My research focuses on how babies and young children learn about the world and how early experiences with caregivers and the environment shape their learning. Specifically, I’m interested in early learning that helps children develop later social and cognitive skills such as empathy and (moral) decision-making.
I completed my PhD at the Donders Institute studying how adults make decisions and learn to empathize. In my work, I explored maladaptive decision-making: what happens when learning goes wrong, making it harder to adapt to change. Now, as a postdoctoral researcher at the BRC, I study how babies learn from the world around them, especially in unpredictable situations. My goal is to understand how early experiences shape learning and decision-making, and how these early patterns help children develop important thinking and social skills as they grow
Publications
1. Atanassova, D. V., Brazil, I. A., Tomassen, C. E. A., & Oosterman, J. M. (2025). Pain sensitivity mediates the relationship between empathy for pain and psychopathic traits. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 3729. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-87892-x
2. Atanassova, D. V., Mathys, C., Diaconescu, A. O., Madariaga, V. I., Oosterman, J. M., & Brazil, I. A. (2024). Diminished pain sensitivity mediates the relationship between psychopathic traits and reduced learning from pain. Communications Psychology, 2(1), 86. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-024-00133-1
3. Atanassova, D. V., Oosterman, J. M., Diaconescu, A. O., Mathys, C., Madariaga, V. I., & Brazil, I. A. (2025). Exploring when to exploit: The cognitive underpinnings of foraging-type decisions in relation to psychopathy. Translational Psychiatry, 15(1), 31. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-025-03245-2