About DPLab
Understanding how developmental pathways take shape.
The Developmental Psychopathology Lab was established in 2010 at the University of Cyprus by Prof. Kostas A. Fanti.
Our research examines how emotional, behavioural, biological and interpersonal processes interact across development, and how understanding these mechanisms can inform better prevention and intervention.
Department of Psychology · University of Cyprus
Early development
Why we study the early years
Development begins in relationships.
DPLab studies how emotional, behavioural and biological processes unfold from early childhood through adolescence, and how the people around a child shape the pathways that follow.
At a glance
Pathways, not labels
We follow how difficulties emerge, persist or fade across development.
Body and emotion
Heart rate, skin conductance and brain signals recorded alongside behaviour.
People in interaction
Parents, peers and young people studied together, not in isolation.
Heterogeneity in data
Latent profiles and clustering reveal distinct groups inside large cohorts.
Our story
A lab that grew with its questions.
2010
The lab is founded
Established at the University of Cyprus by Prof. Kostas A. Fanti.
2010s
Longitudinal cohorts
Large school based cohorts followed from childhood into adolescence.
Mid 2010s
Biology enters the design
Psychophysiology, fNIRS and eye tracking added to behavioural measures.
Recent years
Interaction and intervention
Dyadic research, biofeedback and transcranial magnetic stimulation.
Now
Immersive environments
Multi user virtual reality for studying and changing social processes.
Our evolution
More than a decade of developmental research.
2010
DPLab is established
Initial focus on developmental psychopathology and understanding the emergence of behavioural and psychological difficulties.
risk → mechanisms → relationships → intervention → technology
Why do some developmental pathways lead to adaptation, while others lead to persistent psychological difficulties?
DPLab approaches psychopathology as the outcome of interacting processes rather than a single cause.
Our research
Six lines of enquiry, one developmental question.
Developmental Psychopathology
We study how psychological difficulties emerge, persist and change from childhood through adolescence and adulthood.
Conduct Problems & Antisocial Behaviour
A major research focus of DPLab is understanding aggression, conduct disorder, antisocial behaviour and their developmental pathways.
Callous-Unemotional Traits & Limited Prosocial Emotions
We investigate differences in empathy, emotional responsiveness, interpersonal sensitivity and behaviour among young people with differing developmental profiles.
Emotion Regulation
We study how individuals experience, understand and regulate emotion, and how these processes relate to behavioural and psychological adjustment.
Relationships & Social Development
We examine how relationships with parents, peers and other social contexts shape development.
- co-regulation
- interpersonal synchrony
- parent-child dynamics
- peer processes
Prevention & Intervention
We use knowledge about developmental mechanisms to design and test increasingly targeted intervention approaches.
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young people included in the Cyprus Longitudinal Cohort on Antisocial Behavior
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schools represented
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countries involved through international research networks
DPLab has extensive experience conducting large-scale, multi-informant and longitudinal research, including repeated measurement of participants across several years. Figures describe research capacity across the cohort, not participation in every individual study.
Methods
Psychological processes leave different kinds of signals.
SELF-REPORT
Questionnaires and validated psychological measures
BEHAVIOUR
Experimental tasks and behavioural paradigms
HEART
Heart rate and heart-rate variability
SKIN
Electrodermal activity / skin conductance
MUSCLE
Electromyography
RESPIRATION
Breathing-related physiological measures where used
BRAIN
fNIRS / functional near-infrared spectroscopy
ATTENTION
Eye tracking
FACE
Computer-assisted analysis of facial emotional expressions
Multimethod research
Combining different sources of information allows DPLab to study psychological processes beyond what participants can report themselves.
Development does not happen in isolation.
Current DPLab research increasingly examines how emotional, behavioural and physiological processes unfold between people, including parents, peers and young people.
Highlight
Interpersonal synchrony
How two or more people become coordinated across behaviour, emotion or physiological responses during interaction.
- Parent ↔ Young person
- Peer ↔ Peer
- Individual ↔ Social environment
Innovation
Creating environments where psychological processes can unfold.
DPLab increasingly uses immersive technology to create controlled environments in which emotion, behaviour and interpersonal processes can be studied, and eventually targeted through intervention.
- Virtual Reality
- Multi-user immersive environments
- Psychophysiology
- Biofeedback
- Experimental intervention
The lab has developed significant capacity for multi-user VR and neurophysiological research.
From identifying risk to understanding mechanisms.
DPLab's research programme has evolved from identifying risk factors toward understanding the mechanisms that shape developmental trajectories and testing ways those mechanisms may be changed.
- 01
Identify developmental patterns
- 02
Understand underlying mechanisms
- 03
Measure emotion, behaviour and physiology
- 04
Study relationships and context
- 05
Test targeted interventions
- 06
Evaluate change
Data
Complex development requires better ways of understanding data.
Advanced analysis is used to understand heterogeneity and developmental patterns across large, repeated and multimodal datasets.
- longitudinal modelling
- latent-profile approaches
- clustering
- predictive modelling
- machine learning
- multimodal data integration
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The environment behind the research.
- Psychophysiology / BIOPAC
- fNIRS
- Eye tracking
- Facial expression analysis
- High performance computing
- Virtual Reality systems
- Multi user immersive capacity
Research beyond Cyprus.
11+ countries
DPLab researchers have participated in cross-national research networks, contributing to collaborative work across countries and research settings.
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Founded and directed by Prof. Kostas A. Fanti
Prof. Kostas A. Fanti
Founder & Director, Developmental Psychopathology Lab
Professor of Psychology
University of Cyprus
Prof. Fanti's research focuses on developmental psychopathology, conduct problems, antisocial behaviour and related emotional, biological and interpersonal processes.
Understanding development means understanding how these systems interact.
That is the question at the centre of DPLab.