Denis Mareschal

Professor Denis Mareschal is Director of the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development and Professor of Psychology at Birkbeck College, University of London. A Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award recipient, he investigates perceptual and cognitive development through computational modeling and empirical studies with infants and children.

His research examines:

• Computational mechanisms of learning and development
• Neurocognitive foundations of conceptual acquisition
• Educational neuroscience applications
• Classroom environmental impacts on learning

Recent publications showcase interdisciplinary approaches combining neuroimaging (fNIRS, fMRI), behavioral experiments, and computational models to study executive function development, counterintuitive reasoning, and social cognition. Current projects investigate neural synchrony during parent-child collaboration, mobile neuroimaging during naturalistic play, and cognitive impacts of classroom noise.

Professor Mareschal has led major grants from ESRC, EPSRC, EU frameworks, and Wellcome Trust supporting developmental cognitive neuroscience investigations. He mentors doctoral candidates and collaborates internationally on educational intervention studies.