RSU Anatomy Museum hosts distinguished lecture in cognitive science ‘How Hands Shape the Mind’

On Tuesday, 21 January, at 17:00, the Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) Anatomy Museum will host a lectures in the series Distinguished Lecture in Cognitive Science supported by Robert Blumberg, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Latvia in the State of Illinois. This time, the lecture ‘How Hands Shape the Mind’ will be delivered by the world-renowned developmental psychologist and cognitive scientist Prof. Gustaf Gredebäck from Uppsala University.

Prof. Gredebäck is one of the world’s most significant developmental psychologists and his research interests include the cognitive, social and emotional development of children and infants.  

In his lecture, Prof.  Gredebäck will focus on how manual actions - reaching, grasping and handling objects - shape human thinking, perception and the development of the mind.

Based on his research, he explains four essential developmental pathways that help structure the world and develop cognitive abilities in early childhood.

Prof. Gredebäck has made important contribution to perception research, including the development and refinement of methods for studying eye movements and pupillometry. His research touches upon several areas of developmental psychology, but in particular the study of cognitive, social and emotional development in infants. A particular focus of his research is the active, intentional actions children take to explore their environment and promote cognitive development. 

Another focus in Prof. Gredebäck’s work is research on children growing up in war or in families where parents suffer from mental health problems, or in societies in transition. He has also studied the development of children in societies outside of Europe and industrial world. Prof. Gredebäck heads the Uppsala Child and Baby Lab and is considered to be one of the most prominent cognitive scientists in Scandinavia.

The Distinguished Lecture in Cognitive Science is the only lecture of its kind not only in the Baltics but also in Eastern Europe.  

For several years, this tradition has brought together the most important researchers from the fields of perception, psychology, music, mathematics, neuroscience and many others. The Robert Blumberg Distinguished Lecture in Cognitive Science series was established in a collaboration between the Laboratory of Perception and Cognitive Systems at the Faculty of Computing, University of Latvia (UL), and Robert Blumberg, UL honorary member, patron, board member of the organisation ‘Friends of the University of Latvia’, and Honorary Consul of the Republic of Latvia in the State of Illinois.