Research Interests
- Infant and child cognitive and brain development
- Developmental cognitive neuroscience approaches (e.g., EEG, fNIRS)
- Abstract concept development
- Numerical and mathematical reasoning
- Social cognition (e.g., Theory of Mind, Fairness)
- Executive functioning
Research Description
My main research focus is on the nature and origins of conceptual knowledge: how it arises, the functional organization and response properties of the brain that underlie it, and the contributions of nature and nurture to its development. I investigate these questions in the areas of quantitative, spatial, and psychological reasoning with young infants, children, and adults using event-related brain potentials (ERPs), optical imaging (fNIRS), as well as behavioral measures.
I also collaborate with others to apply this work to issues in public health, medicine, and education.
Education
Ph.D., Harvard University
Awards and Honors
- Judy DeLoache Professorial Scholar, 2025-26
- Association for Psychological Science (APS) Fellow, 2022
- Helen Corley Petit Scholar 2018-19
- International Congress of Infant Studies, (ICIS) Distinguished Early Career Award 2018
- University of Illinois LEAP Scholar 2016-18
Additional Campus Affiliations
Faculty Member, Neuroscience Program
Faculty Affiliate, Beckman Institute
External Links
Recent Publications
Sánchez Hernández, F., & Hyde, D. (2026). The emergence of disadvantageous inequity aversion between 2–4 years. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 265, Article 106464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2026.106464
Yu, Y., Barner, D., Mejia, M., Jung, S., Maheshwari, U., Gunderson, E. A., Fyfe, E., Duru, L. A., Abreu-Mendoza, R. A., Boni, I., Cordes, S., Dhaliwal, T., Feigenson, L., Lu, A., Hyde, D. C., Izard, V., Kibbe, M., Mbarki, R., Libertus, M., ... Weaver, J. (2026). ManyNumbers 3: A Multi-Lab Study of Demographic Correlates of Early Number Knowledge. Developmental science, 29(3), Article e70184. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.70184
Chen, C. C., & Hyde, D. C. (2025). Understanding of exact equality emerges after and builds on symbolic number knowledge. Cognition, 264, Article 106226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2025.106226
Liu, Y., Moss, E., Ting, F., & Hyde, D. C. (2025). Neural sensitivity to others' belief states in infancy predicts later theory of mind reasoning in childhood. Cortex, 184, 96-105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2024.11.023
Chen, C. C., Berteletti, I., & Hyde, D. C. (2024). Neural evidence of core foundations and conceptual change in preschool numeracy. Developmental science, 27(6), Article e13556. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13556