Postdoc Position: Language Evolution Using Virtual Reality at the Donders Centre for Cognition

1. Introduction

How and why did human language evolve? What are the social, cognitive and environmental pressures that drive the emergence of language and shape its structure? As a postdoctoral researcher, you will explore the ecological conditions under which compositionality and dishonest signalling emerge in novel communication systems, using state-of-the-art Virtual Reality experiments.

2. Job description

Since there are no archaeological records of early humans’ brains and words, we do not know what the first language(s) looked like, and under which pressures they evolved. This led linguists and cognitive scientists to abandon the study of language evolution for decades. Yet, with the rise of modern cutting-edge technologies, we can now use novel, data-driven methods to explore the ancient past and unpack the origin of language.

This postdoctoral position involves developing and combining innovative tools that effectively simulate language evolution de novo and in silico in order to shed light on the pressures that drive and shape language evolution in artificial 3D environments.  Specifically, this project focuses on two fundamental aspects of human language that give rise to language’s unparallel expressive power – namely its grammatical structure and our propensity to lie – and test under which social and environmental conditions these two features spontaneously emerge as beneficial and stable strategies that boost the evolutionary fitness of humans and simulated agents.  By systematically manipulating the social conditions (cooperation vs. competition, solo vs. group foraging) and landscapes (poor vs. rich resource availability, clustered vs. uniform resource spread) in which humans and robots forage, you will shed light on the unique set of pressures that promote the emergence of grammar and lying in new communication systems – and map the possible ecological niches in which early humans evolved language.

You will be directly responsible for the human side by designing and executing an interactive, foraging-navigation referential communication game in Virtual Reality. For this, knowledge of experimental design and specifically VR is required. You will also work closely together with our swarm robotics lab to ensure the creation of comparable virtual worlds, in which robots and humans face similar ecologies, explore their surroundings and collect resources using similar means, and communicate with each other using similar signals. To this end, you will join a dynamic, interdisciplinary research environment and will also become a part of the Language Evolution and Adaptation in Diverse Situations (LEADS) group at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics.

3. Profile

•  You should have, or shortly expect to obtain, a PhD in a relevant field (e.g. linguistics, psychology, biology, cognitive science, neuroscience, artificial intelligence).
• You have an established background and/or keen interest in language evolution, human evolution, language learning and/or communication.
• You have hands-on experience in designing and using VR environments and software (e.g. Unity).
• You have experience in conducting empirical research (e.g. experimental design, stimuli selection, recruitment, participant testing, report writing).
• You have experience with experimental software (e.g. Presentation, PsychoPy, E-Prime, Gorilla).
• You have experience in data analysis, visualisations and programming in R and/or Python.
• You have experience with statistical models (e.g. mixed-effects regressions, Bayesian analyses).
• You preferably have experience supervising and/or teaching students.
• You preferably have knowledge of swarm robotics and/or deep learning artificial neural networks (e.g. CNN, RNN/LSTM/transformer, and/or reinforcement learning).
• You preferably have experience in annotation software such as ELAN and PRAAT. 

4. We are

The Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour is a world-class interfaculty research centre that houses more than 700 researchers devoted to understanding the mechanistic underpinnings of the human mind. Research at the Donders Institute is focused around four themes: 1. Language and communication, 2. Perception, action and decision-making, 3. Development and lifelong plasticity, 4. Natural computing and neurotechnology. Excellent, state-of-the-art research facilities are available for the broad range of neuroscience research that is being conducted at the Donders Institute. The Donders Institute has been assessed by an international evaluation committee as ‘excellent’ and recognised as a ‘very stimulating environment for top researchers, as well as for young talent’. The Donders Institute fosters a collaborative, multidisciplinary and supportive research environment with a diverse international staff. English is the lingua franca at the Institute.

5. We offer

• We will give you a temporary employment contract of 2 years.
• Your salary within salary scale 11 depends on your previous education and number of years of (relevant) work experience. The amounts in the scale are based on a 38-hour working week.
• You will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8,3% end-of-year bonus. 
• We offer Dual Career Coaching. The Dual Career Coaching assists your partner via support, tools, and resources to improve their chances of independently finding employment in the Netherlands. 
• You will receive extra days off. With full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the statutory 20. 

6. Practical information and applying

You can apply only via the button below. Address your letter of application to Limor Raviv. In the application form, you will find which documents you need to include with your application.

The first interviews will take place on Thursday 28 August. You will preferably start your employment on 1 September 2025.

We can imagine you're curious about our application procedure. It describes what you can expect during the application procedure and how we handle your personal data and internal and external candidates. If you wish to apply for a non-scientific position with a non-EU nationality, please take notice of the following information.