Infants’ encoding of events in focus
Since 1 February 2012, Trine Sonne has been employed at the research centre CON AMORE, which is affiliated with the Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences. For the next four years, she will conduct research on the encoding process of infants.
How do infants encode the events which they witness? This is the principal question raised in the two studies which Trine Sonne, PhD student at CON AMORE at the Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, will work on. She will be writing her dissertation at CON AMORE in parallel with her research. The reason for this is that she is enrolled in the 4+4 programme, where she will have four years to research her topic and write her dissertation.
Working on multiple projects
Trine Sonne will be part of a small team, which, in addition to herself, is constituted of Jonna Jelsbak Dahl, PhD student, Professor Peter Krøjgaard and postdoc Osman Skjold Kingo. Peter Krøjgaard will act as main supervisor whilst Osman Skjold Kingo will serve as co-supervisor on the projects.
- Our team will investigate the development of children’s memory. My main contribution will be to establish how infants encode events that they have witnessed, explains Trine Sonne.
One of the methods which she will apply in uncovering the blank spots of her field is eye-tracking – a tool capable of tracking children’s eye movement as they experience an event. Trine Sonne hopes that this new method can shed more light on infants’ memory.
- Hopefully, this project can generate greater knowledge about the encoding processes that take place when children experience something. Research in this particular field is scarce, and the topic is therefore well suited for further investigation, says Trine Sonne.
Interest sparked by practical experience
Trine Sonne holds a Bachelor’s degree in psychology, which, together with her current enrolment in the Master’s degree programme in psychology, bares witness to her long-standing interest in the subject. However, she only took an interest in researching infants’ memory a year ago when she got a student job, and later a research internship, at CON AMORE.
- I had never really pictured myself as a PhD student, but the internship at CON AMORE whetted my appetite. I really liked the working procedure as well as the fact that the job has a theoretical and a practical aspect.
Trine is very active in her spare time and spends a great deal of time exercising in the gym and running outdoors. She also enjoys going to concerts as well as travelling abroad.
Facts about CON AMORE
CON AMORE is an abbreviation for Center on Autobiographical Memory Research and is a research centre affiliated with the Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences. The centre conducts research on autobiographical memory – the ability to recollect events from one’s past and to envisage possible events in one’s future.
