Nicolas Chevalier

Reader

  • Psychology
  • School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences

Contact details

Address

Street

Room S27, Psychology Building

City
7 George Square, Edinburgh
Post code
EH8 9JZ

Availability

  • Any questions? Please send me an email to arrange a meeting. Talk to you soon!

Biography

Background

I received my Ph.D. in Psychology in 2008 from the University of Provence (Aix-Marseille, France; now Aix-Marseille University). I then worked as a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Nebraska (Lincoln, NE, United States) from 2009 to 2011 and the University of Colorado (Boulder, CO, United States) from 2011 to 2013. I am now a Reader in the Department of Psychology at the University of Edinburgh.

Research interests

While working on a project or assignment, one may need to prevent thinking of something else and ignore the temptation to check emails and facebook. Efficient cognitive control over attention, actions and emotions will help to stay on task and get it done. Unlike adults, children tend to be “all over the place”, not exerting cognitive control effectively. Yet, emerging cognitive control during childhood is one of the best predictors of academic achievement and later life outcomes such as health, income, or criminal records. My work uses behaviour, eye-tracking, electroencephalography (EEG), and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to address how preschoolers and school-age children develop increasingly efficient cognitive control. I am especially interested in how children determine what they need to do and how to best implement control based on environmental information, available cognitive means and previous experience.

Wee Science

We are a group of researchers at the University of Edinburgh who study how babies and children learn to think and talk. We are always looking for families and schools to take part in our fun studies. Please visit our website and come see us soon!

Undergraduate teaching

I teach Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience: Childhood at honours level. The course focuses on how children think and how it changes with age, emphasizing the interactions among cognitive development, brain development, and the environment during childhood. I also contribute to several other courses.

Postgraduate teaching

I teach in several courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Office hours

Any questions? Please send me an email to arrange a meeting. Talk to you soon!

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Areas of interest for supervision

I supervise undergraduate dissertations, MSc and PhD students. I welcome PhD students whose projects are in line with and/or complement my research interests. I also co-supervise students with Dr Bonnie Auyeung.

Current PhD students supervised

  • Anssi Bwalya (lead) - Psychology
  • Céline Fortin (co-supervisor) - Université de Liège, Belgium
  • Hyeji Lee (lead) - Psychology
  • Heather Simpson (lead) - Psychology

Research summary

Executive function development, cognitive development, developmental cognitive neuroscience

Funding

Work in my lab has been generously funded by the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC),  the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Leverhulme Trust.

Current research interests

While working on a project or assignment, one may need to prevent thinking of something else and ignore the temptation to check emails and facebook. Efficient control over thoughts, actions and emotions will help to stay on task and get it done. Unlike adults, children tend to be “all over the place”, not exerting cognitive control effectively. Yet, emerging cognitive control during childhood is one of the best predictors of academic achievement and later life outcomes such as health, income, or criminal records. My work uses behaviour, eye-tracking, event-related brain potentials (ERPs), and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to address how preschoolers and school-age children develop increasingly efficient cognitive control. I am especially interested in how children determine what they need to do and how to best implement control based on environmental information, available cognitive means and previous experience.

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