Dr. Robert Hepach

Biography

Robert Hepach is an Associate Professor in Developmental Psychology at the University of Oxford, where he is also a Tutorial Fellow at New College. His research focuses on social cognition and motivation in early ontogeny, particularly how young children understand the social world and how this understanding shapes their own behavior in initiating, maintaining, and repairing cooperative relationships. He has collaborated with colleagues to design integrative experimental paradigms that assess children's internal states and their subtle emotional expressions as they engage with peers. Utilizing advanced techniques such as eye tracking, pupillometry, and depth sensor imaging, Hepach investigates the internal mechanisms that underlie young children's prosocial motivations. His completed projects include exploring the affective mechanisms underlying joint attention and joint action during infancy and toddlerhood, and he has served as Co-Principal Investigator with Dr. Christine Michel on a project funded by the German Research Foundation from 2020 to 2023.

Research Interests