The Development and Psychopathology Laboratory is comprised of five research groups focused on key developmental issues in childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age, adopting an ecological perspective to understand developmental processes and psychopathology. 

Each research group makes a unique contribution to the production of scientific knowledge, developing innovative and multidisciplinary research lines focused on i) infants and children, ii) mental health and development, iii) attachment and parenting, iv) positive development and optimal functioning, and v) adult development and ageing. 

The knowledge that is produced in this Laboratory results in implications for an evidence-based psychological practice, thus materializing the benefits of life-long applied psychological science, alongside the demands and adversities of contemporary societies.  

This line of research investigates the psychological processes involved in the health, well-being, and performance of individuals, families, and teams. Specific research topics include: (a) individual and familial psychological processes in illness, patients, families, caregivers, and vulnerable groups, (b) psychological processes involved in promoting health, healthy lifestyles, and quality of life in clinical and social contexts, and (c) the study of psychological processes associated with performance, success, and human development in applied contexts.

The Human Cognition Laboratory (LCH, Laboratório de Cognição Humana) is focused on the study of the cognitive processes underlying human behavior and on the use of such knowledge to understand and resolve a great diversity of social situations and challenges. More specifically, LCH carries out research in the fields of attention, language, memory, perception, and decision-making, which are organized in three major lines: Evolution, Perception and Decision-making; Human Memory; and Psycholinguistics.

The Learning, Instruction and Career Laboratory is comprised of four research lines that study the foundations and applications of educational psychology and career development.

These four fields of applied psychology are focused on the study of language, reading and writing, behavioral problems, self-regulated learning, and career development, respectively. In each one of these lines, the focus is on the study of the factors, nature and consequences of such processes, as well as on their implications for the psychological practice and for training, supervision and intervision in psychology.

Special attention is also given to the processes that develop psychological assessment measures and to the conception, experimentation and evaluation of on-site and distance counseling, mentoring and psychological consulting programs.

The main objective of the PNL is the development of research in the area of human clinical neurosciences.

We take advantage of several methodological approaches as autonomic measures (polygraph and biofeedback), EEG/ERP; TMS/tDCS, and neuroimaging and neurobiochemistry  in pursuing the neural and physiological correlates of human behaviour.

This line of research aims to explore the core features, risk, and protective factors of psychopathology that are shared by many psychological disorders, in order to translate these findings into effective clinical applications. Our research sits at the interface between clinical psychological science and its applications to individuals' mental health.

Our research focuses on identifying and understanding the processes involved in psychotherapeutic treatment (process research) and on developing, systematizing, and integrating effective psychotherapeutic interventions in diverse populations (outcome research).

This line of research studies the psychosocial variables associated with victimization processes and offender behaviors, analyzes the factors associated with good practices in justice application, its contexts, and actors. The goals are to: 1. Understand the prevalence and impact of various types of victimization, describe offender characteristics, and develop intervention strategies targeting victims and perpetrators, and 2. Study the law enforcement system, such as courts, police, institutions for juvenile delinquents, prisons, and social reintegration, and the attitudes and behaviors of justice system agents; and develop forensic assessment protocols.