Biography

I studied Health Psychology at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary. I completed my PhD at the Paris Descartes University in 2007, exploring the sociocognitive development of children with autism spectrum disorders. I then worked as an assistant professor at the Eötvös Loránd University. In 2012, I obtained the ‘Research in Paris’ award which allowed me to join the Psychology of Perception Laboratory at the Paris Descartes University, where I worked on the development of tool use in infants, the early emergence of lateralization and more recently, the development of infants' awareness of their bodies. During this time, I was also employed as part-time lecturer at Paris West–Nanterre University. I joined the Department of Psychology here at Portsmouth in September 2017. 

Research interests

My current research interests are focused on the following three main areas:

- the development of social learning in infants and toddlers: attributing intentions to human and non-human/robotic agents; contextual/emotional factors influencing social learning,

- the development of body knowledge: how tactile training/massage may influence infants’ knowledge about their own bodies; how motor skills training (postural/tactile training) may influence cognitive abilities,

- prosocial development in pre-schoolers; factors that influence or facilitate helping behaviours (effect of cognitive trainings such as mindfulness, effect of partner's group membership); how cooperation can be promoted in classrooms.

Teaching responsibilities

I teach on a variety of undergraduate modules on the Bsc Psychology and BSc Forensic Psychology courses and coordinate the seminars for our Exploring Psychology module. I also contribute to modules on the Masters programme in Health Psychology and coordinate the Theories and Intervention Approches module. Finally, as Associate Head for Global Engagement and Education Partnerships, I take part in the recruitment, induction and tutoring of the international students on our undergraduate and masters courses. I also support the management of our courses in counselling at Eastleigh College, our partner higher education provider.

 

Research outputs

2024

Young sanctuary-living chimpanzees produce more communicative expressions with artificial objects than with natural objects

Davila Ross, M., Gibson, V., Nomikou, I., Salphati, S., Somogyi, E., Taylor, D. J.

23 Oct 2024, In: Royal Society Open Science. 11, 10, 18p., 240632

2023

Do you know the answers? Japanese and Hungarian preschoolers’ response tendencies to comprehensible and incomprehensible yes-no questions

Itakura, S., Király, I., Okanda, M., Somogyi, E.

1 Jul 2023, In: Cognitive Development. 67, 13p., 101357

Preverbal infants produce more protophones with artificial objects compared to natural objects

Davila Ross, M., Gibson, V., Lopez, B., Mulenga, I. C., Nomikou, I., Somogyi, E., Taylor, D.

20 Jun 2023, In: Scientific Reports. 13, 10p., 9969

Exploring the role of aliveness in children's responses to a dog, biomimetic robot, and toy dog

Barber, O. B., McBride, E. A., Proops, L., Somogyi, E.

1 May 2023, In: Computers in Human Behavior. 142, 11p., 107660

Tactile training facilitates infants' ability to reach to targets on the body

Chinn, L. K., Fagard, J., Hamilton, M., Heed, T., Hoffmann, M., Jacquey, L., Lockman, J. J., O'Regan, J. K., Somogyi, E.

1 May 2023, In: Child Development. 94, 3, p. e154-e165, 12p.

Brain lateralization for language, vocabulary development and handedness at 18 months

Adibpour, P., Dehaene-Lambertz, G., Dubois, J., Fagard, J., Garric, C., Potdevin, D., Rämä, P., Somogyi, E.

27 Apr 2023, In: Symmetry. 15, 5, 18p., 989

View all my research outputs