- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Centre for Psychological Sciences
About me
Haiko Ballieux graduated with an MSc in Developmental and Experimental Psychology from the University of Amsterdam, as well as an MSc in Cognitive Science at the Cognitive Science Centre Amsterdam (Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies).
In 2006, Haiko moved to London for a Marie Curie PhD Fellowship at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development (CBCD) at Birkbeck College (under supervision of Denis Mareschal), where he used both eye-tracking and behavioural measures to investigate infant object perception, action perception and action production/imitation.
After finishing his PhD in 2010 Haiko worked both as a researcher and a lecturer at the University of East London (UEL). In September 2013 he moved to the University of Westminster where he works as a Senior Lecturer and researcher in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. Haiko has recently joined the 'Comparative Cognition Group', a collaboration of researchers from a number of mainly London based researchers.
Teaching
At Birkbeck College Haiko Ballieux was a Seminar Group Leader on the Critical Analysis Course, as well as a Demonstrator on the Research Methods Course, and at UEL Haiko has worked as a Lecturer in Developmental Psychology.
At the University of Westminster Haiko is Module Leader of the Level 5 module 'Lifespan Development' and the Level 6 Module 'Evolution of Language, Communication & Consciousness', and teaches on modules such as 'Developmental Psychology' (Level 4), 'Psychology of Education' (Level 6), 'Fundamentals of Psychology' (MSc), and 'Quantitative Research Methods' (MSc). Haiko is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
Research
During his PhD at the CBCD Babylab Haiko used both eye-tracking and behavioural measures to investigate infant object perception, action perception and action production/imitation. He then worked on a 3-year longitudinal research project at UEL (funded by the Nuffield Foundation) where he took eye-tracking equipment into Sure Start Children's Centres in East London, investigating the potential impact of socio-economic status (SES) and language background on the early development of social communication and language skills in infants.
Haiko also ran another Nuffield Foundation funded pilot project, delivering gaze-contingency attention control training to infants, again using eye tracking technology in community centres (the gaze-contingency paradigm was developed by Dr Sam Wass). This pilot study has been published in the Journal for Applied Developmental Psychology (see outputs).
Here at UoW Haiko is supervising PhD student Amy Edwards who is conducting an intervention study investigating the effects of mindfulness meditation and yoga on young teenagers in schools. Haiko is currently also involved in a collaborative 'Live Science' research project at the London Science Museum called "Me, Human", lead by Dr Gillian Forrester from Birkbeck College. This project investigates hemispheric specialization using several different tasks, including dichotic listening, eye-tracking, and NIRS (for more info see: mehuman.io).
Publications
For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.