Faculty and Graduate Students
András N. Zsidó
Lab Director
András earned his university professorship in 2026 and he’s the head of the Cognitive and Evolutionary Psychology Department at the University of Pécs. His research interests fall under the broad heading of visual cognition, particularly research into visual attention. His other research interests include the development and refinement of psychometric tests and specific phobias. His primary work focuses on attention, with an emphasis on human visual processing. In his research, he mostly relies on standard behavioral measurements (e.g., reaction time, questionnaires), but he is also a member of a research group utilizing eye-tracking and physiological measures (e.g. galvanic skin response).
Cintia Bali
assistant professor
Cintia received her PhD in 2025 at the University of Pécs and she’s the assistant professor at the Cognitive and Evolutionary Psychology Department. Cinta's research interest lies in the usage of Information and Communication Technology devices in the field of education. Within this area, she is especially concerned about the electronic storybooks’ effects on information processing among preschoolers. In her future work, she intends to examine the performance of children with special needs - e.g. risk of Attentional Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - while they are using these multimedia devices.
Julia Basler
assistant lecturer
Julia is one of the earliest members of the lab and the ViCE Director of Vibes and Visibility. She obtained her BA (2020) and MA (2022) degrees in Psychology at the University of Pécs and is currently completing her PhD in Cognitive and Evolutionary Psychology, with her dissertation focusing on attention and emotional processing in individuals with social anxiety. Her research interests focus on how people behave in social interactions that are not quite "ordinary" - whether that is a person experiencing anxiety; an anonymous chat forum in a competitive video game; a cartoon show using dark humor to deal with difficult topics; or even an AI bot that 'yes, and'-s its way into becoming a therapist or a romantic partner.
Botond L. Kiss
assistant research fellow
Botond earned his BA and MA in Psychology at the University of Pécs in 2020 and 2022, respectively, and began his PhD studies in 2022. His research examines the nature of specific phobias, particularly animal phobias and blood-injury-injection phobias, and the attentional processes associated with these conditions. Using survey research, behavioral experiments, and eye-tracking methods, he aims to better understand the mechanisms that contribute to the development and maintenance of phobic fear.
Bahtiyar Yildiz
PhD student
Bahtiyar received his BA in Counselling from Çukurova University in 2020 and his MA in Counselling and School Psychology from the University of Pécs in 2023, where he also began his PhD studies. His research focuses on fear of storms, climate change anxiety, and the attentional processes associated with these experiences. More broadly, using survey and behavioural methods, he is interested in understanding how individuals perceive and process environmental threats and how these processes may contribute to anxiety and emotional responses to climate-related risks.
Otília Csonka
PhD student
Otília is a PhD student at the University of Pécs where she received her BA and MA degrees in 2022 and 2024. She is leading a research project about supernatural fears and emetophobia. Her main interest lies in clinical and cognitive psychology, and she focuses on the background mechanisms of emetophobia and how it affects cognition of related objects. Her research projects also focus on various safety-seeking and avoidance behaviours in emetophobia, which serve to reduce anxiety and may also be interpreted as OCD-like symptoms.
Hanna Baranyai
PhD student
Hanna joined the lab during her BA studies, where she became involved in the projects early on. She obtained her BA in 2023 and her MA in Psychology in 2025, both at the University of Pécs, and continued directly into her PhD studies in Cognitive and Evolutionary Psychology. Her current research focuses on how negative life events and individual differences shape the ways people respond to emotionally salient experiences. As part of this work, she is investigating behaviour during a computer-based number matrix task while participants are exposed to emotionally salient stimuli related to negative life events. Her broader research interests include neuropsychology and its connections to her current work, particularly the cognitive consequences of acquired brain injury and the psychological impact of experiencing an injury.
Gréti Gáspár
PhD student
Gréti joined the lab during her BA studies. She received her BA and her MA degree in psychology at University of Pécs in 2024 and 2026. She is currently pursuing her studies there as a PhD student. Her interests are specific phobias and anxiety disorders. She previously studied blood injection-injury phobia, as well as fear of snakes. In her new research project, she will focus on the development and prevention of dental anxiety.
Gergő Pál
MA student
Gergő received his bachelor’s degree in 2025 and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in psychology at the University of Pécs. His current research is focused on the topic of artificial intelligence and human perception. He plans to continue his education in the PhD program.
Vivien Balogh
MA student
Vivi is a second-year Master's student in Psychology at the University of Pécs, where she previously completed her BA in Psychology in 2024. Her research experience includes studying the relationship between blood-injection-injury phobia and disgust. She is now interested in cognitive factors related to obsessive-compulsive symptoms, with a particular focus on executive functions, cognitive flexibility, and intolerance of uncertainty.
Bettina Simics
MA student
Bettina received her BA degree in 2025 and is currently pursuing an MA in Psychology at the University of Pécs, specializing in cognitive and evolutionary psychology. Her current research is focused on the topic of the effects of threatening distractors on attention. She plans to continue her education in the PhD program.
Krisztina Takács
MA student
Kriszti received her BA degree in 2025 and is currently pursuing an MA in Psychology at the University of Pécs, specializing in cognitive and evolutionary psychology. Her research has focused on hyperactivation and deactivation sexual strategies, as well as their associations with attachment styles and self-esteem. Her current research interests center on sexual behavior and emotion regulation, as well as masturbation habits, pornography use (and its problematic aspects), and sexual and relationship satisfaction. She plans to enroll in a specialized postgraduate program in sexual psychology in the future.
Hanna Kata Farkas
MA student
Hanna received her Bachelor’s degree in 2025 and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Cognitive and Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Pécs. Her current research focuses on the relationship between physical activity and executive functions. In the future, she plans to complete a specialization in sport psychology and pursue a PhD program.
Luca Kocsis
MA student
Luca received her BA degree in 2026 and is currently pursuing an MA in Psychology at the University of Pécs, specializing in developmental and clinical psychology. Her research examines the impact of screen time and media use on children's attentional performance, with a focus on video content. She plans to continue her education in the PhD program.
