Media Interactions, Cognition, and Adolescent Health (MICAH)

University of Geneva , 1 or 2 semesters
Adolescence is a period of novel experiences involving trying new forms of interactions with technology, whether for education, information, communication, or recreation. This project aims to understand how adolescents interactions with digital media interact with their cognitive development, and how this relates to their well-being and (physical and mental) health.
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Media Interactions, Cognition, and Adolescent Health (MICAH)
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This project seeks to understand the effects of our interactions with digital media on cognitive development, education, well-being, and health, as well as the reciprocal influences. 

We specifically concentrate on Attention and Executive Functions, as they hold a pivotal position in regulating behavior and facilitating learning. We hypothesize that Executive Functions act as both a mediator and a moderator in the relationship between media usage and its impacts on health and education in adolescents. 

In this project we investigate how the development of attention and executive functions (inhibition, flexibility, working memory) interacts with digital media use (and effects) at adolescence.

  • The project runs till 31 August 2027.
  • Number of placements available 1 per semester (participation for at least 5 full months, preferably 6 months.)

Pre-requisites

  • High level (3rd or 4th year) undergraduate student.
  • Minimum GPA 3.4
  • The project will include the analysis of behavioral data, including survey data and cognitive performance. Therefore, the successful applicant should have good knowledge of statistics and show a strong motivation for learning data cleaning and analysis procedures. 
  • Programming skills or an interest in programming are a plus.
  • Experience or interest in (longitudinal) data analysis using R.

Important note: 
Students must remain registered as an undergraduate student at their U.S. or Canadian home institution while participating in the program. The student's home institution must complete the Learning Agreement after acceptance into a project, even if credits will not be transferred to that institution. Transfer of credits is decided by the students' home institution.

Submitting an application, does not guarantee that the student will be offered a placement. The research projects are also available to our domestic degree students; therefore, projects may already be full at the time of applying. Final decision on your admission is solely taken by the Research Supervisor at the host institution.

FPSE faculty of psychology and education science

Psychology; Cognitive Neuroscience Department.

The department of psychology of the University of Geneva is situated close to downtown Geneva. It is located in a splendid building that hosts lecture halls, library, offices, labs, and a cafeteria. The department accepts about 200 students per year.