Contacts
Phone: +36 1 382 6822
Institute: Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology
Group: Sound and speech perception Research Group
Office: D4.12B
Curriculum vitae
Education and degrees
2003 Ph.D. in Behavioural Sciences
School of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
Thesis, ’Temperament and Attachment: Individual Differences and Developmental Pathways’, supervised by J. Gervai, Ph.D.
1995 M.Sc. in Biology
Faculty of Natural Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
Thesis: ‘Analysis of preschool children’s behaviour during free play’, supervised by J. Gervai, Ph.D.
Employment
2008 senior research fellow, Research Institute of Psychology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary (renamed in 2012: Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology,
Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary)
2006 research fellow, Research Institute of Psychology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
2005 – 2006 scientific officer, Research Institute of Psychology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
2004- 2005, part-time Dozent, Institute of Psychology, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
2003 – 2006 post-doctoral research fellow, Research Institute of Psychology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
1998 – 2003 research assistant, Research Institute for Psychology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
Maternity Leave
2015-2016 maternity leave
Scholarships and decorations
2003-2006 Postdoctoral Research Fellowship awarded by the Hungarian Science Fund (OTKA)
2005 Outstanding Research, Bolyai Award Committee, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
2002 Excellent Young Researcher Prize awarded by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
2001-2003 Grantee of the Bolyai Award for Young Scientists, provided by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
2000 British Chevening Scholarship
Visiting Scholar at the Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour (3 months), University of Cambridge, UK
1999 Visiting Academic at Christ Church College (1 month) University of Oxford, Oxford University Hospitality Scheme (UK)
1993-94 TEMPUS scholarship, University of Reading, Reading, UK
Further training
2003 Trained to reliability in the AMBIANCE coding scheme by Dr K. Lyons-Ruth, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA, USA.
2002 Training in the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (MCAST) by J. Green, R. Goldwyn and C. Stanley, Manchester University, Manchester, UK.
1996 “Coding Mother-Infant Interaction” workshop on current issues of methodology organised by H. Rauh, U. Ziegenhain, L. Wijncrox, University of Potsdam (Potsdam, Germany)
1995 Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID II) training, Budapest, Hungary
Grants (as a PI)
2014-2018 „Epigenetic changes from infancy to adolescence in response to socio-emotional environment” Hungarian National Science Fund, Grant No. K 108882
2005-2008 „Associations of childhood behaviour problems with genetic variations in dopaminergic and serotonergic neurotransmission” Hungarian National Science Fund, Grant No. F 049227
2003-2006 „Genetic risk and maternal behaviour in the development disorganized attachment in infancy.” Hungarian National Science Fund, Grant No. D 45940
1999-2000 “Investigation of the relationship between infant temperament and D4 dopamine receptor [D4DR] genotypes“, Hungarian National Science Fund, Grant No. F 030075
Research topics
My doctoral research was aimed at investigating individual differences in infant temperament and attachment to the mother. Possible genetic background of infant behaviour (allelic variations of genes encoding dopamine receptors and the serotonin transporter) was also investigated in collaboration with the Molecular Genetic Group lead by M. Sasvari, Medical University, Budapest (“Investigation of the relationship between infant temperament and D4 dopamine receptor [D4DR] genotypes” supported by the Hungarian Science Fund, Grant No. F 030075, PI, 1999-2000). The research was carried out as part of a larger longitudinal study following the socio-emotional development of 103 healthy first-borns from birth (low-risk community sample, Budapest Infant-Parent Study, 1st wave 1995-1999).
I was involved in further waves of the Budapest Infant-Parent Study (BIPS):
(a) First-born children’s temperament and attachment quality were assessed again at 6 and 7 years. Attentional processes were investigated by behavioural and brain functioning (ERP) measures at the same age. Temporal stability and associations among these measures and the genetic variability were investigated. Information on family processes, stressful life events, and parental worries, parenting behaviour completed our model on child development.
b) The same children and their mothers were invited to the lab at the child’s age of 17 again. Adolescent social functioning, symptoms of psychopathology were assessed and related to current executive functions, stress regulation, emotion processing and predictive models including variables from infancy and childhood are being developed.
The Budapest Mother and Baby Study, based on the results of the BIPS, aimed at deciphering the etiology of disorganized attachment by studying infant stress regulation, emotion processing, genetic and epigenetic markers and maternal behaviour.
Currently, I am developing a research project on developmental trajectories of executive functions in low and high-risk populations in collaboration with Dr Holmboe (University of Oxford). Both environmental and genetic factors will be studied, and behavioural measures will be coupled with age-appropriate brain imaging methods.