How do young children begin to understand and interact with the world from an early age? Which cognitive and neural mechanisms within the individual play a role in this, and how do these mechanisms interact with the early experiences that young children gain in their physical, social and cultural environments? We investigate human development from the perspective of a dynamic developmental system, with the aim of better understanding the complex interplay between the individual and the environment. Broadly speaking, our research can be categorised into three areas: (1) early (social) cognitive development, (2) neural learning mechanisms, and (3) early social and cultural learning.
Research interests
Selected publications
Baldauf, M., Jensen, O., Köster, M. (2026). Infant Brains Tick at 4Hz – Resonance Properties of the Developing Visual System. eLife. doi.org/10.7554/eLife.110274.1
Garzòn, M., Korja, R., Ainamani, H., Ndyareeba, E., Töpfer, P., Holmberg, E. & Köster, M. (2026). Unpredictable Maternal Behaviour and Infant Emotional Reactivity in the Context of High Maternal Adversity. Child Development. https://doi.org/10.1093/chidev/aacaf010 (external link, opens in a new window)
Köster, M. & Hepach, R. (2024). Preverbal infants’ understanding of social norms. Scientific Reports. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-53110-3 (external link, opens in a new window)
Köster, M. ( 2024) The theta-gamma code in predictive processing and mnemonic updating. Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Reviews. doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105529 (external link, opens in a new window)
Köster, M., Bánki, A., Yamasaki, D., Kato, M., Itakura, S., & Hoehl, S. (2023). Cross-cultural differences in visual object and background processing in the infant brain. Imaging Neuroscience. doi.org/10.1162/imag_a_00038 (external link, opens in a new window)
Xie, S., Hoehl, S., Moeskops, M., Kayhan, E., Kliesch, C., Turtleton, B., Köster, M.* & Cichy, R. M.* (2022) Visual category representations in the infant brain. Current Biology. doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.11.016 (external link, opens in a new window)
Köster, M., Giner Torréns, M., Kärtner, J., Itakura, S., Cavalcante, L., & Kanngiesser, P. (2022). Parental teaching behaviour in diverse cultural contexts. Evolution and Human Behaviour. doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.07.002 (external link, opens in a new window)
Köster, M., Kayhan, E., Langeloh, M., & Höhl, S. (2020) Making Sense of the World – Infant Learning from a Predictive Processing Perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science. doi.org/10.1177/1745691619895071 (external link, opens in a new window)
Köster, M.*, Langeloh, M.*, & Höhl, S. (2019) Visually entrained theta oscillations increase in response to unexpected events in the infant brain. Psychological Science. doi.org/10.1177/0956797619876260 (external link, opens in a new window) (external link, opens in a new window)
Köster, M., Martens, U., & Gruber, T. (2019). Memory entrainment by visually evoked theta-gamma coupling. Neuroimage. doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.12.002 (external link, opens in a new window)
Köster, M., & Kärtner, J. (2019). Why do infants help? A simple action reveals a complex phenomenon. Developmental Review. doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2018.11.004 (external link, opens in a new window)