Attila Keresztes

Attila Keresztes is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cognitive Psychology at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest, Hungary. He serves as Principal Investigator of the Lifespan Memory Development Lab and Head of the Hippocampal Circuit and Code for Cognition Lab (HCCCL), a Max Planck Partner Group. His research focuses on hippocampal structure-function relationships across the lifespan, employing high-resolution MRI and experimental methods to study memory development, stress impacts, and cognitive aging. Keresztes holds a PhD in Cognitive Science from Budapest University of Technology and Economics (2014) and completed postdoctoral training at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin.

Key interests include hippocampal maturation’s role in memory specificity, longitudinal brain development, and the interplay between stress hormones (e.g., cortisol) and hippocampal morphology. His work has been funded by grants such as FK128648 from Hungary’s National Research, Development, and Innovation Office. In 2022, he received the prestigious Bolyai János Research Scholarship from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Current lab activities involve collaborations with the Max Planck Institute and the ELTE Babylab, including the NeMO study on early childhood memory development. The HCCCL team includes PhD students (Alex Ilyés, Zsuzsanna Nemecz, Hunor Kis) and student researchers focusing on neuroimaging, semantic memory, and pattern separation mechanisms. Public engagement initiatives include participation in events like the European Researchers' Night and science outreach for children.