Professor Gert Westermann
Professor, Head of DepartmentResearch Overview
For more information on my research group and our publications see our lab webpage: http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/westermann-lab/
My research is in developmental cognitive science: In my group we use a variety of methods (eye tracking, EEG, NIRS, fast mapping, computational modelling) to study mainly infants' cognitive and early language development. In general I am interested in the question how intrinsic and environmental factors combine to shape a developmental trajectory and eventually, the adult system.
Main research areas:
Curiosity-based Learning and Development
Infants are curious learners and explore their environment freely. In my group we study if there is systematicity to this exploration and we aim to understand how infants actively shape their learning environment to optimize their learning. We also use computational models to develop mechanistic explanation of curiosity-based, intrinsically motivated learning.
Object and Word Learning
We explore how infants learn about objects in the world during their first year of life, and how they learn words for these objects (and actions) during the second year of life. Using eye tracking and pupil dilation, we have investigated how infants combine different object properties (e.g., visual appearance and sound) into a coherent whole, how early words enable infants to shape object categories, and how knowing the name of an object affects the mental representation of this object. We have also investigated how temperament, and specifically shyness, affects early word learning.
Neuroconstructivist Development
I am interested in the relationship between brain and cognitive development and have used computational models to explore this link. This work has so far focused on the development and adult processing of verb inflections, demonstrating how experience-dependent brain development can lead to specialized processing structures that internalize the statistical properties of the environment in the ‘hardware’ of the brain.
Research Grants
LuCiD: ESRC International Centre for Language and Communicative Development (co-PI with 21 others, £9.3 million), 2014-2024
British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship (PI), Information selection in infants’ curiosity-based learning, 2016-2017
British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Small Research Grant (co-PI, with Katie Twomey; £9,554), Curiosity-based infant categorisation: an empirical view, 2015-2016
Leverhulme Trust Doctoral Scholarship Programme (PI, £1,050,000), Interdisciplinary Research on Infant Development, 2015-2021
British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Small Research Grant (co-PI, with Eugenio Parise; £9,458), Categorization Processes in 9-Month-Old Infants: Ostensive Labelling vs. Common Visual Features, 2014-2016
Lichtenberg Fellowship,University of Göttingen (€68,000), Germany, January - July, 2013
Lancaster University Friends Programme Grant (PI, with Melissa Allen, Dina Lew, Katie Alcock, Gavin Bremner, Karen Mattock; £4,191), Support for publicity and student projects at the Lancaster Babylab, 2011-2012
ESRC Research Grant (PI; £99,937), Multisensory processing of objects in infancy, 2011-2012
British Academy Small Grant (co-PI, with Louise Bunce; £7,118), Young children's understanding of the fantasy-reality distinction: perceptual or conceptual processing?, 2010-2011
ESRC Research Grant (PI; £105,468), The effect of labels on category formation in infancy, 2009-2011
British Academy Small Grant (PI; £3,502), Investigating past tense formation in adults: a neurophysiological study, 2008-2009
ESRC Research Grant (PI; £288,082), Understanding the processing of verb inflections through statistical analyses, experiments and neural networks, 2006-2009
Royal Society Research Grant (co PI with Joseph T. Devlin; £9,400), TMS investigations of morphology in Broca's area, 2006-2007
Career Details
PhD, Centre for Cognitive Science, University of Edinburgh
PhD Supervision Interests
Infant cognitive development, computational modelling, language processing
Selected Publications
Early Word Learning
Westermann, G., Mani, N. 10/11/2017 London : Routledge. 161 p. ISBN: 9781138843523. Electronic ISBN: 9781315730974.
Book
Curiosity-based learning in infants: A neurocomputational approach
Twomey, K.E., Westermann, G. 1/07/2018 In: Developmental Science. 21, 4, 13 p.
Journal article
Learned labels shape pre-speech infants’ object representations
Twomey, K.E., Westermann, G. 31/01/2018 In: Infancy. 23, 1, p. 61-73. 13 p.
Journal article
Labels constructively shape object categories in 10-month-old infants
Althaus, N., Westermann, G. 11/2016 In: Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 151, p. 5-17. 13 p.
