e.g., mastering sports), cognitive (e.g., learning languages) and social skills, as well other routine behaviours such as habits. Karolina's research has a cross-disciplinary focus, integrating methods of experimental, developmental and neuropsychology, and cognitive and clinical neuroscience.
Specific research areas:
Age-related differences in learning and consolidation across the lifespan: The primary goals of this line of research are to 1) better understand how children acquire and consolidate knowledge about patterns and regularities that underlie procedural memory, 2) characterize how explicit/controlled and implicit/automatic processes interact during learning and consolidation, and 3) track how learning preferences change from childhood to adulthood and old age.
Learning and consolidation in neurodevelopmental disorders: The main focus in this line of research is on understanding 1) how learning and consolidation of patterns/regularities are altered in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, ADHD, Tourette Syndrome and childhood sleep disorders, and 2) how controlled vs. automatic cognitive processes may compensate for the altered functions to achieve normal behavioural performance.
Neurocognitive underpinnings of learning and consolidation: The primary goals are 1) to gain a better understanding of the neurocognitive networks underlying the learning and consolidation of complex patterns/regularities, and 2) how the contribution of these neural networks changes depending on the way of information processing (e.g., controlled vs. automatic), using various methods such as M/EEG and brain stimulation in healthy young adults.
Longitudinal changes in cognitive and social abilities in childhood and their relation to school performance: The primary goals of this line of research are to 1) track longitudinally how a wide range of cognitive and social functions develop between 6 and 14 years of age, 2) characterize how these functions and their changes predict children's school performance (including math and reading skills) and social positions among their peers. Prospectively, this project can help characterize the relationship between childhood cognitive/social abilities and later academic achievements (high school and university admissions).