SUMMARY of research interests (100 words)

I am interested in how infants use and understand ostensive communication, i.e. communication about communication that tells them that they are communicated with.

Ostensive communication is one of the key characteristics of human communication, as it can be used as a foundation for a complex, flexible communication system, such as human language. Therefore, studying how infants make use of ostensive communication may offer important insights on how human language develops ontogenetically.

Already from very early on, infants are sensitive to ostensive signals, such as direct gaze and infant directed speech. I am particularly interested in how infants use such signals to predict others' actions and interpret them as meaningful. Furthermore, I am interested in how children transition from the use of fixed ostensive signals to become more flexible in their interpretation of signals as ostensive.

As part of my research, I study infants and children of 0-36 months using EEG measures.

Work Experience

2014-2014	Research Assistant, Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, (DE)
2013-2014	Research Assistant, Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, (DE)

Education

2012	Master of Science in Evolution of Language & Cognition, University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
2011	Master of Arts (Honours) in Psychology, University of Glasgow, Scotland.

Teaching

2014/2015	Seminars: Psyc 101 - Introduction to Psychology
2014/2015	Seminars: Psyc 205 - Developmental Psychology

Research output

The role of social signals in segmenting observed actions in 18-month-old children

Kliesch, C., Parise, E., Reid, V. & Hoehl, S., 31/05/2022, In: Developmental Science. 25, 3, e13198.

Motor cortex activity during action observation predicts subsequent action imitation in human infants

Köster, M., Langeloh, M., Kliesch, C., Kanngiesser, P. & Hoehl, S., 1/09/2020, In: NeuroImage. 218, 6 p., 116958.

CHIELD: the causal hypotheses in evolutionary linguistics database

Roberts, S. G., Killin, A., Deb, A., Sheard, C., Greenhill, S. J., Sinnemäki, K., Segovia-Martín, J., Nölle, J., Berdicevskis, A., Humphreys-Balkwill, A., Little, H., Opie, C., Jacques, G., Bromham, L., Tinits, P., Ross, R. M., Lee, S., Gasser, E., Calladine, J., Spike, M., & 12 othersMann, S. F., Shcherbakova, O., Singer, R., Zhang, S., Benítez-Burraco, A., Kliesch, C., Thomas-Colquhoun, E., Skirgård, H., Tamariz, M., Passmore, S., Pellard, T. & Jordan, F., 1/08/2020, In: Journal of Language Evolution. 5, 2, p. 101-120 20 p.

The role of ostensive-referential communication in action understanding during infancy and early childhood

Kliesch, C., 2019, Lancaster University. 254 p.

The ease and extent of recursive mindreading, across implicit and explicit tasks

O’Grady, C., Kliesch, C., Smith, K. & Scott-Phillips, T. C., 07/2015, In: Evolution and Human Behavior. 36, 4, p. 313-322 10 p.

Making sense of syntax – innate or acquired? contrasting universal grammar with other approaches to language acquisition

Kliesch, C., 6/05/2012, In: Journal of European Psychology Students. p. 88-94 7 p.

Research