The Developmental Psychology Unit is generally interested in learning and development across the lifespan. We welcome students who are interested in these topics to pursue their bachelor/master thesis within our lab. Students are expected to learn to use R and some programming in their work. The thesis is typically written in English. Currently we offer the following studies for thesis (multiple spots available):
- In the LICA study, we are interested in to what extent psychopathology influences learning and decision-making in children and adolescents. In our previous study, we identified a deficit in reward processing associated with depression, but the underlying dynamics remain unclear. For this follow-up study, we aim to explore questions like:
What role does reinforcement learning play in psychopathology? Do learning deficits predict symptoms, or is it the other way around? How do these interactions evolve during key developmental transitions?
We offer 2 thesis opportunities, with data collection starting in April 2025 until roughly July 2025. The testing will be conducted online. - In the Memokid study we examine, in children and adults, memory retrieval after short and long delay, as measured by eye gaze and explicit memory. We test to what extent eye gaze for learned object-scene-location associations may reveal more precise memory also for items not directly accessed during recall. We also examine false memories of objects associated with the learned scenes.
- In the Momoview study, we examine the relationship between individual differences in eye gaze pattern during scene perception with subsequent memory and psychological symptoms (internalizing/externalizing, depression, etc.) in children and adults.
- In the LEECHI project, 2-to-5-year-olds will wear head-mounted eye-tracker and play in the lab with their parents. They will also wear head-mounted camera and record their activity at home. We will look into children’s attention, memory, social, language, emotional and social development. Any topics related to this project are welcome, such as child-parent joint attention, or how children's eye movement patterns may relate to psychological symptoms, such as inattention and hyperactivity.
- Investigating how prior knowledge (schemas) and predictive processing modulate memory formation, examining how both schema-congruent and schema-incongruent outcomes impact memory retention using a basketball game prediction task.
- In the ML2MT project, we explore how AI shapes human learning and decision-making in complex real-world tasks, such as house price estimation, using reinforcement learning models.
- With an existing ultra-high-field 7T fMRI dataset, we are analyzing the interactions between the brain’s visual and memory systems when participants processed partially occluded scenes.
If you are interested to learn more, please write to Prof. Dr. Yee Lee Shing (shing@psych.uni-frankfurt.de), name the study that you are interested in, and provide info on any experience/skills that you think may be relevant.
Information about Kolloquium (also called Propädeutikum):
Bachelor students writing their thesis in Developmental Psychology are required to attend one semester of Kolloquium, whereas master students are required to attend two semesters of Kolloquium. For each semester of Kolloquium, you should make one presentation on your thesis progress (40-minute with max. 20 minutes presentation, the rest of the time for questions/discussions).
There are five required core sessions offered by LISCO members. These sessions cover topics of writing, research data management, and statistical analyses. Master students who are doing the second Kolloquium and have already attended these core sessions can skip them (you are welcomed to repeat them if you want to). In addition, everyone should attend six more sessions of own choice (e.g., thesis progress presentations from peers, talks and journal club in LISCO). In total, you should attend 11 sessions.
After confirming that you are carrying out your thesis with us, please sign up for the Kolloquium by writing to the secretary of Developmental Psychology Unit, including information on your study name and direct advisor (Frau Bianca Seibert, entwicklungspsychologie@psych.uni-frankfurt.de).