Most children develop well and find their way into society without many problems, but not all children manage to do so. We know that this difference is related to a combination of the child’s disposition and the environment in which he or she is raised. We want to understand the role of brain development herein, how children’s chances for thriving are determined by their parents, and how we can better guide children’s development.

The Leiden Consortium on Individual Development (L-CID) is an ongoing large-scale longitudinal intervention study in which 500 families with same-sex twins are followed over a six year period. L-CID was initiated at Leiden University and is now a collaborative project between Erasmus University Rotterdam (PI: Eveline Crone), Leiden University (PI: Lara Wierenga) and VU University Amsterdam (PI: Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg).  

L-CID has a cohort-sequential design with two cohorts: an early childhood cohort (ECC), aged 3-4 at wave 1, and a middle childhood cohort (MCC), aged 7-8 at wave 1. Annual assessments consist of alternating lab- or home visits during which behavioral and neurobiological data are collected. We are currently collecting data of the sixth wave of the ECC and the fifth wave of the MCC.

The collected data allows, among others, for testing which child characteristics shape the effect of (manipulated) environmental factors. The aim of L-CID is twofold:

It is well known that self-concept changes dramatically during adolescence. For example, adolescents develop both more complex views of themselves as well as a heightened sensitivity to the opinions of others. These self-concept changes pose vulnerabilities as well as opportunities for adolescents. Recently, with the use of brain imaging techniques it was discovered that self-related thoughts can be robustly assessed using neural responses to self-related cues. In this project, we aim to investigate how adolescents’ self-concept development is associated with changes in functional brain development.

In the Self concept project, designed by Eveline Crone,  functional brain development is measured longitudinally in a group of 160 adolescents across the age range 11-21 years by using a cohort-sequential longitudinal design. In total, 3 waves of data collection have been completed between 2016 and 2019 and are currently analyzed. This study uses several novel paradigms and an integrative multi-method (i.e., experimental designs, self-report, biological markers and brain imaging) approach.

How adolescents view and evaluate themselves may play a role in various important life outcomes, such as the ability to choose a major in higher education that fits your identity. 

The primary aim of our Research on Individual Antisocial Trajectories (RESIST) is to gain insight into individual developmental trajectories in young adults with a history of antisocial behavior. We do this by studying several underlying psychological and neurobiological mechanisms.

For this project, data will be used from a unique cohort of Dutch individuals who have been arrested by the police before the age of twelve years. This cohort was followed across adolescence and will be investigated again during their current developmental phase, emerging adulthood. During the present time point of the study, we will mainly focus on the neural correlates of self-concept, aggression regulation and vicarious reward learning. Within the project, similar data will be collected within a group of individuals without a history of antisocial behavior. 

We expect to provide a better understanding of the factors that lead some adolescents to persist in and others to resists antisocial trajectories.

Scientists and societal partners throughout the Netherlands are working together on the “NeurolabNL Start Impulse” project: a subsidy that has its basis in the Dutch National Research Agenda. They have 3 years to conduct the first research projects on applications of neuroscientific knowledge in education and social safety for adolescents.

The Dutch National Research Agenda is the result of almost 12,000 questions posed to science by the Dutch population. In order to answer these questions, in 2017 the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science invited three routes to set up projects on the theme Youth in a Resilient Society.

NeurolabNL is one of the routes that received a grant of 2.5 million euros to set up research on the themes of “education, safety, health and fundamental research” among adolescents. 

One of the most important developmental goals of adolescence is forming and maintaining social relationships. Prosocial behavior, which includes helping, cooperating, and giving, is essential to accomplish this goal. To date, it remains unclear how these forms of prosocial behavior develop within individuals over the course of adolescence, both behaviorally and neurally. 

Brainlinks is a large ongoing longitudinal project designed by Eveline Crone (Erasmus SYNC lab) to gain a better understanding of age- and puberty-related change in brain function and structure related to prosocial behavior. The role of social context, individual differences, and social experiences are tested as moderating factors.

The study consists of three waves, taking place in three consecutive years (2018, 2019 and 2020) in which adolescents (aged 9-18 years in 2018) will be followed over time. A unique aspect of the Brainlinks study is that 76 parents (mothers and fathers) participated during the first wave, completing a task battery very similar to the adolescents. This gives us a unique chance to examine how parents’ (prosocial) behavior and its neural correlates are related to that of their child. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic we included an additional wave to gain insight into prosocial behavior and wellbeing during these unprecedented times.

Together with researchers from Erasmus University Rotterdam, Free University Amsterdam and Academic Medical Center Utrecht Sabine Peters collaborated on a project funded by the Dutch Brain Foundation to study the effects of alcohol use on the developing adolescent brain.

Data from three different longitudinal studies were used in this project: Generation R (Rotterdam), Braintime (Leiden; Eveline Crone), and Brain Scale (Amsterdam / Utrecht). The three datasets are being analyzed simultaneously to investigate the possible neurocognitive changes from before the first alcohol consumption to the period following first alcohol consumption.