Current research
Digital device use in childhood and socio-cognitive development
Our group were among the firsts to raise awareness that in the last 5-6 years, the age at which children start using mobile touch-screen devices is becoming lower and lower. This is worrying, as our previous research, among others, suggests that intense digital device use may result in lower social skills in pre-schoolers.
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in increased digital device use in school-age children and adults. It is reasonable to assume that the increase in older siblings and parents, i.e., the role models, and possibly the change in parental attitudes resulted in increased device use in pre-schoolers, too. In a project founded by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (PI: Dr. Ákos Pogány), we aim at assessing the change in digital device use and development of social skills in pre-schoolers during and as a consequence of the pandemic.
With the Alpha Generation Lab, founded by Dr. Veronika Konok and Prof. Ádám Miklósi, we also develop an educational app (Alphie), a mobile agent which aims to achieve a positive change in children’s behaviour and socio-cognitive skills while also helping parents to control their child’s digital activity. In addition, we develop and validate a device use monitoring application and digital versions of the socio-cognitive tests.
Sociability and its disorders in passerines
In this NKFIH supported project (PI: Dr. Gergely Zachar, Dept. of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Semmelweis University), we investigate the possibility of using zebra finches as a new neuroethological model to study social behaviours and their disorders. We argue that songbirds, in many aspects, might be better models of human behaviour than mammals. They are highly social with intense acoustic communication, social learning, and biparental care.
These combinations of characteristics make them promising candidates to study neuro-developmental disorders of social behaviours, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We apply an experimental approach to simulate ASD and observe changes on behavioural (sociability and communication) and brain activity levels.
Involvement in other projects
In the framework of the dolphin cognition enrichment project lead by Dr. Eszter Mátrai (Ocean Park Hong Kong), we investigate how multi-partner and altruistic cooperative devices might help us to reveal the exact mechanism and function of cooperative interactions in terms of sex differences, partner choice, observational learning, problem-solving and individual differences. These research sessions, as we have shown, build a strong bridge between science, animal welfare, conservation, and education.
In the dog cognition project lead by Dr. Claudia Fugazza, we compare spontaneous action matching to human demonstrations in young of species with different inherent sociality and domestication history. In addition, we explore whether various post-learning treatments might affect memory consolidation in dogs.
There’ll be plenty of time to rest in the grave.
Pál Erdős
