What is the research about?

Imagine undertaking a city trip by train instead of by plane, out of climate change concern, and experiencing horrible delays. How will this negative outcome influence your next choice for a city trip? Will you swear off the climate-friendly option forever? Or will your “eco-tinted glasses” cause you to evaluate this outcome relatively positively? Our research focuses on how adolescents learn from outcomes of climate-friendly choices via reinforcement learning. We are in the process of developing an experimental task and matching computational models.

The project: computational modeling of reinforcement learning

You will help to specify, implement and evaluate computational models of the experimental task (e.g., Rescorla-Wagner, bandit models, etc.). You should be willing to learn computational methods for model specification, model fitting and model comparison. It is very useful to have an affinity with (statistical) programming in Python or R, and with Bayesian thinking.

Details

Researchers: you will be working with Gilles Lijnzaad (PhD student) and prof. dr. Hilde Huizenga (principal investigator).
Location: Roeterseilandcampus
Project start: February 2026. Exact starting date can be discussed.

Both research projects 1 and 2 will be possible.

How to apply

Please send an email to Hilde Huizenga (h.m.huizenga@uva.nl) and Gilles Lijnzaad (g.d.f.lijnzaad@uva.nl). Make sure to include a CV, a motivational statement, and whether you would like to do RP 1 or 2.