Entwicklungspsychologie - Dr. Christian Kliesch

Christian Kliesch ist seit 2021 Mitarbeiter in der Entwicklungspsychologie (Frau Prof. Dr. Elsner) an der Universität Potsdam. Seine Forschungsinteressen liegen in den frühkindlichen sozialen und kommunikativen Fähigkeiten und Sprachevolution. In seiner Forschung arbeitet er mit Verhaltensdaten, Elektroenzephalographie, Eye-Tracking und Pupillengrößenmessungen.

Er hat 2019 an der Lancaster University zur Rolle von kommunikativen Signalen im frühkindlichen Handlungsverständnis promoviert. Vor seiner Promotion hat er Evolution of Language and Cognition an der University of Edinburgh (MSc) und Psychologie an der University of Glasgow (MA, Hons) studiert. Er hat als wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter im Wortakrobaten Labor (Jr. Prof. Dr. Nicole Altvater-Mackensen) an der JGU Mainz, am Lancaster Babylab, dem MPI für Evolutionäre Anthropologie (Prof. Dr. Michael Tomasello, Leipzig) und dem MPI für Kognitions- und Verhaltenswissenschaften (Prof. Dr. Stefanie Hoehl, Leipzig) gearbeitet.

Publikationen

Günther, F. & Kliesch, C. (accepted, 2026), Wer nimmt teil? In- und Exklusion durch digitale Datenerhebung aus ethnologischer und psychologischer Perspektive, In Heibges, M., Schmid, C., and Feufel, M., (ed.), Inklusive Digitalisierung: Ein interdisziplinäres Lehrbuch. BerlinUP, Berlin (DE).

Kliesch, C. (2025). Postnatal dependency as the foundation of social learning in humans. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 292:20242818. http://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.2818

Kliesch, C. (2024). Extending cognitive development into the body and the environment. MEFISTO. Journal of Medicine, Philosophy, and History, 8(1).

Xie, S., Hoehl, S., Moeskops, M., Kayhan, E., Kliesch, C., Turtleton, B., Köster, M., & Cichy, R.M. (2022). Visual category representations in the infant brain. Current Biology, 32, 1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.11.016

Kliesch, C., Parise, E., Reid, V. M., and Hoehl, S. (2021). The role of social signals in segmenting observed actions in eighteen-month-old children. Developmental Science,  25(3), https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13198

Köster, M., Langeloh, M., Kliesch, C., Kanngiesser, P., & Hoehl, S. (2021). The value of subsequent memory paradigms in uncovering neural mechanisms of early social learning. NeuroImage, 117978, doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117978

Köster, M., Langeloh, M., Kliesch, C., Kanngiesser, P., & Hoehl, S. (2020). Motor cortex activity during action observation predicts subsequent action imitation in human infants. NeuroImage, 116958. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116958

Roberts, S. G., Killin, A., Deb, A., Sheard, C., Greenhill, S. J., Sinnemäki, K., ... Kliesch, C., et al., (2020). CHIELD: the causal hypotheses in evolutionary linguistics database. Journal of Language Evolution. doi: 10.1093/jole/lzaa001

O’Grady, C., Kliesch, C., Smith, K., & Scott-Phillips, T. C. (2015). The ease, extent, and evolution of recursive mindreading, Evolution and Human Behavior 36(4), 313–324. doi: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2015.01.004

Kliesch, C. (2012). Making sense of syntax—Innate or acquired? Contrasting Universal Grammar with other approaches to language acquisition. Journal of European Psychology Students, 3, 54–60. doi: 10.5334/jeps.au

Kongressbeiträge

Altvater-Mackensen, N., Kliesch, C., Paulus, M., & Maffongelli, L. (2026), Neural correlates of children’s and adults’ action processing [Poster], Psychology and the Brain, June 3–6, Heidelberg, (DE)

Günther, F. & Kliesch, C. (2026), Who participates in digital research? Access, representation, and exclusion across psychological and ethnographic methods [Poster], Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, April 22-24, Copenhagen (DK)

