Gudrun Schwarzer

Gudrun Schwarzer is a Professor of Developmental Psychology at the Department of Developmental Psychology, Faculty 06 Psychology and Sports Science, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Germany. With a habilitation in Psychology (University of Tübingen, 1999) and a professorship since 2003, her research spans infant cognition, emotional development, language acquisition, and the interplay between motor skills and cognitive abilities. She leads a research team investigating how sensory-motor experiences shape predictive processing and social-emotional development in children.

• Education: Diploma in Psychology (University of Marburg, 1988), Dr. phil. nat. (University of Frankfurt/Main, 1991)

Her research focuses on developmental changes in emotional perception, mental rotation, reinforcement learning, and the impact of music training on executive functions. She examines cross-domain interactions between motor, cognitive, and emotional systems, particularly in infants and preschoolers.

Recent publications highlight her work on multimodal emotion processing, perceptual narrowing in speech and face recognition, and the effects of locomotion training on cognitive development. Her studies often employ longitudinal designs and integrate behavioral, neuroimaging, and computational approaches.

• Scientific Awards: Heinz-Heckhausen-Award (DGPs, 1991), DFG scholarship (1997-1998), Volkswagen Foundation funding (1988-1991)

She has led an Independent Research Group at the Max Planck Society and maintains ongoing collaborations in developmental neuroscience. Her lab at Giessen University investigates sensorimotor integration, early language-emotion interactions, and interventions for developmental disorders.