Hi Lasse,

What is your background?

I grew up close to Aarhus and completed my master’s degree in psychology at Aarhus University. When possible, I focused on educational and social psychology. After graduating I worked as Lab Manager at COBE.

In 2022 I started as a PhD student at the Department of Business Development and Technology, where I focus on the use of virtual reality in higher education and industrial training.

What are your main areas of research, and what do you think makes them interesting and worth studying? Do you have any collaborators?

My main area of research is educational psychology in relation to technology-based learning. My project aims to investigate how the unique affordances of virtual reality can be used in a meaningful way to support learning in terms of not only knowledge gain but also other factors such as engagement, motivation, and student confidence.

My interest started with the assumption that VR-based learning is not always better than traditional learning and that including such technology in the curriculum can easily lead to less rather than more learning, if it’s not done correctly. Therefore, exploring when (and how) we should and should not use certain methods was a major motivation of my project.

I currently focus on how we can teach challenging concepts such as programming in an engaging, collaborative, and interactive way. This involves exploring how people act and understand the virtual environment and how we can use this information to create the best possible learning environment and content.

Are you involved with any teaching at the moment?

I currently teach quantitative methods, from research design to statistics and analysis, and Engineering Project Management. Both are part of the master’s degree programme in Technology Based Business Development.

How did you hear about Cognition and Behavior Lab?

I heard about COBE as a student at AU. However, after completing my degree I was interested in being involved in research at AU and found the role as Lab Manager as the perfect way to both support and learn more about the different types of research taking place at AU.

How have you used the lab so far? What are the main benefits of being able to use the lab in your opinion?

I am currently collecting data for a study about motor skills training in virtual reality and have plans for a couple of upcoming studies at COBE as well, most of which will focus on learning in virtual reality.

In terms of benefits it is hard to find a better place to collect data for experiments, especially for the social sciences. Having the procedure reviewed by the Human Subjects Committee and being around other researchers at the lab is also a great way to get feedback and learn something new. That said, I know that many users of the lab will view Dan’s coffee as the greatest benefit!

Is there a particular recommendation you would like to pass on to other researchers? Something you wish you had known before you started, or just a useful trick.

Consider the reasoning for what you are doing: which theories am I building this hypothesis on, why am I collecting this sample size, using these methods, and which statistical methods am I going to use. And since you are thinking about these things before collecting the data, you might as well preregister it! I believe preregistration not only protects us agains questionable methods but also helps us consider some important questions before collecting the data.

As a prior lab manager, by biggest advice is to register your study and apply for ethical approvals in advance, especially if you need multiple approvals!

Could you recommend one academic book to fellow colleagues that you think is of great interest?

I recently read Understanding Psychology as a Science by Zoltan Dienes which gives a great introduction to the foundation and philosophy of science and statistics. Although it has “psychology” in the name, it is a highly relevant book for anyone working with forms of statistical inferences.

Finally, what do you enjoy doing away from your research? 

Although my research focuses on immersive technologies, much of my free time is spent far away from a screen while being immersed in books. This usually includes classics and sci-fi, but recently it has been a lot of science and statistics.