Kliesch, C. (2026), A unique developmental trajectory towards human intersubjectivity [Poster] MindBrainBody Symposium, March 9-11, Berlin (DE)

Kliesch, C. (2025), Curious but helpless: A unique developmental trajectory towards social learning in humans[Talk], The Göttingen Cognition Forum: Curiosity & Interaction, October 13–15, Göttingen (DE)

Kliesch, C. (2025), A radically embodied trajectory towards human intersubjectivity [Talk], KogWis 2025, September 01–03, Ruhr-University Bochum (DE)

Kliesch, C. (2025), Secondary altriciality as the foundation of human social behaviour [Poster], Lancaster Conference on Infant and Child Development, August 27–29, Lancaster (UK)

Kliesch, C. & Stichel, M. (2025), Learning novel words in the presence of interesting distractors [Poster], Lancaster Conference on Infant and Child Development, August 27–29, Lancaster (UK)

Kliesch, C. & Bichler, E. F., (2024), A change in perspective: The role of walking in gaze and point following between 6-18 months of age [Poster], International Congress of Infant Studies, July 08–11, Glasgow (SCO)

Maffongelli, L., Kliesch, C., Neumann, M-T., Bredel, Paulus, M., & Altvater-Mackensen, N. (2023) Relating preschoolers’ ability to plan complex actions to their socio-cognitive and linguistic skills [Poster], Crossing the Borders Meeting, October 4–6, Potsdam (DE)

Maffongelli, L., Kliesch, C., Paulus, M., & Altvater-Mackensen, N. (2023) Are differences in structural complexity of actions reflected in neural processing of action manipulations? [Talk], Crossing the Borders Meeting, October 4–6, Potsdam (DE)

Rustemeyer, L. & Kliesch, C. (2023), Effects of segment position and action prompts on the imitation of action sequences in preschool children [Poster], Crossing the Borders Meeting, October 4–6, Potsdam (DE)

Ke, H. & Kliesch, C. & Westermann, G. (2023), The role of verbal cues and perceptual similarity in object categorisation in 18m-old toddlers: A pupil dilation study [Poster], 25. Fachgruppentagung Entwicklungspsychologie (EPSY), September 03-05, Berlin (DE)

Kliesch, C., Parise, E. & Reid, V.M. (2023), Using the Pupillary Light Reflex (PLR) to investigate whether communicative signals increase arousal in infants, in: Symposium: Pupillometry in Developmental Research: Different Perspectives on Conceptual and Methodological Considerations, 25. Fachgruppentagung Entwicklungspsychologie (EPSY), September 03-05, Berlin (DE)

Kliesch, C. (2023), Infants’ Understanding of communicative signals: A 4E-perspective [Paper], European Society for Philosophy and Psychology Conference, August 28–31, Prague (CZ).

Kliesch, C., Kalayci, A., & Brandl, W. (2023), Curiosity and action imitation in 18-month-old toddlers [Poster], Lancaster Conference on Infant and Child Development, August 23–25, Lancaster (UK)

Kliesch, C. (2023), Postnatal dependency and its contribution to joint action understanding [Poster], Joint Action Meeting, July 10–12, Budapest (HU)

Kliesch, C. (2023), An ecological perspective to infants’ understanding of social signals [Flash talk], Berlin Workshop on Ecological Psychology, June 9, Berlin (DE).

Kliesch, C. (2023), An ecological perspective of infants’ early social development [Paper], Meeting of the Jean Piaget Society, June 03–06, Madrid (ES)

Kliesch, C., Maffongelli, L., Neumann, M.-T., Friederici, A., Paulus, M., & Altvater-Mackensen, N. (2021), A novel task to measure children’s planning of sequential and dependent actions, Budapest CEU Conference on Cognitive Development, January 04–08, 2021, Budapest (HU)/Online

Kliesch, C., Hoehl, S., Reid, V.M. & Parise, E. (2019), Toddlers use communicative signals to segment actions [Paper], paEpsy, Universität Leipzig, Sept 09–12, 2019, Leipzig, (DE).

