Telefoon:	+31 (0)71 527 4815
E-Mail:	sbiro@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
Faculteit / Onderdeel:	Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen, Instituut Psychologie, Cognitieve Psychologie
Werkadres:	Pieter de la Court gebouw Wassenaarseweg 52 2333 AK Leiden Kamernummer 2B19
Telefoon:	+31 (0)71 527 4815
E-Mail:	sbiro@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
Faculteit / Onderdeel:	Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen, Instituut Pedagogische Wetenschappen, Algemene en Gezinspedagogiek
Werkadres:	Pieter de la Court gebouw Wassenaarseweg 52 2333 AK Leiden Kamernummer 4B.12

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Research Areas and Activities

Infant social cognition:
-         Understanding goal-directed actions
-         Voluntary action control
-         Theory of mind  

Infant object cognition
-         Representing  hypothetical objects  

Eye tracking
-         Proactive eye movements
-         Pupil dilation  

Infant optical imaging
-         Near- infrared-spectroscopy  

Autism
-         Social-cognitive impairment in autism
-         Executive functions  

Attachment
-         social cognitive information processing

Baby lab

 Szilvia Biro is the scientific coordinator of the Baby Lab 

Recent Grants

-         2011 “Roots of Social Cognition”, Interdisciplinary Start-up grant: ‘Brain function and dysfunction over 
the  lifespan’. PI  in collaboration with Lenneke Alink, M. van IJzendoorn and R. Vermieren.  

-         2011 “Prenatal Tobacco Exposure and Infant Cognition: A Study with Near-Infrared Spectroscopy” , Interdisciplinary Start-up grant: ‘Brain function and dysfunction over the lifespan’. Co-investigator in collaboration with Stephan Huijbregts (PI) and Claartje Levelt.  

-         2006-2010 “The development of infant's perception of goal-directed actions” NWO Open MaGW Program, NL. Grant for hiring Ph.D. student for 4 years. PI in collaboration with Bernhard Hommel.

Teaching activities

-         Social Cognitive Neuroscience, Master course
-         Designating an Empirical Study, Master course
-         Cognitive Neuroscience work groups,  3rd year BA course
-         Lab Attention and Action, Master course
-         Master thesis and BA thesis project supervision

Academic Career

-         Assistant Professor, Center for Family and Child Studies, University of Leiden, 2011- present
-         Assistant Professor, Cognitive Psychology Section, Institute for Psychology, University of Leiden,  2005-2011
-         Post Doctoral Fellow, Center of Cognitive Science and Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, NJ, USA, 2001-2003
-         PhD, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, 2002
-         Young Research Fellow Institute for Psychology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary, 1997-1998.
-         MPhil, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, 1996
-         Young Research Fellow, Institute for Psychology of the Hungarian Academy of  Sciences, Budapest, Hungary, 1993-1996
-         Msc and BA, Department of Developmental and Cognitive Psychology, University of Eotvos Lorand, Budapest, Hungary, 1987-1993  

Publications

-         Verschoor, S. & Biro, S. (in press).  The primacy of means selection information over outcome selection information in infants' goal attribution. Cognitive Science.  
-         Biro, S., Verschoor, S., & Coenen, L. (2011). Evidence for a unitary goal-concept in 12 months old infants.  Developmental Science. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2011.01042.x  
-         Verschoor, S., Weidema, M. Biro, S. and Hommel B. (2010). Where do action goals come from? Evidence for spontaneous action-effect binding in infants. Frontiers in Cognition. 1:201. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00201  
-         Biro, S., Csibra, G., and Gergely, G. (2007). The role of behavioural cues in understanding goal-directed actions in infancy. In C. von Hofsten and K. Rosander (Eds.). Progress in Brain Research: From Action to Cognition.164, 303-322.  
-         Biro, S. & Hommel, B. (2007). Becoming an intentional agent: Introduction to the special issue. Acta Psychologica, 124 (1), 1-7.  
-         Biro, S. & Leslie A. (2007). Infants' perception of goal-directed actions. Development through cues-based bootstrapping. Developmental Science, 10(3), 379-398.  
-         Csibra, G., Biro, S., Gergely, G. & O. Koós. (2003). One-year-old infants use teleological representations of actions productively. Cognitive Science. Vol. 27(1), 111-133.  
-         “The origins of naïve psychological understanding: the principle of rational action in infancy” (2002). Osiris, Budapest. ISBN: 963 389 200 7 (in Hungarian).  
-         Biro, S. & Russell, J. (2001). The execution of arbitrary procedures by children with autism. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 97-110.  
-         Biro, S. (1999). Executive functions deficit in children with autism: Following arbitrary rules in means-end tasks. Psychology, 19, 1, 29-78. (in Hungarian).  
-         Csibra, G., Gergely, G., Biro, S. & Koós, O. (1999). Goal attribution without agency cues: the perception of 'pure reason' in infancy. Cognition, 72, 237-267.  
-         Biro, S., Koos, O., Csibra, G., & Gergely, G. (1997). Understanding rational action in infancy. Psychology of Language and Communication, Vol.1. No.2  
-         Biro, S., Gergely, G., Csibra, G., & Koós, O. (1995). The perception of rationality in infancy. In: C. Pleh, Z. Vinkler, & A. Bocz, (Eds.), Proceedings of FIKOG, (pp. 75-99), Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest.  
-         Gergely, G., Csibra, G., Biro S., & Koós, O. (1995). The Attribution of Intentionality at the age of 12 months. Psychology, (15), 3, 331-367. (in Hungarian).  
-         Gergely, G., Csibra G., Nádasdy Z., & Biro, S. (1995). Taking the intentional stance at 12 months of age. Cognition, 56, 165-193.