Journal article
All the Right Noises: Background Variability Helps Early Word Learning
Twomey, K.E., Ma, L., Westermann, G. 1/05/2018 In: Cognitive Science. 42 Suppl 2, Suppl. 2, p. 413-438. 26 p.
Journal article
The effect of shyness on children's formation and retention of novel word–object mappings
Hilton, M., Westermann, G. 11/2017 In: Journal of Child Language. 44, 6, p. 1394-1412. 19 p.
Journal article
Pupillometry in infancy research
Hepach, R., Westermann, G. 06/2016 In: Journal of Cognition and Development. 17, 3, p. 359-377. 19 p.
Journal article
From altered synaptic plasticity to atypical learning: a computational model of Down syndrome
Tovar Y Romo, A.E., Westermann, G., Torres, A. 1/02/2018 In: Cognition. 171, p. 15-24. 10 p.
Journal article
A neuroconstructivist model of past tense development and processing
Westermann, G., Ruh, N. 2012 In: Psychological Review. 119, 3, p. 649-667. 19 p.
Journal article
A student's guide to developmental psychology
Harris, M., Westermann, G. 2014 Hove : Psychology Press. 320 p. ISBN: 9781848720176.
Book
Neuroconstructivism
Westermann, G., Mareschal, D., Johnson, M.H., Sirois, S., Spratling, M.W., Thomas, M.S.C. 01/2007 In: Developmental Science. 10, 1, p. 75-83. 9 p.
Journal article
The shape of words in the brain
Kovic, V., Plunkett, K., Westermann, G. 01/2010 In: Cognition. 114, 1, p. 19-28. 10 p.
Journal article
All Publications
Investigating the origins of the ‘achievement gap’: the effects of adversity
01/08/2023 → 31/03/2025
Research
Curiosity-driven Word Learning in Infants
01/01/2020 → 31/12/2023
Research
The ESRC International Centre for Language
01/11/2019 → 31/10/2025
Research
Information Selection in Infant's Curiosity-Based Learning
01/09/2016 → 31/08/2017
Research
Doctoral Scholarship Programme in Interdisciplinary Research on Infant Development
01/09/2015 → 31/12/2021
Research
fEC Code: LUCID: The ESRC Centre for Language and Communicative Development
01/10/2014 → …
Research
LUCID: Centre for Language and Communicative Development
01/09/2014 → 31/05/2020
Research
Multisensory processing of objects in infancy
01/05/2011 → 30/06/2012
Research
Young children's understanding of the fantasy-reality distinction: perceptual or conceptual?
01/06/2010 → 30/06/2011
Research
The effect of labels on category formation in infancy
01/10/2009 → 31/01/2011
Other
Light Up Lancaster
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Infants’ curiosity-based Exploration tested in the context of a novel theoretical framework
Oral presentation
“Stick to what you’ve learned and go from there”: How infants’ curiosity-based exploration is guided by first experiences and learning progress
Oral presentation
“Let me see that!”: Self-directed Exploration in Infants & Adults tested in the context of a new theoretical framework
Oral presentation
Capturing curiosity from the cradle: the early development of curiosity and active learning
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Let me see that: Self-directed Exploration in Infants tested in the context of a new theoretical framework
Oral presentation
Active social learning in infancy: Epistemic information seeking and transmission.
Oral presentation
“I don’t know but I know who to ask”: 12-month-olds actively seek information from knowledgeable adults.
Oral presentation
“I don’t know but I know who to ask”: 12-month-olds actively seek information from knowledgeable adults
Oral presentation
From curiosity, to wonder, to creativity: a cognitive developmental psychology perspective
Oral presentation
Curiosity in social learning: 12-month olds selectively seek information from more knowledgeable informants
Oral presentation
Information transmission in two-year-old children: preference for less complex but not pedagogically demonstrated actions
Oral presentation
Cognitive Development (Journal)
Editorial activity
British Journal of Developmental Psychology (Journal)
Editorial activity
Developmental Research Group
Developmental Research Group
Developmental Research Group, International Observatory on End of Life Care
Developmental Research Group
- Developmental Research Group
- Lancaster Intelligent, Robotic and Autonomous Systems Centre
- Language and Cognition
- LIRA - Society and Human Behaviour