The University’s new facility — dubbed the Lifespan Research Lab — will enable researchers to study cognition, behaviour, and brain function in people of all ages, from infants to older adults, and is said to be the first lab of its kind in Scotland.

Specifically, the lab has a range of specialist equipment that aids with the study of people who can’t effectively verbally communicate, such as young children who haven’t yet learned how to talk.

“Measuring cognition in circumstances where verbal communication is either limited or not possible is a significant challenge, such as in the case of infants and very young children,” said Dr Line Caes, Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Stirling.

“The equipment in the Lifespan Research Lab can be used on young children, opening promising avenues in cognitive assessment.”

The lab’s amenities include eye-trackers, mobile electroencephalography (EEG), skin conductance sensors, camera traps, and thermal imaging cameras.

The facility will also give researchers the ability to monitor the behaviour of children using cameras linked to a screen in a separate room, allowing them to conduct naturalistic observations of children’s free play and interactions with others.

The lab will complement the University’s fully-integrated research kindergarten, also said to be the only one of its kind in Scotland.

Researchers can make use of the Lifespan Research Lab for a multitude of projects, such as research on the cognitive capacity of children when dealing with uncertainty, increasing understanding of parent-infant interactions during everyday situations, and research into the development and decline of socio-cognitive abilities across the human lifespan.

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“The establishment of a Lifespan Research Lab will bolster Stirling’s unique capacity for cognitive development research,” added Dr. Caes.

“The provision of eye-tracking, physiological, and neurological assessment in the same space will allow an extremely powerful, multifaceted approach to the study of cognitive-emotional development, including brain function.

“The University of Stirling is the only institution in Scotland with an in-house kindergarten and the addition of this lab that allows assessment of younger children will bolster this research capacity, facilitate research bids by various principal investigators and increase Stirling’s reputation as a leader in the study of cognitive development.”

Professor Alistair Jump, Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, also commented, saying: “Psychology at the University of Stirling continues to go from strength to strength.

“This investment in the new Lifespan Research Lab delivers exciting new opportunities to better understand cognition, communication and development across the lifespan, from infancy to old age.”