Köster, M., Langeloh, M., Kliesch, C., Kanngießer, P., & Höhl, S., (2019), Neuronal dynamics of infants’ understanding and learning from others’ actions [Symposium contribution], paEpsy, Universität Leipzig, Sept 09–12, 2019, Leipzig, (DE).

Kliesch, C., (2019), Parent-child interactions scaffold action segmentation in infancy and early childhood [Paper], Conference of the Scandinavian Association for Language & Cognition, Aarhus University, May 22–24, 2019, Aarhus, (DK).

Köster, M., Langeloh, M., Kliesch, C., Kanngießer, P., & Höhl, S., (2019), Neuronal dynamics of infants’ understanding and learning from others’ actions [Poster], SRCD Biennial Meeting, March 21–23, 2019, Baltimore (USA)

Kliesch, C., Hoehl, S., Reid, V. M. & Parise, E., (2019), Ostensive signals contribute to the segmentation of actions in toddlers [Poster], Budapest CEU Conference on Cognitive Development, January 03–05, 2019, Budapest (HU)

Kliesch, C., Reid, V.M., Hoehl, S. & Parise, E., (2018), Communicative signals help toddlers segment actions [Poster], Potsdam Research Institute for Early Learning & Educational Action Conference, October 04–05, 2018, Potsdam (DE).

Kliesch, C., Reid, V. M., Hoehl, S. & Parise, E. (2018), The role of communicative signals in segmenting actions [Poster], Lancaster Conference on Infant and Child Development, September 04–08, 2018, Lancaster (UK).

Kliesch, C., Reid, V. M., Theakston, A., & Parise, E., (2018), Ostensive-referential communication modu- lates action interpretation at 9 months [Poster], International Congress of Infant Studies, June 30–July 3, 2018, Philadelphia (USA)

Kliesch, C., Reid, V. M., Theakston, A., & Parise, E., (2017), Anticipation of familiar, unexpected and novel actions in ostensive and non-ostensive contexts in 7-month-old infants [Poster], Lan- caster Conference on Infant and Child Development, August 22–25, 2017, Lancaster (UK)

Kliesch, C., Reid, V.M., Theakston, A., & Parise, E., (2017), Seven months’ understanding of everyday actions in communicative and non-communicative contexts [Paper], LuCiD Mini Conference, July 6–7, 2017, Lancaster (UK).

Kliesch, C., (2017), The effect of communication on infants’ understanding of actions: Evidence from Event-related potentials, eye-tracking and pupil dilation [Paper], Lancaster University Postgraduate Conference, June 27, 2017, Lancaster (UK)

Kliesch, C., Reid, V.M., Theakston, A., & Parise, E., (2016), Infants’ understanding and learning of expected, unexpected and novel actions in pedagogical and non-pedagogical contexts [Paper], LuCiD Conference, September 21–22, 2016, Manchester (UK)

Kliesch, C., Reid, V. M., Theakston, A., & Parise, E., (2016), Ostensive Communication and Teleological Understanding of Actions in 7 and 9-Month Old Infants [Poster], Lancaster Conference on Infant and Child Development, August 25–27, 2016, Lancaster (UK)

Kliesch, C., Reid, V. M., Theakston, A., & Parise, E., (2015), Ostensive Communication and Teleological Understanding of Actions in 7 and 9-Month Old Infants [Paper], LuCiD Conference, October 6–7, 2015, Liverpool (UK)

Kliesch, C., Reid, V.M., Theakston, A., & Parise, E., (2015), Ostensive Communication and Teleological Understanding of Actions in 7 and 9-Month Old Infants, [Paper], North West Doctoral Training Centre Psychology PathwayPostgraduate Conference, July 14, 2015, Liverpool (UK)

Kliesch, C., (2012), Implicit and explicit recursive mindreading [Paper], University of Edinburgh’s LEL Postgraduate Conference, May 14–16, 2012, Edinburgh (UK)