Gudrun Schwarzer

Prof. Dr. Gudrun Schwarzer is a leading researcher in developmental psychology at the Justus Liebig University Giessen, heading the Department of Developmental Psychology. Her work bridges perceptual, motor, and cognitive development in infancy and childhood through rigorous experimental paradigms.

• Key research themes include infant mental rotation, emotional granularity across lifespan, and cross-cultural developmental differences
• She leads projects A7 (visuospatial-motor development) and C3 (emotion categorization across populations)
• Current team includes Dr. Bianca Jovanovic, Dr. Daniela Bahn, PhD students Nikol Tsenkova and Tharanirakshita Asokan

Her research investigates how early motor experiences shape visual processing, with groundbreaking work on:

• Object permanence in infants
• Emotion-face-word priming effects
• Developmental language disorder cognition
• Idiopathic clubfoot developmental impacts

Publications span Child Development Perspectives, Frontiers in Psychology, and Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.

Awards: Heinz Heckhausen Young Scientist Prize (DGPs).

Collaborative networks extend to Max Planck Society, University of California, and cross-cultural studies in Cameroon.