Cognition, Computation and Systems
Anne Urai (1988), assistant professor of cognitive neuroscience at Leiden University, receives theHeineken Young Scientists Award for Social Sciences 2026. In her laboratory, she investigates through controlled experiments how the brain processes information and how decisions are made. The jury is impressed by the originality and impact of her work and expects that she will make a lasting contribution to her field and beyond.
Several lab members attended the Society for the Biology of Decision-Making meeting in Paris (https://sbdm2026.sciencesconf.org/). We kicked off with a satellite event, co-organised with the Palminteri lab, focusing on the intersection of cognitive science and sustainability: https://magdalenasabat.github.io/pre-sbdm. During the main meeting, Isabelle presented her DisRNN work, Robin his work on confidence fluctuations (preprint), and Anne gave a talk on dynamical systems models of arousal-driven state transitions (preprint).
For the 2026 course Psychology of the Climate Crisis, students worked on creative projects to communicate insights they learned to a broader public. Enjoy!
Continue reading “Climate psychology – creative student projects”Anne visited a group of curious 4-6 year olds (pre-K, kleuterklas in Dutch) to talk brains! They knew the brain helps you think and feel (for instance when you’re hungry) and that it’s in the head. We learned that there are two big parts of the brain connected by a little bridge to talk with each other; that there are many parts of the brain that do slightly different things, and we compared the brain of a human with that of a mouse.
Everyone went home with a DIY brain hat (recommended for curious scientists of all ages).
We are happy to welcome Magdalena Sabat as a postdoc in the lab. She will investigate early warning signals of social tipping points, jointly supervised by Anne and Jan Willem Bolderdijk at the University of Amsterdam.
We kicked off Magdalena’s start with several days of brainstorming with an amazing group of collaborators. Welcome!
As 2025 comes to a close, here is a short review of what we’ve been up to. This time written collaboratively as a lab!
See previous years: 2021 in review, 2022 in review, 2023 in review, 2024 in review
In the past year, …
Continue reading “2025 in review”We had a great time at the Cognitive Computational Neuroscience meeting in Amsterdam, with a satellite meeting on scientists for social good, posters, and a talk. It was great to meet old and new friends and collaborators!
by Georgia Turner
The day before the CCN 2025 conference kicked off in Amsterdam, attendees from career stages ranging from pre-PhD students to keynote speakers gathered together for an event focused on ‘Science for Social Good’. The three-hour session covered big-picture reflections on the role of scientists in society, as well as practical tips like how to switch research topics or start a non-profit. But across these varied topics, one thread ran through every discussion: Can we make contribution to social good not just an accepted, but integral, part of our lives as scientists?
Continue reading “Reflections on the ‘Science for Social Good’ Satellite Event at CCN 2025”For the first iteration of the new course Psychology of the Climate Crisis, students worked on creative projects to communicate insights they learned to a broader public. Find their creative contributions below!
CoCoSys lab 