Projects per year
Personal profile
SUMMARY of research interests (100 words)
I am a developmental psychologist investigating knowledge acquisition, transformation, and transmission. I direct the Active Learning Lab (ALL) and the Principal Investigator on the Curiosity Battery project. My research interests include curiosity and its effect on learning and well-being, creativity, and teaching in childhood. I aim at understanding how young children learn new information through independent exploration and learning from others in situations of uncertainty, and what information they choose to transmit to their less knowledgeable social partners. I use behavioural, eye-tracking and physiological methods to investigate these questions.
Web Links
Keywords
- Developmental psychology
- communication
- pedagogy
- wonder
- infancy
- Knowledge transfer
- trust in testimony
- preverbal communication
- epistemic trust
- exploration
- innovation
- curiosity
- creativity
- information seeking
- social learning
- learning
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or
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ManyBabies 5: A large-scale investigation of the proposed shift from familiarity preference to novelty preference in infant looking time
Bazhydai, M. (Principal Investigator)
1/05/25 → 31/08/26
Project: Research
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Curiosity Battery: Developing a new curiosity assessment toolkit for primary school
Bazhydai, M. (Principal Investigator)
1/09/24 → 31/08/29
Project: Research
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Curiosity Workshop: Multidisciplinary methodological perspectives on the study of curiosity
Bazhydai, M. (Principal Investigator) & Prenevost, M. (Principal Investigator)
1/06/25 → 1/12/25
Project: Research
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LEG: Lancaster Evaluation Group
Christou, E. (Principal Investigator), Ceyhan, P. (Principal Investigator), Owen, V. (Principal Investigator), Saunders, M. (Principal Investigator), Pawelski, M. (Principal Investigator), Bazhydai, M. (Principal Investigator), Nelkon, C. (Co-Investigator), Garrett, B. (Co-Investigator), Kornas, L. (Co-Investigator) & Newton, R. (Co-Investigator)
13/02/24 → 31/07/24
Project: Research
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MBC: Morecambe Bay Curriculum Development Co-Design Project
Bazhydai, M. (Principal Investigator)
26/01/24 → 31/07/24
Project: Other
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Curiosity-driven learning in infancy: insights from gaze-contingent eye-tracking paradigms
Bazhydai, M., Westermann, G. & Altmann, E. C., 4/06/2025.Research output: Contribution to conference - Without ISBN/ISSN › Poster
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Curious Choices: Infants’ moment-to-moment information sampling is driven by their exploration history
Altmann, E. C., Bazhydai, M. & Westermann, G., 31/01/2025, In: Cognition. 254, 105976.Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Open AccessFile78 Downloads (Pure) -
Editorial: Children's teaching
Moll, H., Qiu, F. W., Bazhydai, M. & Frye, D., 9/10/2025, In: Frontiers in Developmental Psychology. 3, 1699342.Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Editorial
Open Access -
Is implicit mentalising “social”? Investigating the domain-specificity and developmental trajectory of implicit mentalising
Wong, M. K. Y., Bazhydai, M., Hartley, C. & Wang, J., 9/01/2025.Research output: Contribution to conference - Without ISBN/ISSN › Poster › peer-review
Open AccessFile23 Downloads (Pure) -
No evidence for curiosity-driven information selection advantage in infants’ novel word learning
Bazhydai, M., Wong, M. K. Y., Altmann, E., Jones, S. D. & Westermann, G., 31/01/2026, In: Developmental Science. 29, 1, e70101.Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Open AccessFile5 Downloads (Pure)
Activities
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UK Curiosity Network Workshop
Bazhydai, M. (Organiser), Prenevost, M. (Organiser) & Satchwell, C. (Organiser)
25/11/2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Symposium
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Curiosity, wonder, and creativity at the coast
Bazhydai, M. (Speaker)
18/09/2025Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
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Children and Young People's Mental Health Event
Prenevost, M. (Speaker) & Bazhydai, M. (Contributor)
8/09/2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
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Curiosity and creativity in children: a developmental psychology perspective
Bazhydai, M. (Speaker)
6/09/2025Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Lab Tour and Knowledge Exchange for Early Years Education Practitioners
Bazhydai, M. (Host), Messenger, K. (Contributor), Westermann, G. (Contributor), Prenevost, M. (Contributor), Johns, E. (Contributor), Chen, X. (Contributor) & Teksin, B. (Contributor)
5/09/2025Activity: Expert Knowledge and Consultancy types › Influence on Policy, Practice, Patients & the Public
Press/Media
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Lancaster Psychology hosts inaugural workshop on the study of curiosity
Greyling, E., Bazhydai, M. & Prenevost, M.
9/12/25
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Newspaper Article
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First measure of infant curiosity as an early trait or individual difference
Haywood, K., Bazhydai, M. & Altmann, E.
13/02/25
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Newspaper Article
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Exploring baby curiosity: Lancaster study reveals how infants actively sample new information
Morrison, N., Altmann, E., Bazhydai, M. & Westermann, G.
25/11/24
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Newspaper Article
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How do toddlers transfer information to others?
Greyling, E., Karadag Akkaya, D. & Bazhydai, M.
18/10/24
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Newspaper Article
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Educational school trips enhance adolescents’ curiosity, wonder and desire to learn
15/10/24
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Newspaper Article